Northern Script 2022

 LOCAL SCRIPT TRAINING PROGRAMS 2022

The Northern Script 2022 project made history by getting more young people to participate in the local workshops (158 persons) and send more scripts (64 scripts) than ever before. Because of the funding NS 2022 was able to spread to all Nordic countries and regions and network with the local Youth & Film orientated associations there.

The project succeeded in including young people in the process of producing the Northern Script Events. We wanted to hear the voice of the Nordic youth and that is why The Northern Script Youth Committee was established. Its members were from all the Nordic countries. The Youth Committee was in charge of the NS 2022 theme and their opinions were taken into account when planning the annual camp. The Committee also had several online Film lectures during which an open dialogue was introduced between the Film Experts and the participants.

The local scriptwriting workshops in different Nordic countries were organised as a mixture of theory & practice. The workshops were kept both remotely and live in the participants’ Nordic mother language. The remote workshop -model made it possible for people from different regions to join the event. All in all it was easier to find Nordic youth for the workshops as the project had regional Nordic co-partners to find, connect and network with the youth. Only the Nordic minority areas (Åland, Faroe Islands and Greenland) had a challenge in finding the young people to participate in the local workshops. The problem is now recognized and local solutions are made with the help of the Northern Script partners, participants and social media.


Northern Script Workshops 2022

Northern Script Partners in each Nordic country organized 6 different workshops in the native language of the participants. Despite their huge marketing efforts, only Åland Islands, Greenland and Faroe Islands couldn’t keep the local workshops this year due to local circumstances. However, the positive thing is that the project was able to establish completely new but solid partnerships from all of the Nordic countries. Thus it would be easier to continue searching anc connecting with local youth in the future.

All local media and social media in this project used local Nordic languages in the marketing of the NS 2022 project. For instance the NS partners in the Greenland and Sami community did use Greenlandic and different Sami dialects in their pursuit to market Northern Script workshops in their own local media. The links to the published articles can be found attached later in this report.

Northern Script local workshop partners in 2022 were:

NUFF Norwegian Youth Film Festival

BUFF Swedish Children’s and Youth Film Festival

Åland Film Commission

Odense Filmværksted, Denmark

The Icelandic Film School

Klippfisk, Faroe Islands

Filmiliortarfik, Greenland

Skábma – The Indegenous Peoples’ Film Centre, Sápmi


Northern Script Camp 2022 participants and their scripts

Mimmi Riikonen, 22,  (Ei tippa tapa) FINLAND

Anna Hirvi, 25, (Release it) FINLAND

Kerttu Pakkasvirta (Varas Ikkunassa) FINLAND

Ester Melin Högberg (Katten och Musen) SWEDEN

Brage Grindeland, 23,  & Kjetil-Heimdall Hansen, (Unwanted) NORWAY

Emma Finot, 21, (Strike) DENMARK 

Khali Hashi (Det er sidste gang) DENMARK

Rebekka Rut Svansdóttir, 22, (Rapture) ICELAND

Sølvi Næs Hoydal, 19, (Tonigh was the night) FAROE ISLANDS


Northern Script Camp 2022 – Werewolves, Films, Snowfall & lots of Storytelling

From the very first evening the participants hit it off and made true connections with each other. Rebekka Rut Svasdottir, a Northern Script finalist from Iceland made quite an entrance to the camp by introducing a fun storytelling game called ‘Werewolf. The ‘Werewolf’ game’ got all the camp participants to relax and get to know each other through storytelling, fantasy, imagination AND a lot of humor.

The game settled the spirit of the camp from the very early on and got everyone out of their shells to trust one another in a welcoming mood.

THREE NORDIC SHORT FILMS

This year the Northern Script made history as we collaborated for the first time ever with the local Film students of OSAO Vocational College, from Oulu Finland. Young Nordic scriptwriters from all over the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland & Faroe Islands) wrote together three short films with the help of their mentor, a Finnish professional scriptwriter, Milla Tuokkola. During the writing process, the writers were in contact with the local Film students who made the casting, edited & shot the short films. 

Once the camp started, the Nordic writers and the Finnish Film students finally met each other for real and got to see the modern facilities of the OSAO Media department in Oulu, Finland. At the OSAO school the Nordic writers & the local film makers made an introduction video of themselves and the writers followed a bit of the raw cut editing process of the short films as well.

SCRIPTWRITING WORKSHOPS BY NORDIC TALENTS

Most of the camp relied on the scriptwriting workshops held by magnificent Faroese film director Andrias Høgenni and the excellent Icelandic actress and scriptwriter Kolbrún Anna Björnsdóttir. 

