For the second year in a row, Nik and I were the pitching coaches at the Nordic Animation Pitching in Helsinki Finland
For the second year in a row, Nik and I were the pitching coaches at the Nordic Animation Pitching in Helsinki Finland from the 30th of October to the 1st of November.This edition was also open to the Baltic countries for the first time. From the numerous applications, seven projects were selected to be pitched: two from Finland, one from Sweden, two Danish projects, and one each from Estonia and Latvia.
Films in all animation techniques were eligible so there was a wide variety of stories and styles. I began work online with the participants six weeks before we met in person.At our initial meeting, we talked about how to construct an effective pitch and what are the important points that you can’t leave out, such as what stage your production is at and what age group is the film targeted at.
It is also important to state what the projected budget is and if you already have some funding, how much you already have and where is it from, as well as what are you looking for at the pitching forum besides money, ie: a producer, script consultation, distributor, etc. By the second Zoom meeting, the pitchers are hopefully on their way to finishing their presentation.Of course, they are all at different levels of English language skills and confidence in public speaking; how many more Zoom meetings we have depends on how much more work each person needs.
Ideally, by the time we finally meet in person, they have their pitch memorized and we can work on fine-tuning their presentation and making sure that their presentation is within the time limit.I also spend a lot of time soothing nerves and building self-confidence. Nik performed the all-important job of teaching microphone techniques and stage presence.
It really helps build confidence in pitchers to be able to work with the mic and check their visual material where they will give their presentations. All of the pitches were excellent.The members of the jury, Kerdi Kuusik-Oengo, producer at Nuku Films in Estonia; Commissioning Editor at YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) Sari Volanen; and Rune Spaans, Norwegian animator and director, selected the project by Finnish animator Veronica Solomon to receive the €1,000 Best Nordic Pitch Award.
The documentary film, now in the early stages of production, deals with the serious subject of the relationship between a mother and her young child and how you deal with your young child slapping your face? It is a topic that is seldom talked about but needs to be discussed.Animation is the perfect medium for this film. The jury “praised the presentation’s clarity, the originality of the idea, and the visually cohesive style”.
The personal style and sensitive tone of the idea resonated with the audience and captured the jury’s interest. This was Veronica’s first time pitching a project.About the experience, she wrote me “I am one of those (many) artists and especially animators who is terrified of pitching.
And this time was even more difficult since my project is a documentary on a quite sensitive subject and even more so since it is partly autobiographical.The film I have in development means to shine light on the realities of adults who have experienced abuse in their childhood homes and their approach to parenthood.Having been selected, going through the training, the pitch and getting some immediate feedback was a very valuable experience, especially in assessing how the audience would react to the subject.
I know for certain now that this is a story worth telling.” As of this writing, Veronica is still looking for a producer and additional funding for her claymation project. The second prize, a one-year Toom Boom license, went to Swedish director Jonas Hjolm for Jonas’ fifty-two-episode television series is in development.It features two ten-year-olds growing up in a deserted Scandinavian town.
They have the ability to enter each other’s minds to deal with their new emotions as they enter adolescence.The series is aimed at six-to-nine-year-olds.Iranian-born Maryam Khalizadeh lives and works in Finland.
Her project, was awarded a Special Mention.The beautifully drawn film is a tribute to home, country and the memories that homemade soup evokes in all of us.I think that all seven projects are winners and I look forward to seeing them on the big screen.
During the three days, there was a Master Class given by Antti Haikalo, CEO of Aima Vitae.The Helsinki animation studio is known for the CGI feature film The film was nominated for Best Feature Film at the European Film Awards in 2009.There were also screenings of award-winning Swedish short films in the evening and another program of 2024 award-winning films from the Turku (Finland) Animation Festival.
Screenings were also organized for schools in Helsinki which were attended by approximately 350 students and their teachers. The Baltic Pitch was held in Konjaamo Kino, a theater/meeting/event space located in wonderfully renovated old tram halls.The space was a perfect place for us - Nik and I each had our own private room with projection equipment.
The theater, with excellent projection equipment and sound system, was perfect for the pitching competition.The Konjaamo also serves lunch and dinner in their café and delicious lunches were served to the entire group of pitchers and crew. The Nordic Animation Pitch in Helsinki was an excellent event, but sadly soon after we returned home from Helsinki, we received the news that there have been funding cuts for the pitching project for next year so we are now looking for another place to move the event to.
I have been told that we are not alone in getting our funding cut.In Finland, due to the right-wing government, funding for culture has been drastically cut and they have stopped all support to artist’s associations which are funded under €20,000.The result is that twenty-six arts associations have lost their support completely.
This is terrible news for independent animators. This was only the second year of the Nordic Pitching Project, but with the high quality of the projects that were presented this year I feel that given a chance Nordic Pitching would have turned into a major force for Nordic and Baltic animators to showcase their projects to producers, distributors, and other members of the animation community.” In response to the news that the project has been canceled, Veronica Solomon said “It is truly heartbreaking to find out that the event was discontinued after only 2 editions.Aside from being a good sparing ground for artists, it had the potential to increase Finland’s significance in the animation industry”.
Even though we were in Helsinki for a very short time, it was not all work.One evening we had dinner with our friend Heikki Jokinen, a Helsinki journalist, at the historic Elite restaurant, located in the Reitz House, built in 1938.Lauri Reitz was one of the great builders of his time; between 1927 and 1952 he built more than twenty apartment buildings, cinemas, cafes and villas in and around Helsinki.
His work was known for its high quality and technical innovations. The elegant Elite is known as an artist’s restaurant as well as for its preservation of Finnish culture.The walls are adorned with works by local artists.
The well-known Finnish actor Tanou Palo frequented the restaurant along with many other artists, actors, and writers.The first table on the right-hand side of the restaurant when you walk in the front door has two small placks honoring Palo and fellow actor and singer Matti Pellonpaa who dined together at that table frequently.Heikki had reserved that table for us.
The food, featuring many classic Finnish dishes, was delicious. Founder and director of EF-TOONS Nadine Labib did an excellent job of putting together and managing The Nordic Pitch.Nadine and animator/visual artist Petteri Cederberg did a wonderful job of making sure that everything ran smoothly during the three-day event.
Nik and I want to thank them for all of their hard work.After a few days at home, we were off to the lovely Portuguese coastal city of Espinho for Cinanima.
