Names in the News

- Archive 2008

Aki Kaurismäki has received the honorary title of Academician of Arts. The title is given to persons of outstanding merit representing science and arts. The title can be held by a maximum of eight artists at any one time and the Arts Council of Finland nominated Kaurismäki following the death of Rauni Mollberg.

Henrik Bo Nielsen, the Danish Film Institute's CEO, is appointed Chairman of the European Think Tank on Film and Film Policy. Henrik Bo Nielsen replaces Anders Geertsen.

Stig Andersen is new documentary film consultant at the Norwegian Film Institute. He is an experienced director and producer and comes from a position as head of the documentary production of Nordisk Film. Stig Andersen is succeeding Bodil Cold-Ravnkilde.

Nils Klevjer Aas, Norway, is elected new Vice Chairman in Eurimages. He is senior consultant at the Norwegian Film Institute and has been the Norwegian representative in Eurimages since 2000.

Henrik Thorson is the new managing director at Film i Värmland. He's succeeding Ulf Nordström.

Olav Øen from Monster and Guri Neby from Einar Film & Fortellinger are new representatives in the Norwegian Producers' Association. They replace Thomas Robsahm from Speranza Film and Helene Hovda Lunde from Monster Commercials.

Michaelle McLean has stepped down as director of the Toronto Documentary Forum, a post she has held since the event's inception nine years ago. The forum has grown during her time as director to become North America's biggest pitching event for the international documentary community. Michaele McLean has stepped down to pursue other professional opportunities, but she will continue her association with Hot Docs.

Roberto Olla, Italy, has been oppointed new Executive Secretary for Eurimages. He comes from a position as administrator of co-production applications at Eurimages.

Thierry Garrel, who has been head of Arte France's documentary department, has qiut the channel after 21 years. He's taking up a job in a multi media project. Thierry Garrel will be replaced by his deputy for the last 13 years, Pierrette Ominetti.

Steffen Andersen-Møller is the new Head of the Audience & Promotion Department at the Danish Film Institute. He comes from a position as Project Director at TV2 Sport, which is run by Viasat and TV2 Denmark.

Elin Erichsen heads the new development section of the Development and Production Department at the Norwegian Film Institute. Erichsen was recently acting director of Norwegian Film Fund.

Bjarte Ytre-Arne is the new head of Distribution and Promotion at the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI). Bjarte Ytre-Arne last held a position as Managing Director of Innovation Studios, and he has previously worked in TV production, documentary filmmaking and commercials. With Ytre-Arne, the fifth and last key position at NFI has been filled. The other four top executives at NFI are Ivar Køhn, Head of Production and Development, Mette Taraldsen, Head of Information, Jan Greff, Head of Administration and Mia Lindrup, Head of Audience.

Kim Christiansen, former Head of Sales at TV2 World, is hired in the new position as Co-production Manager at DR International Sales in Denmark. He will be in charge of international co-productions.

Erkko Lyytinen, established Finnish documentary filmmaker, is replacing Virpi Suutari as Artistic Director of DocPoint Festival in Finland. Suutari leaves DocPoint to continue her career as a filmmaker.

Ola Lund Renolen will be the new Director of Kosmorama Trondheim International Film Festival. As of 1 August, he's taking over from Nina Steen. Until then, he's still working as Managing Director at Midtnorsk Filmsenter. Previously he has a.o. been Festival Director at Tromsø International Film Festival.

Lars Wegendal, the chair of the Nordic Council Culture and Education and Training Committee, resigns in response to the cuts in culture funding in the Council of Ministers' budget for 2009. Wegendal resigns as chair of the Culture and Education and Training Committe but remains a member of the Nordic Council.

Lars Berg (Norske Filmregissører), Sveinung Golimo (Produsentforeningen), Gunnar Ermundson (Norske Dramatikeres Forbund), Agnete Haaland (Norsk Skuespillerforbund) and Sverre Pedersen (Norsk Filmforbund) are the representatives in the new Norwegian advising committee for the film community. The aim of the committee is to coordinate the film community's interests in relation to authorities, media and other institutions.

Antti Toiviainen, currently VP Marketing at FS Film, has been promoted to Managing Director for the Finnish subsidiary of Scandinavian giant AB Svensk Filmindustri.  FS Film has also hired Timo Räisänen as the company's new Marketing Director.

Anders Kjærsgaard Sørensen is the new Head of DR Multimedie. He comes from a position as Director for Aspiro Denmark A/S.

