More than 200 delegates from 26 countries are expected at Malmö’s co-financing forum, networking and inspirational platform dedicated to youth content for all platforms.
For its major Opening Industry Day March 14, the kids and youth industry event will give its platform to Norway (through the Norwegian Film Institute), the m:brane Learning-non didactic universe, and Kids Regio.
As underlined by m:brane Managing Director Lennart Ström, Norway has been leading the way in kids content for nearly a decade. “It was just natural to select Norway as this year’s Country Focus and to give the platform to the Norwegian Film Institute’s efforts in Children and Youth. The Norwegian programme will focus in particular on documentaries for kids, an area which is growing in strength, year after year, as we’ve seen with our own documentary for kids strand RealYoung,” said Ström who runs m:brane together with Senior Creative Advisor Annette Brejner.
Brejner is the initiator of m:brane Learning-the Non-Didactic Universe, which brings together science, learning and content for kids & youth.
This year’s keynote by the Danish Centre for Arts & Interculture CEO Niels Righolt, will focus on ‘Space for Failure, Space for Tests’. It will be followed by three case studies by Maria Jarjis science influencer behind the YouTube channel: WTF er det?, Fredrik Edström, founder of IVAR Studios, and Sofia Winge, science pedagogue and archaeologist. The latter will discuss Time Travel at Uppåkra, or how she managed to integrate The Archaeology School at the Uppåkra Foundation with the global game phenomenon Minecraft.
Righolt, Jarjis and Edström will also take part in a new Think Tank meant to further empower the m:brane Learning strand. The think tank is led by Brejner who has joined forces with French expert Stéphane Malagnac - former Head of PiXii Festival and Head of Innovation at Sunny Side of the Doc.
“In this atmosphere of mistrust of the media and the rise of fake news on climate, politics and science, it is crucial to think about the best ways to reach young audiences with valid, relevant and attractive scientific content. By bringing together complementary profiles in this Think Tank, within the framework of m:brane Learning, we want to lay the foundation for a strategy that will allow us to move forward in this direction,” explained Malagnac.
Think Tank experts invited to a closed session March 15, will reflect on questions such as how to start up collaborations with universities, research institutes and science museums, how to implement the content development structures, refined during m:brane’s 17 years of existence into new learning methods for youth and wider audiences.
Ström says the Think Tank is also meant to find new funders among international foundations and universities, to complement the industry event’s existing backers, including Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Another long-time partner to m:brane and co-initiator of the Opening Industry Day, KIDS Regio will hold its own session this year on ‘Measuring Magic’. Project manager Anne Schultkla will convey a handful of European panellists to discuss
the cultural recognition of children’s films and how success can be measured beyond the box office.
Pitch Projects
m:brane’s pièce de résistance - the projects looking for co-financiers- has an attractive slate of 28 projects, including 25 pitches vying for the €2,500 Best Pitch Award and EAVE Scholarship Award.
Eleven of the projects are from the Nordics, including the first project from the Faroe Islands: the animated web/tv series for kids aged 6-11 The Unreal World of Ada by Tóki Jansson, produced by Jón Hammer (TROM) for Kykmyndir.
As country Focus, Norway has the most projects looking for co-financing - 5 - such as the live action/animation Land of the Lost Laundry by seasoned director Christian Lo, produced by Filmbin’s Nicholas Sando. “It’s fun live-action family adventure that seeks to solve one of the greatest mysteries of all time: where does the missing sock from the washer go? Foremost it's a fantastic story about a little girl coming to terms with loneliness and fear,’ said the creators. The €3m project set to start filming in 2024, has received backing from the Norwegian Film Institute and Filminvest.
Other Norwegian projects in the main pitch are:
- Bug City, series for 13-25, produced by Klipp og Lim
- URSA-The Polar Bear, series for 2-5 years old, produced by Fabelaktiv
- With Grace (Kenya/Norway), short documentary for 8-12 years old (part of the RealYoung Pitch), co-directed by Julia Dahr and Dina Ruxandra for Differ Media and Grand Volume.
Denmark has 4 four selected projects
- Avatar Lover, series about Online Nor (14) the legendary avatar Lord Warvick, who is in reality a shy boy confined to his wheelchair, in love with his classmate, the cool girl Anna (14). The series is directed by Kristian Sejrbo (Songs in the Sun, Sombra) for Toolbox Film.
- Markus Will Win, web/TV series in 8x10’ directed by Kira Richards Hansen (Damn Girl) for JA Film, Asta Film and Supersonic.
- WiP Apple Hills, slap stick animated comedy series directed by Low Haak for Nice Ninja.
- WiP My Amazing Transition, doc series directed by Julie Bezerra Madsen (Boy) for Gotfat Productions. The series about two transgender tweens has received backing fro the DFI and the West Danish Film Fund.
Meanwhile Sweden will showcase the animated project Puck based on the children’s books by Anna-Karin Garhamn. BCD Film is producing, with Ikki Films.
An extra three documentary project part of ‘RealYoung Development’ will be looking for co-financing, including Norway’s Animal Tails by Nora Nivedita Tvedt, produced by Smallville Films.
For the full list of projects selected and further information on m:brane, check: https://mbrane.se/
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