New Five-Year Agreement Signed to Support Nordic Films & TV

OSLO: The Nordic culture ministers, along with the region's film institutes and TV stations, have agreed to a new five-year deal with the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

The Fond will run from 2015 to 2019 at its current budget level of DKK 78 million ($14.5 million). Nordisk Film & TV Fond supports the yearly production and distribution of about 50 feature films, documentaries and TV dramas. A third is provided by the Nordic Council of Ministers, one third by the five national Film institutes and Foundations and one third by the participating 11 Nordic public-service channels and commercial broadcasters.

"Nordic film and television series play an increasingly important role in our understanding of each other both within the Nordic countries and especially abroad where they help branding the Nordic culture and countries. So we are very happy to continue to support this collaboration with the Nordic film and television industry," said Illugi Gunnarsson, the minister of culture in Iceland, which holds the chairmanship of Nordic Council of Ministers in 2014.

"We see the Council of Ministers' continued participation as a sign of recognition to the work all the industry partners have done during the past years in creating success that has already been labeled The Golden Age for Nordic films and television," added Petri Kemppinen, CEO of Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

"Continuous flow of diverse, internationally awarded films, including Oscar-winners, and the recent praise around many television dramas—not only in our own region but also worldwide—can be seen as excellent tools of promoting and exporting Nordic storytelling, culture and values directly to the public. During the new agreement period our intention with our financial support is to further strengthen the audience access and quality of Nordic projects."