Nordic filmmakers Virpi Suutari and Victoria Verseau grab awards at Cannes Docs

NOTE: This article is a republication- Source: Nordisk Film & TV Fond (by Annika Pham).

Suutari’s work in progress Once Upon a Time in the Forest won the Al Jazeera Doc Award and Verseau’s Meril the Post-Production Award.

The Al Jazeera Doc Award handed out to the multi-awarded seasoned filmmaker/producer Virpi Suutari (Garden Lovers, Aalto), comes with a $15,000 (€14,000) contribution from Al Jazeera, which also enters the project as co-producer.

Produced by Suutari’s Euphoria, Once Upon a Time in a Forest (Olipa kerran metsäp, WT) is a morality play and a love story about a younger generation whose main object of love is the Finnish forest. The artistic environmental-driven film follows the 22-year-old Ida as she matures, to be the leader of the new Forest Movement. The expected delivery is April 2024.

Meanwhile the Cannes Docs Post-Production Award to Meril (WT) comes with a €5,000 prize from Hiventy, technical partner of the Cannes Festival.

The Swedish documentary produced by HER Film’s Malin Hüber (Lucky One), is the director’s captivating portrait of her inner journey as a transgender, as she investigates the suicide of her trans friend Meril, from Chonburi, Thailand to Paris. The film co-produced by France’s Les Films du Bilboquet has received support so far from the Swedish Film Institute, the CNC’s Aide aux Cinémas du Monde and Eurimages.

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