The 31th edition of Nordisk Panorama Film Festival commences September 17 2020 as a hybrid festival mixing online screenings with selected in-person events in Malmö, Sweden. Audiences in all five Nordic countries will have access to free streaming of the films as well as talks and masterclasses during the event.
67 films were selected from 541 submissions and will compete for the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival Awards in four competition programmes (see below).
Among the special events of this year’s festival are online masterclasses with Austrian documentary filmmaker Hubert Sauper and Swedish animation director Niki Lindroth von Bahr.
Other highlights include an online panel entitled Digging the Digital about the effects of Corona from the perspectives of film festivals and markets, and the filmmaker’s experience when launching a new film or project. Has the role of festivals changed? What possibilities have these new digital or hybrid formats opened up? Can you still sell your film following a digital premiere?
Panelists are Brigid O’Shea, head of industry, DokLeipzig and founder of the Documentary Association of Europe, Charlotte Gry Madsen (commissioning editor, SVT), Emma Möndrup (technical producer, CPH:DOX and Cannes Digital/Scandinavian Films), David Herdies (filmmaker, Momento Film) and Signe Byrge Sørensen (producer, Final Cut For Real).
Comments Anita Reher, executive director: “We are thrilled that the digital festival will expand the filmmakers’ reach and let people – from Akureyri, Iceland to Turku, Finland and everywhere in-between – experience the special feeling that attending the festival offers. It’s our hope that by enabling a wider audience to engage with these films more will be inspired by these Nordic storytellers!”
Cecilia Lidin and Martijn te Pas, documentary programmers: “We feel that filmmakers and their crews are instrumental in making connections with worlds and perspectives we don’t know, with ideas and concepts, with people and with history, present and the (possible) future – in many different and often highly artistic ways. We hope that these connections also transpire to – and inspire audiences.”
“Selecting films for Nordisk Panorama Film Festival was both pure joy and incredibly harsh. How do you select such a limited number of films from a region so rich in its documentary culture? We approached it with the ambition to show the diversity in voices, film language and themes in each country, and this method has resulted in a selection that we feel shows the depth and talent throughout the Nordic region,” they add.
Competition sections are:
Best Nordic Documentary (selection follows)
14 films in competition. Prize €11.000 to director(s), Sponsored by the Nordic public broadcasters: DR, YLE, RUV, NRK and SVT
Best Nordic Short:
22 films in competition.Prize €6.000 and direct qualification for the annual Academy Awards® (Sponsored by Swedish Directors’ Association and Nordisk Panorama)
New Nordic Voice:
18 films in competition. Prize €5.000 (Sponsored by Film i Skåne and AVEK)
Young Nordic – Children’s Choice Award:
13 films in the Young Nordics programme compete for the love of our young audiences. Prize €1.500 (Sponsored by Nordisk Panorama)
City of Malmö’s Audience Award:
All films from all competitions. Prize €2.500 (Sponsored by the City of Malmö)
Best Nordic Documentary competitors:
All That I Am (Alt det jeg er), Tone Grøttjord-Glenne, 2019, 78 min, (Norway, Denmark).
Beautiful Something Left Behind, Katrine Philp, 2020, 89 min, (Denmark).
Bitter Love, Jerzy Sladkowski, 2020, 87 min, (Sweden, Finland, Poland).
Echo (Bergmál), Rúnar Rúnarsson, 2019, 79 min, (Iceland).
Eye to Eye (Silmästa Silmään), John Webster, 2020, 74 min, (Finland).
Idomeni, David Aronowitsch, 2020, 91 min, (Sweden).
iHUMAN Tonje Hessen Schei, 2019, 99 min, (Norway, Denmark, UK).
Lady Time (Neiti Aika), Elina Talvensaari, 2019, 61 min, (Finland).
Meanwhile on Earth (Samtidigt på Jorden), Carl Olsson, 2020, 73 min, (Sweden, Denmark, Estonia).
Songs of Repression (Undertrykkelsens sang), Estephan Wagner & Marianne Hougen-Moraga), 2020, 89 min, (Denmark, Netherlands).
Still Into You (Rakkauselokuva), Anu Kuivalainen, 2020, 71 min, (Finland).
The Cave, Feras Fayyad, 2019, 107 min, (Denmark, USA, Germany).
The Last Autumn (Síðasta haustið), Yrsa Roca Fannberg, 2019, 79 min, (Iceland).
The Painter and The Thief, (Kunstneren og tyven), Benjamin Ree, 2020, 103 min, (Norway)
