Haugesund’s New Nordic Films Launches $24,500 Storyline Production Pitch Award With Tribeca Programmer Casey Baron on Jury

In a move to further strengthen feature projects in early financing seeking co-financiers and co-producers, Haugesund’s Norwegian International Film Festival’s New Nordic Films market has launched the new Storyline Production Award worth NOK 250,000 ($24,500) in post-production equipment.

The international jury ,consisting of Casey Baron (Tribeca Film Festival), Marge Liiske (Industry@Talents & Baltic Event, Tallinn) and Josef Kullengaard (Göteborg Film Festival) will hand out the award to the most promising project with an international appeal among 21 projects selected for the Nordic Co-Production Market.

The jury will also vote for the Producers Network’s Best Pitch Award which will give the winner a chance to attend the Cannes Marché du Film producers program.

This year’s slate takes in feature projects in development by some the Nordics’ most outstanding voices, including Benjamin Ree (“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”), Tonislav Hristov (“The Good Driver”), Ninna Pálmadóttir (“Solitude”), Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (“Blackport”), Baldvin Z (“Life in a Fishbowl”) and Måns Månsson (“The Real Estate”).

As part of a special Baltic Focus at New Nordic Films, six standout Baltic filmmakers will also tease the audience of 250-plus industry delegates with their latest pics. Those include Estonia’s Martti Helde (“In the Crosswind”) and Vallo Toomla (“Pretenders”), Latvia’s Airk Karapetian (“Squeal”) and Ilze Burkovska-Jakobsen (“My Favorite War”), Lithuania’s Inesa Kurklietytė (“A Butterfly’s Heart”) and Jorūnė Greičiūtė (“Silver Crane”).

Vidar Grande, post-producer at Storyline Studios said: “With facilities and teams across the Nordic countries, it feels natural for us to support a Nordic award. The Nordic Co-Production Market is an exciting meeting point for bold new stories and with the Storyline Production Award, we want to give the winner access to the cameras, color grading, and expertise that have helped bring many acclaimed Nordic films to life.”

“The Storyline Production Awardnot only provides valuable resources to a promising project, it also underscores the strong commitment from our industry partners to support new Nordic stories with international potential,” added Gyda Velvin Myklebust, head of New Nordic Films.

One of the largest rentals and post-production facilities in Scandinavia, Storyline Studios has picked up a raft of accolades such as European Film Awards best sound design for “The Innocents” in 2021 and best VFX for “About Endlessness” in 2019. Their most recent credits include Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value”, Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Dreams” and Netflix’s “Secrets We Keep.”

New Nordic Films’ industry awards will be announced Aug. 21, along with the full list of winners at the 53rd Norwegian International Film Festival.

Last year’s Best Pitch Project award went to the Finnish family film “Halima” by Naima Mohamud, produced by It’s Alive.