NEWS

The Danish-Finnish talent project, Nordic Factory 2014, invited four film directors from all over the world to come and work on the project in Helsinki and Copenhagen. Between December 2013 and April 2014 they entered a unique international collaboration, in which four teams of two directors each wrote, directed and finalized four live action short films of max 15 minutes duration.

Nordic Factory 2014 presents four up-and-coming Danish (Milad Alami & Kræsten Kusk) and Finnish (Hamy Ramezan & Selma Vilhunen) directors, as well as their four co-writers/directors from Argentina (Natalia Garagiola), Zambia (Rungano Nyoni), France (Gullaume Mainguet) and Kyrgyzstan (Aygul Bakanova) – respectively. All 8 directors are presently developing their first feature film.

On the opening day of Directors’ Fortnight, Thursday, May 15th, 2014, the directors and their feature film producers will meet the international film industry, the press and celebrate their official world premiere.

COURAGE, CURIOSITY, WILL AND HARD WORK

Film is always a team effort and Nordic Factory has proven to be a team dream; the concept relies on the spirit of collaboration, fast decision-making and the will to share one’s talent and creativity. With the backing from New Danish Screen, The Finnish Film Foundation and five co-producers, the directors courageously embraced this artistic challenge. The result: four contemporary stories; all focusing on meetings between people, challenging relationships – long or brief – accidental or intentional. The encounters all spring from four unique directorial meetings, and while the spectator will definitely sense a Nordic atmosphere, the stories all share a deep, human emotional core, which resonates from many nationalities and regions:

SUNDAYS – portrays the inner drama of a daughter-father relationship in desperate need of change…

LISTEN – tells of a difficult meeting between a burka clad woman in distress, an unwilling interpreter and the Danish police, where everyone tries to understand what is going on…

VOID – explores the dynamics of a nocturnal chance meeting between two men on a ferry; one seeking something from the other, leading to an unexpected turn of events…

THE GIRL AND THE DOGS – inspired by a Greenlandic fable the story dives into an everyday situation of three teens going to a party, making an unusual find on the way, changing the nature of their friendship for a moment – or forever.

The producers, Valeria Richter, pebble NF (Denmark) and Helene Granqvist, DoDream (Sweden) underline that the purpose of the Factory-project is to join directors in a film endeavour that focuses on a purely cinematic meeting with an international aim: “The Factory idea creates a space where it’s only about film, story, and working together. – And if you wonder about our artwork? We trusted the Finnish artist Iiu Susiraja blindly to let her be inspired by the scripts, like everyone has trusted this project – not knowing what the outcome would be. All the results, we believe, can speak for themselves and stand on their own.”