Nordic broadcasters unveil documentary initiative

Nordic public broadcasters SVT, NRK, DR, YLE and RÚV have linked up with the region’s film institutes on an initiative to support local documentaries, just days after Danish-Czech project Mr Nobody Against Putin won at the Academy Awards.

Unveiled by the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the broadcasters are working with the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Film Institutes, alongside the Icelandic Film Centre and the Finnish Film Foundation, to speed up production of projects and have put out a call for projects.

The organisations are looking to support development on premium docs that can resonate across the region, with subject matter that is contemporary and involve storytelling, as well as narrative arcs.

High-end production values and access are sought, with docs appealing to broad demographics and involving pan-Nordic collaboration encouraged. Shows must be at the development stage.

Selected projects will be invited to a closed pitch session in Malmö in September, with the ambition being to accelerate routes to production and pre-buys. Selected projects will receive immediate development commitments from relevant national partners.

Nordisk Film & TV Fond chief exec, Liselott Forsman, said: “A tightened documentary collaboration has been on the agenda of NFTVF’s yearly documentary think tanks, which seek concrete ways of working together.

“This is exactly what the documentary meeting organised in Malmö a year ago advanced. It is fantastic to see how, in economic tough times, our public parties join forces for this vital cause. The need for and strength of Nordic documentaries are especially apparent globally today as we celebrate Denmark’s well deserved Oscar for the important film Mr Nobody Against Putin.”

The doc, which aired on the BBC’s Storyville strand in the UK and won best doc at the Oscars, focuses on Russian teacher Pavel “Pasha” Talankin who secretly documents his school becoming a war recruitment centre for the Ukraine invasion.