The Jury

Sabine Holtgreve is the Commissioning Editor at German NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk), with international co-productions and German success productions on her table. Among the films and series she has worked with, we find Tatort, the longest-running drama series in Germany, and also new award-winning mini-series such as Dark Woods (Das Geheimnis des Totenwaldes) and The Turncoat(Der Überläufer). Sabine has a special interest in Nordic productions and has already co-produced the Norwegian series Power Play (Makta), So Long Marianne, and the Spanish series This is Not Sweden(Això no és Suècia). As part of the NDR talent promotion programme ”Nordlichter”, Holtgreve has worked as a talent scout and career promoter of numerous young directors.

David Herdies is a producer, director, and the founder of the award-winning production company Momento Film in Stockholm, Sweden. From the outset, his aim has been to create an independent platform for new as well as established talents with challenging and bold film projects that push the borders of film making. Herdies has positioned himself on the international market with high-profile films that have premiered at the most important film festivals, including Cannes, Berlinale, Tribeca and Venice. The titles have received over 100 awards worldwide, and Herdies has been nominated twice for Best Film at the Swedish National Cinema Award Guldbaggen. Herdies is a member of the EAVE, ACE and Eurodoc networks, and was Producer on the Move in Cannes 2018. Together with his partner, Michael Krotkiewski, Herdies has established the two sister companies Momento Studio and Momento Paradiso.


Piv Bernth is behind some of the biggest Nordic drama series successes during the past 15 years. Today she is the CEO and Creative & Executive producer at Apple Tree Productions. The company was founded in 2017, but can already present a number of acclaimed series such as Equinox, Baby Fever (Skruk), Blackwater (Händelser vid vatten), Chorus Girls (Dansegarderoben) and One of the boys (En af drengene). For DR, Piv has produced the Emmy-awarded series Nikolaj and Julie (Nikolaj og Julie) and BAFTA Television-awarded The Killing (Forbrydelsen). Bernth was the Executive Producer of the original version of The Bridge (Broen). During her time as Head of Drama at DR, 2012-2017, she commissioned Borgen, The Legacy, Follow The Money (Bedrag), Ride Upon The Storm (Herrens veje), and Liberty (Liberté).

Cecilie Aspenes is a film commissioner for feature film and TV drama at the Norwegian Film Institute. Before joining NFI, she worked in the Norwegian and Nordic film and TV industry in the fields of development, production and post-production, acquisitions and marketing, and top-up financing. She studied psychology at The University of Oslo and film history at Lillehammer University College before entering The Norwegian Film School to become a trained producer. She has worked as a producer for the Scandi company Miso Film, producing the Gullruten-awarded Witch Hunt (Heksejakt), and for Norway’s Fantefilm.

Miikko Oikkonen is a Finnish film and series writer, creator, director and executive producer. He has created 75 hours of high-end drama in multiple genres. His internationally succcesful works include the fantasy series Nymphs (Nymfit), the crime series Bordertown (Sorjonen), and the political thriller Helsinki Syndrome (Helsinki Syndrooma). Miikko’s latest drama series Estonia fictionalises the real-life ferry disaster that happened in 1994. The series was nominated for the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize in 2023. Miikko is also the author of seven novels,and has lectured in showrunning at several universities, among them the European Showrunner Programme.