Moderated by genre fan and industry professional Annick Mahnert (Managing Director Screen Division and acquisitions consultant for Raven Banner), the Nordic Genre Boost panel was arranged by New Nordic Films in collaboration with Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Mikko Aromaa, Festival Director of Helsinki’s Night Visions Film Festival and Kjetil Omberg, Norwegian genre producer (Dead Snow 1&2) first explained how their promotional effort ‘Nordic Genre Invasion’ set up in Cannes 2013 to create ‘noise’ has become a must stop over and hub where genre professionals can meet and raise attention from potential co-financiers, distributors and festivals. “Making genre films is about having a different attitude to filmmaking,” explained Omberg. “Genre producers in Norway come from a different scene than ‘normal’ producers trained at film schools, so having ‘Nordic Genre Invasion’ as a new home was great for us”.
The next step for the Nordic Genre Invasion founders will be to bring in other territories to turn it into a Global Genre Invasion.
Sales and distribution experts from Scandinavia, TrustNordisk’s Rikke Ennis and the US Epic Pictures’ Patrick Ewald, were also on hand to discuss genre films’ place and value on the international market. “Finns and Norwegians are definitely the best at making genre films,” said Ennis who single out three advantages to genre film: “what you see is what you get, it is good entertainment and great for digital distribution.”
“Taking Roar Uthaug’s The Wave (pictured) as a test case, Ennis said the film was first pitched at the AFM 2014 where she secured 50% of turnover in sales based on a 1minute teaser trailer. At Berlin 2015, another 25% was raised. The film’s selection at Toronto’s Special Presentations shows again the unique strength of the €5M Norwegian film combining genre high production value with world class drama.
US producer/distributor/financier Patrick Ewald whose first Nordic pick up was the Norwegian supernatural thriller Thale, stressed that the language for genre films doesn’t really matter. “I tell filmmakers: don’t let the budget or language stop you. Just make your film!”
Ewald is representing internationally the Norwegian chiller Villmark Asylum, currently in post-production, Thale 2-Conflux in development (part of Nordic Genre Boost projects) and AJ Annila’s Don’t Come After Me co-produced with Finland’s Tero Kaukomaa and Sweden’s Madeleine Ekman from Zentropa Sweden.
Jongsuk Thomas Nam, Managing Director at NAFF (Network of Asian Fantastic Films) and consultant for Bucheon International Fantastic Festival offered his insight on the Asiatic market. “IPTV is exploding in Asia and genre films can be profitable through that channel, so don’t waste your time waiting for a theatrical deal that will never happen.”