Opening Industry Day
A talk about Contemporary Nordic storytelling
How are the ideas that form the basis of a story shaped? Most of the time we look at the ideas behind a story in later phases, as more or less developed projects.
In collaboration with The Cross Media School of Children’s Fiction m:brane shines light on the first steps of a project: the story, or the manuscript.
Children’s entertainment is widely dominated by international brands like Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol and PJ Masks. But some Nordic productions still manage to create successful stories with a local frame of reference. What is the secret behind this Nordic storytelling for kids? And how can you educate the writers of tomorrow in this perspective?
With a two year long educational program at the Danish Cross Media School of Children’s Fiction faces these questions. Are the classic art school programs still relevant in this context? And which new disciplines should future content developers learn, to meet the current challenges for Nordic storytelling?
Elin Algreen-Petersen
Is head of The Cross Media School of Children’s Fiction in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before that she was busy spotting and developing great stories in the children’s publishing business for 20 years – the last part as editor in chief of Children‘s & YA at Gyldendal.
Dennis Glintborg
Worked at DR with children’s radio, games and digital from 2008-2017. Studied creative writing from 2010-2012. Joined Gyldendal to work with children’s literature from 2017-2020. Now teacher at The Cross Media School in DK.
FAQ – A Snapchat show about societal questions
As part of m:brane’s Focus: France producer Alexandre Brachet will deliver a case study of the Snapchat show FAQ during the Opening Industry Day.
Ultra short documentaries – How can we create engaging documentaries aimed at social media platforms for a youth audience? How can storytelling that is strong and engaging be created, when the conditions are an ultra short format?
Snapchat is one of the most used apps by young audiences and what would be more logical then, than to create storytelling that fits this format?
Since 2019, ARTE (French / German public broadcaster) has offered Snapchat users a weekly program. It is called “FAQ” and is produced by Upian. FAQ deals with subjects like the environment, feminism, and culture. It targets an audience of young teenagers and young adults (aged 13-24).
A few examples of FAQ’s questions: Can we really act for the Uyghurs ? What is environmental racism ? Do you want to do a DNA test to discover your ancestry ? Do you feel comfortable with your gender ? Is money a problem within your couple ? How can I help a friend who has experienced sexual violence ?
In his case study Alexandre Brachet will deepen the perspective for m:brane’s participants on how to create a space for Young Audiences, where they both want to discuss and acquire new knowledge about societal questions.
Alexandre Brachet
Alexandre Brachet is the founder and CEO of Upian. Founded in 1998 as both a digital design studio and an interactive production company, Upian has become one of the world’s major players in the area of web documentary and the intersection of documentary cinema and digital storytelling. The company has produced among others: Thanatorama (2007), Gaza-Sderot (2008), Prison Valley (2010), Alma, a tale of violence (2012), Do Not Track (2015), How to Make a Ken Loach Film (2016), Generation What (2013-2019) or Earn a living (2018), Internet of everything (2019), Unmaze (2021), Am I normal 2022).
Of Heros and Values – a panel in collaboration with KIDS Regio
How to tell compelling stories of sustainability for the young audiences
The issue of climate protection has long been talked about – and is now increasingly making its way |into audiovisual media. From the production side that means respecting the environment, limiting the exploitation of resources, and implementing improved working conditions.
But sustainability in the film industry needs to be tackled from the content perspective as well. By renewing narratives and proposing sustainable and desirable alternatives to current societal models, Green Storytelling is encouraging viewers to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. When it comes to a young audience, there is a growing responsibility to educate young viewers and to meet their expectations about narrative worlds.
Throughout this panel we want to discuss principles of sustainability and how they can be located in the stories and settings of films for the young audiences -without them having to be environmentally or politically oriented per se. In addition to experts who will inform and discuss the topic, best practices projects will be presented and talked about.
Panelists/speakers:
Martin Tischner, Director & Project Manager at megaherz film und fernsehen, DE
Alissa Aubenque, Producer, Calista Films, FR
Ronny Fritsche, Producer at Avokadofilm, SE
Moderator: Elisabeth Wenk, Project Manager at KIDS Regio, DE
Tell me something new! – In Collaboration with KIDS Regio
How to tell relevant real live stories for the young audiences
Storytelling for the young audiences is different from storytelling for grown-ups, but it’s just as (if not more) important. With a generation that is deeply aware of the world around them and all the issues that come with a complex society, it is important to tell stories that can help navigate through troubled waters. The narrative power of film making can not only make us see something new, but it can also diversify our understanding of the world around us. Within this 90 Minute session, we want to present best practices that tell real live stories for young audiences from different perspectives and show us why storytelling matters. We will dive into the experience of pitching a project in front of a jury of young experts and decision makers at the m:brane initiative REALYOUNG and how that had a positive impact on the outcome in its storytelling. Furthermore, we will talk about one’s own perspective in telling biographical stories of the past for an audience of today and investigate the filmmaker’s own perspective on his subjects.
