Vital support from local film commissions for distribution and sales, bolstering co-production opportunities and the fragile state of geoblocking were among the issues highlighted at the inaugural industry programme at the French Nordic Film Days in Paris.
More than 300 French and Nordic film industry professionals gathered in the French capital from March 5-7 for the event organised by France’s CNC with the Five Nordics (the Danish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, Icelandic Film Centre, Norwegian Film Institute and Swedish Film Institute).
The industry programme, which ran alongside a series of screenings and filmmaker Q&As designed to spark interest in Nordic titles among French audiences, was held at Paris’ Swedish Institute and CNC headquarters. Top of the agenda was a focus on how Nordic films perform in France and the support schemes available from the Five Nordics to help production companies with international film launches, including collaborating with sales agents and local distributors. International distribution support is available in Sweden, Finland and Norway.
According to CNC figures, over the last decade Swedish films continue to lead Nordic productions with 2.8 million admissions in France, ahead of Danish films with 2.3 million and Norwegian films with 1.1 million admissions. During this period, Denmark released the most films (44), followed by Sweden (37) and Norway (28).
While France’s box office boasted a strong 2024 with 181.1 million admissions, all of the Nordic countries saw a dip in attendances last year compared to 2023, from a modest 3% for Danish films to a 35% drop for Swedish titles.
Risky business
France’s Martin Jerome of Condor Distribution and Sarah Chazelle of Jour2Fête joined Denmark’s Kim Foss of Camera Film and Matthias Norborg of Sweden’s TriArt to discuss the challenges of distribution and their respective strategies to distribute independent films in their territories.
Norborg highlighted what he described as “a monopoly of AMC cinemas in Sweden” which tends to favour US studio titles; he also explained that “French commercial comedies do not sell tickets – Swedish audiences are looking for higher quality, more auteur titles when they go to see a French film.”
TriArt has recently released French-produced films such as Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.
Foss pointed to the importance of Denmark’s Cinema Club whose support has become essential to the success of arthouse films in the territory. “For arthouse distributors, selection is like winning the lottery,” he said of the Club, whose 240,000 members pay €17 a year for access to 10 films at half price.
Foss cited 2022’s Driving Madeleine as one French title that benefitted from Cinema Club selection – it clocked some 185,000 admissions in Denmark, of which only 45,000 tickets were at full price. The upcoming May release of French box office hit The Marching Band, Foss estimated, would sell at least 100,000 tickets.
Foss cited moviegoers in Denmark “taking fewer risks” and added: “Distribution is a riskier business than people realise, so without support we’re stuck.” Most important of all was Creative Europe Media’s distribution support in addition to Nordic support and an added boost for titles from France, Germany and Italy.
Another session explored the dynamics of French sales strategies for Nordic films with Finnish producer Daniel Kuitunen of Komeetta and Goodfellas’ Noemi Devide on hand to talk about working together on Nightborn, Hanna Bergholm’s follow-up to horror hit Hatching which is now in post-production.
Paradise City Sales’ Alexandre Moreau cited the success his company has had with Emilie Blichfeld’s The Ugly Stepsister which premiered at Sundance and has sold around the world including to Shudder for North America, the UK and Australia-New Zealand.
The sales company – formerly Memento International – previously handled sales on Joachim Trier’s Thelma, produced by Katrin Pors of Denmark’s Snowglobe, who was also on hand for the panel.
Several leading Nordic producers were in Paris to present their projects in various stages of development at the co-production workshop.
Highlights include Norway’s Motlys with Berlin Golden-Bear-winning Dreams (Sex Love) director Dag Johan Haugerud’s next film Foot Of The Mountain, Iceland’s S101 with Valdimar Johannsson’s upcoming feature Paradox, Denmark’s Zentropa with Wayne Roberts’ You Can Call Me Adolf and You’re Still Here, and Denmark’s Snowglobe with an eclectic slate of new films from Carlos Reygadas, Cristian Mungiu and Hlynur Palmason.
Over the past 10 years, 42 films have been approved as official co-productions between France and at least one of the Nordic countries.
Geopolitics enter the fray
“In an international context that requires us to strengthen Europe as a unified space and as a power in all fields, cinema has an obvious role to play,” said newly appointed CNC president Gaëtan Bruel, who added that the aim of Nordic Days is “to strengthen ties in all directions… and converging our views so that together we can carry more weight in Brussels and outside the Union”.
Several industry panelists raised concerns about geoblocking and the dangers of proposals by some EU politicians to remove it would pose for the production, distribution and sales of films throughout the continent. “Geoblocking protects territoriality – and keeps the market alive,” Foss pointed out.
On the festival side, screenings included Karlovy Vary winner The Hypnosis, Juho Kuosmanen’s The Silent Trilogy and Haugerud’s Venice competition title Love.
The French Nordic Film Days wraps on March 9.
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