‘You know there’s got to be something better,” sang the iconic Marianne Faithful. Similarly Göteborg market’s co-heads Cia Edström and Josef Kullengård were determined to bring “good energy and hope” to their 2,000-plus guests – and not only as DJs of the closing Nordic Film Market gig.
Below are takeaways from the 2025 Nordic Film Market and TV Drama Vision, that tool place under the motto “Collaborate, Create and Captivate.”
Farewell – Until Next Year
A new record attendance was set this year, according to preliminary figures released by Kyllengård. A total 2,368 on-site delegates from 54 countries were accredited, including 780 for TV Drama Vision and 586 for the Nordic Film Market.
In terms of projects, Nordic Film Market showcased 68 feature-length projects and TV Drama Vision 61 series at various stages of production.
Edström said she is very happy with the numbers for the second edition of the market housed at the Clarion Hotel Draken industry hub: “We want to keep it a human-size market.”
“After the pandemic, we’ve been on a curve of development as the prime Nordic industry showcase and I feel we have now found our DNA,” added Kullengård.
Novelties this year such as the new Tint Post-Production Award and Film Finances Scandinavia Award – handed out respectively to Zar Amir Ebrahimi for “Honor of Persia and Miia Tervi for “You Crazy Thing” –were exciting spotlights that celebrated two personal and relevant stories with strong international potential,” Kullengård said.
Citing one of his biggest thrills, the Nordic industry honcho mentioned “awe-inspiring pitches from the Nordic film School students” I was completely blown away! Our collaboration with talent starts with the film schools, then we have the Nordic Film Lab, Discovery Co-Production Platform, Works in Progress and the final screening of the films. In a way, the market reflects the talent’s journeys,” he stated.
The next market presence for Edström and Kullengård will be the European Film Market in Berlin where a summary of the pilot initiative Nostradamus Collective will be launched. The documentary will serve as preamble to the full Nostradamus report to being published as usual during the Cannes Film Festival. “This initiative is a way for us to continue to support the industry in today’s very shifting times,” Kullengård said.
Buzzy Nordic Series And Films
Series
Upcoming Nordic shows impressed in quality standards, talent on both sides of the camera and their wide-ranging genres, from pure crime/suspense, comedies, romance, war dramas, social and political dramas, to sci-fi and even vampire tales, although youth-oriented shows were generally lacking.
Among standout titles were SVT’s bloody freaky vampire show “The Cruise” adapted from the novel by Swedish horror specialist Mats Strandberg, repped by Paramount Global Content Distribution, the futuristic social statement “Paradis City” starring “Snabba Cash”’s Alexander Abdallah and Julia Ragnarsson (“Blinded”), the TV4/ZDF sci-fi “We Come in Peace,” toplining Fares Fares (“Cairo Conspiracy”) and Evin Ahmad (“Snabba Cash), which is handled by Newen Connect, and the high-end Balkan 1990s war drama “A Life’s Worth,” ordered by Arte France and Viaplay.
A Life’s Worth
Courtesy of Yellow Bird-Viaplay
Films
On the film front, among projects in post-production, the tender and poetic family drama “The Love that Remains” was an obvious Cannes entry ticket for Iceland’s multi-awarded Hlynur Pálmason (“Godland”, “A White, White Day”). “It’s a pure masterwork, an exceptional movie, with an extraordinary piano partition,” said Frédéric Boyer, Tribeca Film Festival and Les Arcs’ artistic director. “I hope to see it in Cannes,” he added.
Other buzzed up works in progress took in the heartfelt migrant drama “Home” inspired by actor-turned director Marijana Janković’s personal life; the moving romantic drama comedy “My First Love” by Mari Storstein; the true-life-story of a North Korean defector “Hana Korea” by Frederik Sølberg and subtle father-daughter relationship drama “Beekeeper (a working title) co-penned by actor Adam Lundgren with helmer Marcus Carlsson.
Commenting on the overall works in progress lineup, Boyer said “it’s quite O.K., with a good mix of established, new and even experimental titles [“Árru,” “A Sweetness from Nowehere”] from all Nordic countries. It’s quintessential to platform new experimental voices,” he said, while lamenting the lack of true daring major auteurs, apart from Pálmason.
“Thematically, filmmakers are seemingly sticking to formulas that work, which is understandable in today’s difficult times,” he added.
