“The north and arctic region is a big part of TIFF’s identity and we do feel a certain responsibility to highlight these films and the environments from where they tell their stories”, John-Kristian Dalseth told us, in view of the upcoming Tromsø International Film Festival (17-23 January 2022).
Up to now, the northernmost film festival we reported on was located in Malmö, Sweden – when we had the honor of being invited to cover the 32nd Nordisk Panorama Film Festival. Today, we are taking you even further up north, to an exceptional, one-of-a-kind hotspot for high-end film works to be discovered in unique conditions! Located in the city of Tromsø, Norway, Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) has been running since 1991. With over 10,000 visitors for its 2020 edition, the TIFF has established itself as an important meeting point for the Norwegian and international film industry, and will unfold in 2022 from January 17th to 23rd. To mark and strengthen its support towards filmmakers from the Northern periphery, the festival also runs a sidebar section entitled Films from the North.
On the occasion of the release of the 2022 lineup of the Films from the North program, we were delighted to interview John-Kristian Dalseth, program director of the section, and head of communications of the TIFF, to delve into the identity and specificity of this film section, and to give you a taste of what celebrating films in Tromsø looks like.
This year’s Films from the North program consists of a total of 42 short films, documentaries and feature films. There will be 15 world premieres of films made in Northern Norway, by both up-and-coming young directors as well as well-established filmmakers.
Hi John-Kristian, which kind of films is the Films from the North section made for?
John-Kristian Dalseth: Films from the North is a sidebar section of the festival that only features films from – or connected – to the Barents Region and other circumpolar areas. So this means films from the north of Norway, Sweden and Finland. In addition, we also include films from Canada, Russia and most recently Iceland. When the program first started it was mainly for shorts and short docs, but for the past three years we have also started to include feature films in the program. The program is filled with all different kinds of films, both in genre and style, and this is what makes the program so fascinating – and popular. The Films from the North screenings at TIFF are traditionally the first ones to be sold out once our ticket sales open!
Can you talk us through the selection process? What are you looking for when discovering the submissions?
John-Kristian Dalseth: Films from the North is the only program at TIFF that is open for submissions. We open in September and our submission deadline is October 20. Usually, we get around 200 submissions and out of these approximately 130 to 160 meet the necessary guidelines and qualify for consideration. This year we approved 145 films and out of these around 40 will be selected for the official program. The program committee most often consist of three people, the program director and two additional members from outside the film festival. I like to hire filmmakers to be part of the committee and try to involve people with different backgrounds and identities. For this upcoming festival we have an editor/director from Tromsø and a director/producer/musician from Kautokeino, as well as a film consultant – who is actually serving as program manager for the upcoming festival as I am currently also substituting as Head of Communications for the festival – from Tvibit, a cultural hub and production center in Tromsø.
“I hope every filmmaker decides to visit TIFF at least once in their career and if they do, I’m pretty sure I can guarantee it won’t be their last.”
Can you observe common topics that are treated in those films from the North?
John-Kristian Dalseth: It’s always exciting to embark on a new batch of submitted films because you never know what you’re going to get! There are films of all kinds of genres, made by filmmakers who are fully professional or fresh faced amateurs – and everyone in between! You do notice common topics from year to year, and it is often influenced by the state of the world or themes that have been universally recognizable the past year. For instance, this year and last we saw many films dealing with the pandemic. We’ve also seen an increase in films that are connected to ideas or themes of climate change or social injustice.
How important is it for the TIFF to highlight filmmakers from the Northern periphery ecosystems?
John-Kristian Dalseth: Very important. The north and arctic region is a big part of TIFF’s identity and we do feel a certain responsibility to highlight these films and the environments from where they tell their stories. That’s why we’ve also seen the Films from the North program expand over the years, in accordance to the festival. Not just because there is an interest in these types of films from the audience, but also because the film industry in the Barents region is very healthy and growing fast. I’m actually surprised there aren’t more film festivals presenting films from these regions. There are some of course, but I believe Films from the North should have an audience spanning further than just inside the Nordic countries. That’s also why we occasionally send sections of the program out for screenings in other parts of the world.
More generally, how would you describe the identity and atmosphere of the TIFF?
TIFF has a very strong identity and an atmosphere that I honestly believe you do not find at any other festivals. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to a variety of film festivals, both big and smaller, and whenever I do I always come away from them thinking that TIFF can supply more of an experience than any other. It’s not just because we have an exotic location and take place in the middle of winter during the season when there is no sun above the arctic circle, but also because TIFF has a big city feeling for a rather small place. Tromsø has always had that. And the festival does not just happen in one or two cinemas, we take over the entire city when we put on our festival, and you can not walk any street in the city center without knowing that TIFF is going on. Every venue is in walking distance to the next, the bars are all full of happy film-loving people, you can run into a major filmmaker while waiting in line for your next film, or fall into a conversation with a young director who is there showing his or her film for the first time. I hope every filmmaker decides to visit TIFF at least once in their career and if they do, I’m pretty sure I can guarantee it won’t be their last.
Acknowledgements: John-Kristian Dalseth and Tromsø International Film Festival.
