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Below ZERO 2012

January, 18 – 21, 2012. Tromsø, Norway

Below ZERO is an international pitching session for documentary projects focusing on life above the Arctic Circle. No matter where you are based you are welcome to submit your documentary projects concerning all aspects relating to this subject matter. The deadline for submitting your project is on November 28, 2011.

Below ZERO seeks a wide range of documentary projects on all subjects related to life above the Arctic Circle. These can be projects focusing on culture, environment, resources, politics, climate changes and indigenous peoples as well as general human stories.

Filmmakers from all over the World are welcome to submit projects for Below ZERO. Stories with a broad international market appeal are preferred. From the submitted project proposals a maximum of 12 projects will be selected for participation. The working language will be English.

What do previous participants say about Below ZERO?

'Below Zero proved for me as a Director of the film Arctic Dreams invaluable in creating and understanding the needed financial structure of my film, in understanding how a co-production of a film shot in Canada, by a Swedish person working out of a UK based production company should look. As a forum for discussion and in helping you as a film maker to focus your project by conversations with tutors, other film makers and commissioners it helped me enormously in understanding the story I was telling and gave the project a great backing for getting the funding I was looking for as well as a very good introduction to several of the European commissioners.'

Marcus Werner Hed, director, Pundersons Gardens, UK
Below ZERO participant with the project ARCTIC DREAMS

The Below ZERO programme

The programme for Below ZERO will consist of:

- a pre-pitching workshop where the selected projects will be developed under guidance from experienced international experts from the documentary business. The workshop will focus on how the projects can be developed in the best possible direction and how the presentation of the project can be optimized

- a pitching session where each project will be pitched in seven minutes for a panel of international financiers and possible future collaborators. The pitch will be followed by a brief round of feedback from the panel and individual meetings between filmmakers and financiers

- networking events to encourage future collaborations between organisations, financiers, producers and filmmakers.

Financiers for the pitching panel

The financiers present for the pitching panel will be a combination of leading European broadcasters, national film institutes and regional film funds. So far the following financiers have confirmed their participation:

Charlotte Gry Madsen, DR International Sales, Denmark

Grigori Libergal, TV Kultura, Rusland

Tore Tomter, Commissioning Editor, NRK, Norway

Hans Erik Voktor, North Norwegian Film Center, Norway

Stefan Kloos, Rise and Shine World Sales, Germany

Sirel Peensaar, Filmpool Nord, Sverige

Svein Andersen, FilmCamp, Norway

Stig Andersen, Film Consultant, Norwegian Film Institute, Norway

Ulrike Dotzer, Commissioning Editor, NDR-ARTE, Germany

How to participate

The deadline for submitting your project was November 28, 2011. The following projects have been selected for participation:

There Will Be Some Who Will Not Fear Even That Void Saeed Taji Farouky & Marie-Therese Garvey, Tourist With A Typewriter. UK

The Whisperers David Kinsella, David Kinsella productions AS Norway

ESRO - A Norwegian Space Odyssey Lars Einar Skageberg & Eric Vogel, Tordenfilm AS. Norway

Escimo Diva Lene Stæhr & Lene Børglum, Space Rocket Nation Aps. Denmark

Wonderworld of Ice Illkka Rautio & Pertti Veijalainen, Illume Ltd. Finland

Cut off by mountains, connected by rivers Tamara Souchko & Rod Morris, Webbon HB / Roadfactoryfilms. Sweden / UK

Heroes of Faith Ann Holmgren & Silja Espolin Johnson, Medieoperatørene AS. Norway

The Musher, The Handler and the Husky Trond Brede Andersen & Mona Steffensen, Original Films AS. Norway

Visionary Violence Hilde Korsæth, Tundra Film AS. Norway

Heralds from the Big World Tatyana Soboleva & Vlad Ketkovich, Ethnogeographic Research Foundation. Russia

Pizzeria Finlandia Heli Sorjonen & Miia Haavisto, Helsinki-Filmi. Finland

Break Silence Erik Smith-Meyer & John Arvid Berger, Jabfilm. Norway

Background on Below ZERO

The Below ZERO event was initiated in 2009 in order to bring together filmmakers, producers, financiers and organisations whose common interest is documentaries thematically rooted in the Northern Polar region. Building on the success of the first three editions of Below ZERO, this fourth edition will further strengthen and develop the international network for documentaries made around or focusing on the Arctic region. Below ZERO is set in Tromsø, Northern Norway, during the last days of the polar night.