Andrias Høgenni

Andrias Høgenni is a Faroese film director who moved to Denmark in 2009. He graduated from Super16 in 2018, and his thesis-film “Ikki illa meint” won the Canal+ Award for best short film at Semaine de la Critique in the Cannes 2019 festival. It also won the Danish Academy Award (Robert) for best short film the same year. He has since directed two Tv-series for Danmarks Radio. The latest one being “Ingen vej tilbage”, which premiered on DRTV in 2022

Kolbrún Anna Björnsdóttir 

Kolbrún Anna Björnsdóttir is an Icelandic actress and scriptwriter, working both on stage and screen since her graduation from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Kolbrún Anna co-founded and ran two independent theatre companies: Theatre of the Republic and Ekka Dance Theatre, the latter pioneering in dance theatre in Iceland. 

Kolbrún Anna has been working as a teacher in addition to her work as an artist and is currently the Head of Acting and Movement at the Icelandic Film School. She is also a published author of children’s fiction and educational materials. Kolbrún Anna recently wrote and acted in the 8-part TV-drama FRACTURES, airing in 2022, based on her original idea. The series was co-written with Vala Thorsdottir and co-created with Vala Thorsdottir and Eva Sigurdardottir.

The Northern Script workshops focused both on the theory of storytelling and the character creation as well as practical exercises about feedback and pitching. One of the most memorable exercises was given at the end of the camp when the participants were asked to go outside to the snowy streets of Oulu to observe people and choose one person to write a fictional character analysis.
Once back inside the participants in pairs of two had to create a story where two of these fictional characters met. All the stories created by the finalists turned out to be really fascinating and it was a perfect way to teach in a practical way about character creation and its importance in a story.


DIVERSITY IN FILMS

On Friday, Venla Hellstedt, a Finnish producer from Tuffi Films, came to hold a lecture about the scripts with diversity and about the presentation on the films. Hellstedt really got the participants to talk freely about the subject. In the end it was concluded that as much as diversity is in everyone’s lips at the moment in the film industry-  it can be considered quite multidimensional and there are no easy answers.

I think many participants got the feeling that whilst acknowledging the diversity issues in the scripts of today, at the end of the day you just have to believe in your story and stay true to yourself no matter what.

PEHKOLA SAUNA EVENING

Besides the scriptwriting workshops, the participants of the camp got nearly VIP treatment by the Oulu Film Festival. Each Northern Script finalist got VIP tickets to the Oulu Film festival and also invitations to some VIP Film events. One of the high points of the week was certainly our trip by bus to Pehkola Sauna which was situated in the middle of a thick forest and pure white snow. After our arrival to Pehkola, we all got to taste the most delicious salmon soup and afterwards to bathe with the international film directors, scriptwriters and producers in the guest saunas. In the mist of the sauna – everyone feels equal. Therefore the communication between the professionals of the film industry and the Northern Script finalists was absolutely genuine and effortless.

OULU FILM FESTIVAL

Northern Script camp is always held at the same time as the Oulu International Children’s and Youth Film Festival. Each year the festival organizes some film screenings for the Northern Script finalists. This year was no exception. First we were invited to view a long feature film called, Freeskate,  by Roope Olenius and scriptwriter Veera W. Vilo. The idea for the script came from Vilo’s own past in the world of gymnastics. The script wanted to show the brutal and somewhat impossible requirements of the sports industry towards young girls. Some of the scenes were brutal to watch but important to see. The side role by Finnish actress,Leena Uotila, was spot on. Afterwards the finalists were given a chance to ask multiple questions from both the director and the scriptwriter.

In the evening we were invited to watch a new children’s film ‘Detective Agency Henkka & Kivimutka’ by directors Väinö Weckström and Jarkko Felin. The script was based on the book series by Kalle Vierto. It was delightful to see such a colorful and truly well done Finnish children’s film with a positive message.
At the end of the Northern Script camp, the whole audience of the Oulu Film Festival, the Northern Script finalists & the local OSAO Film students were all invited to a first ever screening of the three common Nordic Short Films. The films were written by the Nordic Northern Script finalists together in small groups and shot & edited by the local OSAO Film students. Each of the project participants got diplomas of the hard work they had done during the autumn 2022 in front of the live audience in the Valve Cultural Centre. Hopefully these diplomas will help the participants in their search to pursue a career in the film industry.