Special focus on the UK

Special Focus on the UK at New Nordic Films in Haugesund

In 2023 and 2024, New Nordic Films has a special focus on co-productions with the United Kingdom. The aim is to boost co-production possibilities and collaborations between the UK and the Nordic countries.   

‘How to Co-produce with the UK’ and British reception at the Haugesund City Hall. Photo: Grethe Nygaard.

In 2023, New Nordic Films, in partnership with the BFI, invited a delegation from the UK film industry to participate in a Focus on UK program which comprised discussion panels and networking events as well as a recent case study on co-production between the UK and the Nordics.  

– We are incredibly proud and happy to have a special Focus on the UK in collaboration with BFI, and in that way facilitates co-productions between our creative film industries for the future, says Programme Director for New Nordic Films Gyda Velvin Myklebust.   

Do you have a UK project in development looking for a Nordic co-producer? Submit it to the Nordic Co-Production Market before May 28, 2024!

Christopher Granier-Deferre from Poisson Rouges Pictures  presenting HAVEN at the Nordic Co-Production Market. Photo: Grethe Nygaard.

The following four UK projects and their producers participate at the Nordic Co-production Market in Haugesund in 2023:   

• GUNNAR’S DAUGHTER, written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and produced by Angeli Marie Macfarlane from Script Cube  
• HAVEN to be directed by Adam Berg, and produced by Christopher Granier-Deferre from Poisson Rouges Pictures   
• THE DJ is to be directed by Jørn Utkilen, and produced by Carolynne Sinclair Kidd from Hopscotch Films  
• WHO GOES THERE to be directed by Astrid Thorvaldsen, and produced by Helen Gladders from Gingerbread Pictures and Oskar Pimlott from Pulse Films  

Strengthening Cultural Ties

 – The UK Focus at Haugesund’s Nordic Co-Production Market is a great opportunity for the UK producer/director teams to present their projects to potential co-production partners. Along with our partners at the British Council, we are proud of our longstanding cultural ties with Nordic countries having seen eight projects involving UK companies participate in the market over the past ten years, said Denitsa Yordanova, Head of the UK Global Screen Fund at the BFI.

In addition to the delegation, the UK Focus included the panel session, ‘How to Co-produce with the UK’. Moderator, Wendy Mitchell (Screen International), was joined by Denitsa Yordanova, Head of UK Global Screen Fund, who presented the UK co-production offer alongside a case study of The Damned, presented by producer Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl of Elation Pictures, UK. Attendees also got to hear from Liselott Forsman, CEO, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, on the possibilities of co-producing with the Nordics.  

The UK Focus is presented in collaboration with and supported by the British Film Institute through the BFI National Lottery International Fund, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London, the British Embassy in Norway and the British Council.  

‘How to Co-produce with the UK’. From left: Liselott Forsman (CEO, Nordisk Film & TV Fond), moderator Wendy Mitchell (Screen International), Producer Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl (Elation Pictures, UK) and Denitsa Yordanova (Head of UK Global Screen Fund). Photo: Grethe Nygaard.

New Nordic Films  

Established in 1995, New Nordic Films is a key meeting place for everyone with a professional interest in Nordic feature films, and is an annual film market for Nordic films, as well as an international co-production and finance market, which takes place within the frames of the long-established Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.  

New Nordic Films is a key meeting place for everyone with a professional interest in Nordic feature films. The film projects selected for New Nordic Films represent a variety of genres and are chosen for their artistic quality and international potential.  

BFI

The BFI National Lottery International Fund (UK Focus) supports activities at international events including markets, festivals and forums that create opportunities for UK screen content creators to connect and collaborate with global partners in developing, creating and facilitating screen stories with international reach.  

This international funding complements the UK Global Screen Fund which the BFI manages on behalf of the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.   The fund is designed to boost international development, production, distribution, and promotional opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector, providing funding for international film co-productions; international distribution; and international business development.