Nordic cinema reaches for a bigger stage
A new Los Angeles studio and a targeted showcase at the European Film Market are working in tandem to push Nordic film and TV beyond its traditional boundaries. The LA-based outfit has one clear brief: find strong Scandinavian stories, help develop them and build them into properties that travel — whether as remakes, franchises or streaming hits. At the same time the EFM introduced “Spotlight on the Nordics,” a works-in-progress strand that put ten feature projects in front of buyers, festival programmers and potential co-producers.
What’s changed is less about the stories themselves than about the routes to audiences. Executives in Los Angeles and dealmakers in Berlin are increasingly hunting for regionally rooted scripts and formats with international potential. Market activity and deal flow suggest U.S. and continental European companies are more willing to invest in, package and scale Nordic IP than they were a few years ago. The combined effort aims to transform local voices into films and series that can carry across territories and platforms.
A Los Angeles bridge for Nordic IP
Northern Lights Studios — co-founded by producers Christian D. Bruun and Asger Hussain — launches with a slate of more than 20 film and television projects sourced across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Greenland. The company’s working method is hands-on: collaborate directly with authors, publishers and rights holders to shape packages that appeal to international buyers.
Backing comes in part from Bo H. Holmgreen of Viking Sunset Studios Bali, who brings production muscle: soundstages, equipment and logistics. That transcontinental footprint is deliberate. By combining Scandinavian creative DNA with global production capacity, the venture hopes to remove one of the biggest practical barriers for Nordic stories — limited scale and inflexible shooting windows — and make those projects easier to finance and distribute.
Market figures reflect that strategy. Producers are increasingly open to hybrid production models that pair Nordic source material with overseas facilities and co-producers. That flexibility can broaden investor interest and give sales agents clearer commercial hooks to pitch.
Why Los Angeles matters
A Los Angeles base gives the studio proximity to talent, distributors and the people who greenlight bigger deals. Face-to-face meetings speed up negotiations; access to agents and platform development teams can shorten the time from concept to commitment. But the goal isn’t to dilute what makes Nordic cinema distinct — the studio says it wants to protect cultural specificity while making stories commercially viable.
Early slate choices underline that balancing act. The line-up mixes intimate dramas and commercially angled features, including an original film inspired by a real-life Formula 1 story. Such variety creates multiple entry points for different territories and platforms: prestige festival hopefuls, genre-oriented buyers and mainstream streaming audiences alike.
Spotlight on the Nordics at EFM
At the European Film Market, the “Spotlight on the Nordics” day brought together the region’s five national film institutes to present ten late-stage projects. The idea was pragmatic: raise visibility, secure finishing funds and connect titles with international sales agents and festival programmers. Attendees included buyers, programmers and co-producers looking for festival-ready additions to their slates.
The projects on show emphasized distinct regional voices while aiming for clear international appeal — stories that can resonate outside their countries of origin without losing their texture. By matching producers with finishing finance and sales partners at the market, organisers wanted to shorten the journey from post-production to distribution.
Works-in-progress to watch
- – Woman, Unknown (Denmark), dir. May el-Toukhy — A restrained post-war psychological period piece about social mobility and concealed wartime relationships. Its intimate scope makes it a natural candidate for prestige festival placements.
- Halima (Finland), dir. Naima Mohamud — Follows a ten‑year‑old Somali girl in 1998 as she navigates displacement and dreams of stardom against Finland’s changing social landscape.
- Saturn Return (Sweden), dir. Agnes Skonare Karlsson — An ensemble drama about three sisters confronting long-brewing fractures during a birthday weekend; a close‑quarters study of family dynamics.
- Polyorama (Iceland), dir. Graeme Maley — Set inside a city theatre, this script probes the porous border between performance and private history, opening possibilities for theatrical crossover.
- Fighter (Norway/Sweden), dir. Irasj Asanti — A sports drama following a young woman balancing MMA ambitions with cultural and family expectations; it blends genre momentum with social realism.
These titles pair distinctive locales with character-driven stakes — the kinds of combinations that tend to attract co-producers and festival programmers looking for both voice and marketability.
Industry implications and co‑production momentum
What’s changed is less about the stories themselves than about the routes to audiences. Executives in Los Angeles and dealmakers in Berlin are increasingly hunting for regionally rooted scripts and formats with international potential. Market activity and deal flow suggest U.S. and continental European companies are more willing to invest in, package and scale Nordic IP than they were a few years ago. The combined effort aims to transform local voices into films and series that can carry across territories and platforms.0
What’s changed is less about the stories themselves than about the routes to audiences. Executives in Los Angeles and dealmakers in Berlin are increasingly hunting for regionally rooted scripts and formats with international potential. Market activity and deal flow suggest U.S. and continental European companies are more willing to invest in, package and scale Nordic IP than they were a few years ago. The combined effort aims to transform local voices into films and series that can carry across territories and platforms.1
What this means for creators and buyers
What’s changed is less about the stories themselves than about the routes to audiences. Executives in Los Angeles and dealmakers in Berlin are increasingly hunting for regionally rooted scripts and formats with international potential. Market activity and deal flow suggest U.S. and continental European companies are more willing to invest in, package and scale Nordic IP than they were a few years ago. The combined effort aims to transform local voices into films and series that can carry across territories and platforms.2
What’s changed is less about the stories themselves than about the routes to audiences. Executives in Los Angeles and dealmakers in Berlin are increasingly hunting for regionally rooted scripts and formats with international potential. Market activity and deal flow suggest U.S. and continental European companies are more willing to invest in, package and scale Nordic IP than they were a few years ago. The combined effort aims to transform local voices into films and series that can carry across territories and platforms.3