Special focus on the UK

Special Focus on the UK at New Nordic Films in Haugesund

In 2023 and 2024, New Nordic Films will focus on co-productions with the United Kingdom, aiming is to enhance collaboration and co-production possibilities 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.

From August 20-23, 2024, New Nordic Films, in partnership with the BFI, will host a delegation from the UK film industry to participate in a “Focus on the UK”- program. This program will include discussion panels, networking events, and 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 this year's Program Director for New Nordic Films, Line Halvorsen.   

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 (the selection for 2024 will soon be announced):   

• 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

 “We are looking forward to the second UK Focus at Haugesund’s Nordic Co-Production Market, sparking co-production conversations for the participating UK producer/director teams in meeting potential Nordic partners. 2024 has already seen some wonderful UK/Nordic collaborations bear fruit, with the UK-Finland-Belgium co-production Sebastian (supported by the BFI with National Lottery funding) making its debut in competition at Sundance and The Damned, which we have been able to support through our UK Global Screen Fund, premiering at Tribeca,” said Denitsa Yordanova, Head of the UK Global Screen Fund and International Funds at the BFI.

The UK Focus will also include a panel session on ‘How to Co-produce with the UK’. Kamilla Hodøl of Elation Pictures, UK, will present her “Roadmap to Co-Producing with the UK,” an overview of the dos and don’ts of co-production commissioned by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and New Nordic Films. Attendees will also hear a case study of SEBASTIAN from James Watson and Mikko Makela, as well as insights from other producers with experience in co-production between the UK and the Nordics. l. 

The UK Focus is presented in collaboration with and supported by the British Film Institute through the BFI National Lottery International Fund, the Norwegian Film Institute, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. Cooperation partners are also 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.