The Discovery-Co-Production Platform with its rich and varied slate of new talent and seasoned award-winning directors such as Lone Scherfig (“Honeytrap”) is where the buzziest titles were to be found, next to the new Nordic Gateway for international projects looking for Nordic partners. Miia Tervo’s upcoming drama comedy “You Crazy Thing” picked up the inaugural Film Finances Scandinavia Award but other eye-catching projects were the genre movie “Bloodsuckers,” suspense gang drama “Elion” and mother-daughter drama “Like There is no Tomorrow.”
Next to Lone Scherfig’s Swedish spy-romance “Honeytrap,” set in 1968, another star name, Zar Amir Ebrahimi presenting her award-winning project in development “Honor of Persia,” budgeted respectively at around €6.4 million ($6.6 million) and €4.4 million ($4.5 million), instantly attracted heavyweight European players.
Commenting on the Nordic Film Market, TrustNordisk’s sales director Nikolai Korsgaard said: “the Discovery Co-production Platform program was the Nordic Film Market’s highlight with very strong titles and we’ve already picked four projects for one-to-one meetings.”
“This year, many projects had strong sellable elements, either newcomers produced by seasoned producers or debut directors with a strong background in the film industry. That was thrilling,” added TrustNordisk CEO Susan Wendt.
Law of the Fittest
In his illuminating market analysis, Ampere Analysis MD Guy Bisson said we have now reached 75% of peak TV and the market has now flattened in terms of orders across all commissioning sectors and regions in the world. The problem is that “today’s production market was scaled for 100% ‘Peak TV’ not 75%. So we need a re-think on scale, markets, sectors and competition,” said the analyst. In this new content world order, where the biggest growth sectors by 2029 are expected to be online video/social media (up 47%), streaming (up 32%) and cinema (up 12%), the best way to survive according to Bisson who referred to Darwinian theory is to be the fittest on the market, ie with the greatest ability to thrive. And establishing strategic collaborations within similar ecosystem sectors will be key for all players.
Practice Your Yoga!
Being flexible in windowing, deal-making is a common practice today across all sectors of the industry. This notion was beautifully coined as “Practice Your Yoga” by Morad Koufane, director of international/young adult drama at France Télévisions at the session Collaboration for Innovation. “This is a brilliant take away,” commented Alex Traila from the Council of Europe Pilot Programme for Series Co-Productions. “In our European eco-system, the challenge for us is to keep our minds healthy and we need to do whatever is needed to be flexible.”
Bigger, Better Together
Set up in 2023, two heavyweight broadcasting pacts, the Scandi Alliance and New8, easily convinced the industry audience of the Draken cinema of the quality and financial benefits of their joint initiatives.
Representing the commercial broadcasters’ Scandi Alliance partnership, heads of drama Alice Sommer at TV2 Norway, Mette Nelund at TV2 Denmark, and Johanna Lind at TV4 Sweden launched live in Göteborg their first joint project: the ambitious historical drama “Royal Blood” (“Blått Blod”), currently in early development at Miso Film Norway.
Speaking on behalf of eight partners in the European pubcaster pact New8 (SVT, DR, NRK, Yle, RÚV, ZDF, VRT, NPO), the initiator of the project, Hans-Jørgen Osnes from NRK, reiterated the clear advantage for indie producers: “It’s a unique opportunity as it gives them distribution access all territories involved, predictability, and it strengthens the stories,” he said.
So far, Yle crime comedy “Queen of Fucking Everything” and ZDF hospital drama “Push” have been resounding successes in their respective territories Finland and Germany, and NRK’s true-crime “Holmia Love” just launched in Norway. Next up are VRT surreal murder mystery “This is Not a Murder Mystery,” ZDF’s political suspense drama “Kabul” (also backed by the European Alliance and therefore involving 10 broadcasters), SVT’s “Vanguard,” based on the story of media mogul Jan Stenbeck, NPO’s drama “Elixir” and DR’s “Generation.”
Nathalie Perius, producer from Mediawan’s French banner Atlantique Productions, suggested that broadcasting alliances should be expanded further geographically to mitigate producers’ risks. “Why not create a proper European series market?” she said, before mentioning the film sector which has long been accustomed to pre-buys and equity financing from multiple sources. “Our budgets have climbed by 20%. We need to readjust. Flexibility, collaboration is key, as well as getting a commissioner on board at an early stage to define a common creative vision.”
