Nordics fund also increases support for documentaries by 20%.

The Nordisk Film & TV Fond is launching a revised strategy in 2016 to support two to four “more ambitious” feature films and TV dramas with more funding, and as a result backing fewer project per year.

“These should be ambitious projects of high quality, corresponding budget and big audience potential, primarily in the Nordic region and secondarily on the international market,” The Fund noted.

The Board of Directors has approved the policy changes and said that it matches “the increased quality and ambition of feature films, documentaries and TV dramas from the Nordic region and to highlight its position as top financier.”

The Fund has also guaranteed a minimum of 50% of its fiction funding will go to feature films, recognizing that spend on TV drama has been rising, for 36% in 2014 to 46% in 2015.

The Fund’s support for documentary films will rise by 20% to $1.06m (NOK9.5m) in 2016.

The Fund will also focus its support of New Nordic Talents mainly through the annual Nordic Talents event in Copenhagen, but also through its support to Film Cultural initiatives and the Nordic Genre Boost special scheme. 

The Board is also adjusting its rules about distribution support to reflect platform neutrality (including for online distribution).

In 2015, Nordisk Film & TV Fond supported 22 feature films, 17 TV dramas and 20 documentary films.

The Fund has an annual budget of approximately $11.7m (DKK 80m) funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the five Nordic film institutes and 11 Nordic broadcasting partners.

Support percentage averages are 5-10% of fiction projects, and 10% in documentaries.

Recent projects supported include Rams, Louder Than Bomb [pictured], Moomins On The Riviera, Virgin Mountain and 1001 Grams.