Anu Nissinen has been appointed the new President of SWelcom, the electronic media division of Sanoma WSOY Group and parent company to Finland's commercial channel Nelonen. Nissinen comes from a position as President of SWelcom's cable television operator Welho.

Michael Fleischer, Managing Director of Filmcompagniet, has been appointed Chairman of the association of Danish film distributors FAFID.

Karolina Lidin is, as of 1 June, the new Documentary Consultant at Nordisk Film & TV Fond. She will be in charge of the artistic evaluation and follow up on all supported documentary projects and cultural initiatives. She will also be responsible for workshops and master classes within the field of documentaries. Lidin will be replacing Eva Færevaag who has decided to move on to the new Norwegian Film Institute.

Johan Mardell has stepped down from his position as head of production for Svensk Filmindustri. He will now be working as an independent producer.

Jørgen Ramskov, Nimbus Film, and Vibeke Vogel, Bullitt Film, are new substitute board members of Danish Producers' Association.

Esben Huseby is new CEO and head of Sales of the Nordic TV sales organisation Nordicworld. He was previously co-owner, sales and marketing director for the art-house distribution outfit CCV AS, as well as head of the fully-owned daughter company CCV International AS.

Mikkel Harder Munch-Hansen has been appointed CEO of the newly established Foundation of the Copenhagen Film Festivals, which is the result of the merger between the foundations behind Copenhagen International Film Festival and the Natfilm Festival. He has recently been head of drama at the Royal Danish Theatre.

Søren Stevns is retiring from Media Desk Denmark after almost 17 years as Denmark's "Mr. Media". Søren has been head of the Desk since it opened in Denmark. His successor is yet to be annouced.
 

Janne Pellinen is the new Executive Manager of the Finnish Film Director's Union (SELO) as of the beginning of 2008. He is succeding Sanna Saarikivi.

Arne Notkin, former director of DR's programme Deadline, has been promoted Head of DR2. He takes over from Torben Smidt Hansen, who has filled the position since August, when Gitte Rabøl and Mette Davidsen-Nielsen announced their decision to leave the public broadcaster.

Åsa Garnert has been promoted Head of Information at the Swedish Film Institute. For the last five years she has been working at the Swedish Film Institute, most recently as press officer.

Mette Bock, former editor in chief of Syddanske Medier and pro-rector of the University of Aarhus has been appointed Head of Programme Production at Danish public broadcaster, DR.

Karolina Lidin has joined Danish production company Cosmo Film as associate producer for Cosmo Doc, after finnishing her position as director of Filmkontakt Nord. Furthermore, she will be working on a freelance basis with project development, acquisitions and distribution consultancy, film programming/curating, in addition to moderating, tutoring and seminar activities.

Vigdis Lian steps down as Director of the Norwegian Film Institute. She has worked for the institute for more than 10 years and has been its director since 2001.

Karin Stjärne will be the new Director for Nordisk Film TV Sweden. She will take on her new job on 1 March. She comes from a position as Commisioning Editor and Executive Producer at Sweden's TV4. Karin Stjärne takes over the position from Daniel Klintberg.

Tarmo Kivikallio has been appointed Head of YLE International Programme Acquisitions. Kivikallio has previously worked at YLE as Head of Television Sport. He takes over from Ingegerd Pesonen.

Tobias Lennér has been hired by the Nordic giant Svensk Filmindustri (SF) to head the group's Swedish production and distribution operation. SF's Swedish operation was until now managed directly by Rasmus Ramstad, CEO and President of the group. But SF's gradual move over the last decade from being a Swedish company to a Nordic company has promted SF's decision to appoint a dedicated managing director for the Swedish market. Lennér comes from a position as Managing Director for mobile operator TeliaSonera partners & Retailers.

Anders Geertsen, currently Head of the Audiences and Promotion Department at the Danish Film Institute, is leaving the institute to take on the position of Director General of CIRIUS, an agency under the Danish ministry of education with the aim to support the internationalisation of education and training in Denmark.

Nicolai Busck Porsbo has been appointed Editor of DR's On Demand services on their own as well as external platforms. The position was recently created by DR to meet the increasing use of on demand services in the years to come. Furthermore, Nicolai Busck Porsbo will be the main responsible for DR's activities connected to the "Cultural Heritage Project", which a.o. includes the digitalisation of hundreds of thousands of tv and radio hours.
 

Thomas Howalt is new commissioning editor at New Danish Screen. He is in charge of Denmarks first support sceme for computer games for children. Howalt has worked with games for more than ten years, the last three years as business development manager for Denmark's largest game company, IO Interactive.