Traila said that wider collaborations between different parts of Europe are taking off. He supported, for instance, the Estonia/Italian/Latvian series “Von Fock” and underscored that Poland and the Czech Republic are also venturing into TV drama. “Today there are many new opportunities with Central European countries,” he said before citing Norway as the first Nordic country to have joined the E.U. pilot program for co-productions.
Netflix, Amazon Prime In the Nordics
Netflix
As always eagerly awaited as rock stars, Netflix’s VP Content Nordics Jenny Stjernströmer Björk and Håkon Briseid, director series Netflix Nordics, briefly summarised their sustained commitment to the Nordic region. We started with “The Rain,” “Quicksand.” Since then, we have built a presence and a team and invested heavily to build slates. In 2024 we had 22 titles in the Nordics and we will have even more in 2025,” said Stjernströmer Björk. Underlining the wealth of talent in the Nordics, Briseid said Netflix will continue to work with established and new names and is currently developing “a heavy slate for 2027-28.
We want relatability, something that resonates in the country of origin, so if it’s a Swedish series, it needs to work first in Sweden,” he explained before introducing a clip of “Diary of a Ditched Girl.” Briseid also introduced the “Scandisaster” show ”La Palma” which scored 60 million viewers at launch, the biggest number ever for a non-English TV series.
Prime Video
Prime Video’s Head of Content Nordics Andreas Hjertø also reiterated the U.S. giant streamer’s continued strategic investments in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
In a separate interview with Variety, Karin Lindström, head of originals Nordic Amazon MGM Studios/Prime Video, said Prime Video’s goal is “to offer a diverse mix of local scripted and unscripted titles that not only drive new Prime subscriptions but also encourage members to return regularly, creating a true one stop entertainment destination.”
“Our strategy has proven successful in blending international and local content to achieve this goal,” she added. “While the exact number of titles varies depending on their potential impact, for 2025 we plan to launch six scripted and 14 unscripted titles across Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Looking ahead, we have no intention of scaling back and remain committed to delivering a strong and engaging lineup,” she said.
Prime Video also announced the global launch on March 7 of its flagship Swedish dystopian crime show “Paradis City,” based on best-selling novelist Jens Lapidus’ eponymous stand-alone novel.
Fanny Herrero-Henriette Steenstrup Showrunning Tales
At TV Drama Vision keynotes, both showrunners won over the audience with open, instructive, inspiring and even humorous accounts of their careers as showrunners. However, the French writer of the hit show “Call My Agent” complained about her gender-bias experience on the series originally ordered by France 2. “You wouldn’t believe the efforts I put into trying to be diplomat with the men [colleagues]. I wish I had spent more time just doing my job,” she said while adding that the lack of consideration for her status as writer eventually led to her departure after Season 3.
Trends in Private Coin
Asked by Muselaers whether new private financiers working in branding and product placement were entering the European TV drama market as in feature film, Perius said: “Mediawan has its own division dedicated to luxury brands investing in film, but nothing is happening yet in TV.” She said the French group is also looking into collaborations with impact organisations, to expand the reach of important messages at the core of some TV series. This is more urgent than ever in today’s climate,” she observed.
Ace Nordic Series Script Nominees and winner
Sweden’s “Pressure Point” written by Pelle Rådström, snagged the coveted Nordic Series Script Award, but the other four series and their writing talents – “Families like Ours”’ Thomas Vinterberg and Bo Hr. Hansen, “Money Shot”’s Jemina Jokisalo, “Quisling”’s Anne Bache-Wiig & Siv Rajendram Eliassen and “The School of Housewives’” Arnór Pálmi Arnarson, Jóhanna Friðrika Sæmundsdóttir – showcased the wealth of storytelling in the Nordics and versatility of talent such as the Oscar-winning Vinterberg, making his long-form fiction debut.
AI Common Practice
Of course, AI was the guest star of the playful – and last-session – “Steve Against the Machine-Reloaded.“ This time, Steve Matthews, the newly-promoted head of scripted, creative, Banijay Entertainment, had to guess which logline for a crime show was written by AI or by Jan-Trygve Røyneland, screenwriter at Scanbox Production – and Steve won! During the session, moderated in a lively fashion by Marike Muselaers, Matthews admitted that contrary to his early scepticism about AI, he now uses it for short loglines or pitching, “but definitely not for writing,” while Røyneland said he commonly uses it for research. That comment was echoed by Anna-Klara Carlsten, producer at Media Res Studio. “AI makes me more efficient” she admitted.