The panel includes director Martijn Blekendaal, who in 2019 attended REALYOUNG©, Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, who has worked with documentaries for children for over a decade and Andre Hörmann who teaches film and works as a director, producer and writer in LA, Munich and Berlin.
Sign up for the online participation
The panel is moderated by Elisabeth Wenk from KIDS Regio
Speakers:
Martijn Blekendaal, Director, The Netherlands
Martijn Blekendaal was born in Amsterdam. He studied History and Art History at the University of Amsterdam. After that he worked for several Dutch broadcasters (NTR, VPRO, VARA) as a director and researcher. In 2009 he won the IDFA Mediafund prize documentary. In 2018 his short documentary THE MAN WHO LOOKED BEYOND THE HORIZON was awarded with the Special Jury Award for youth documentary at idfa.
Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, Director, Latvia
Ilze Burkovska- Jacobsen is a Latvian born film director living and working in both Norway and Latvia. She has done eight documentaries and more than 20 hours of TV animation-/ documentary series. The last ten years Ilze, and her production company Bivrost Film, have worked on “My Favorite War” as well as on several animated documentary series for children with topics like abuse and violence. She and her team won an International Emmy Award for “My Body Belongs to Me” in 2018.
Andre Hörmann, Director, Germany
Andre Hörmann studied political science and directing and graduated the Professionals Program in Screenwriting at UCLA, Los Angeles. His films have been shown and awarded at many prestigious international festivals such as Sundance, IDFA, DOK Leipzig, Hiroshima Int. Animation Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, TIFF Toronto. He teaches film and works as a director, producer and writer in LA, Munich and Berlin. His last Documentary Ringside premiered at Berlinale and was released in the US on Showtime in 2020. He just finished his first Live Action Feature Night Forest.
This program point is supported by Creative Europe Desk Berlin-Brandenburg
ArtMinute: Experimental animation project opens up the experience of art at museums
– by Zentropa, Die Asta Experience & Artmuseum Brandts.
ArtMinute is a cross-diciplinary new culture format, created by a unique collaboration between a film company, a museum and a company specialized in interaction with the audience, online and physical.
Asta Wellejus, Die Asta Experience, gives a unique insight into the backstage of the project. Its goals, cross collaborative methods, work processes and results.
ArtMinute is a creative experiment between film- and museumexperience. The mission is to open up any artwork for the audience, in any museum, from any region or country, by creating short intense animated stories. The stories are between 2.5 – 4 min. They must be able to be enjoyed and understood without any prior knowledge of the painting, the artist or the time period. ArtMinute was invented by Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Asta Wellejus (Zentropa and Die Asta Experience) – inspired by projects they had both prior done in museums. ArtMinute1 – The Perfect, Selfie, is the first film in the ArtMinutes series. It is currently exhibited at the permanent exhibition at Brandts Museum, Odense, Denmark, in the home city of writer Hans Christian Andersen. The first ArtMinute film tells the story of the Danish painter Jens Juhl journey, in his search for his inner voice, through travels all over Europe – and by the help of the old master, Rembrandt. Or as one of the youths from the many test audience said:”he travelled to find his own voice”.
The film has so far been selected for more than 26 festivals internationally, and has won a variety of prizes. To the big surprise of the team, as very experimental films often tend to play at a small number of niche festivals.
The project is funded by Culture Region Funen, under their “innovative new culture experiences and collaborations” framework.
Asta Wellejus, CEO, Die Asta Experience, Denmark
Digital director and producer, Asta Wellejus, CEO Die Asta Experience, is a Danish entrepreneur and pioneer with more than 22 years of experience working with developing and producing interactive projects, together with countless industry partners nationwide as well as internationally in both Europe, Southwest Asia, and Northamerica. Asta Wellejus was headhunted out of university in 1997 by Lars Von Trier, to develop new types of narratives and experiences based on roleplaying for Zentropa. Since then she has been creating new hybrid formats to challenge film, games, museums, classical music and learning. Her speciality is creating new interactive audience experiences, with crossdiciplinary teams. She has created 40 + digital projects, roleplays, learning games and installations. Examples of customers and collaborators: The Danish National Museum, Sony, Danish broadcast, Channel4, Copenhagen University, YLE, VIA multiplatform storytelling and production, RTS Switzerland amongst others.
Case examples:
