The Swedish Film Institute's Peter Hald has been appointed chairman of the board of the Nordic Film & TV Fund by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Other additions to the board, which includes one member from each Nordic country, include Finnish Film Foundation head of production Erkki Astala; Thorfinnur Omarsson, director of the Icelandic Film Foundation; Finn Rowold, department chief at Danmarks Radio; and project manager Kristin Helle-Valle from Norway's TV2.

The Nordic Film & TV Fund, established by the local ministers of culture and funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, local television companies and film institutes, has been an important funding source for the Nordic film business since 1990. In 1999, $7.9m of the fund's $.5m total budget went towards the production and distribution of about 30 feature films, four TV series and more than 20 documentaries.