The Nordic Youth Film Festival (NUFF – 21-30 June) is split into two parts. The weeklong first part sees young filmmakers between the ages of 15 and 26 converge for seven days at the Tvibit festival centre, Tromsø. There they connect with likeminded young filmmakers, and get split into groups that will devise, film and edit a four-minute short film together, guided by mentors. This year, the mentors were Norwegian director Tvibit, cinematographer-director Egil Håskjold Larsen, producer Racha H Larsen, Greenlandic director Inuk Jørgensen and Danish filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel.

There was also a group focusing on new media development (VR/AR), which made an interactive entertainment film under the auspices of Garage Stories founder Marta Ordeig. They created an interactive short film, and for budding musicians, one group was asked to make the score for each film under the auspices of mentors Rune Simonsen and Sivert Henricksen. There were also seminars on Music in Film with Rune Simonsen, a Focus on Greenland with Aka Maria Hansen and Jørgensen, as well as a Film Criticism & Dialogue workshop by Cineuropa’s Kaleem Aftab. There was also an exhibition of photographs and paintings, In Between, Here and There!, by brothers and filmmakers Mohamed and Ali Jabaly.

The films and music made by these groups were then screened at the opening ceremony of the second part of the festival, NUFF 19, at which there are public screenings of the best short films made by filmmakers under the age of 26, which are screened in seven programmes over the course of a weekend. There were two competition juries. The International Competition jury, featuring Noel Goodwin, director of BFI Future Film, Marija Ratković Vidaković, a Croatian producer currently based in Sweden, and Norwegian actress Mathilde Sofie Henriksen, gave out the Award for Best International Film to the Swiss drama Bonobo by Zoel Aeschbacher. The Nordic jury – comprising Finish director and journalist Liisa Haapenen, who organises the Northern Script Competition for young screenwriters, FishFilmfestival im StadtHafen artistic director Arne Papenhagen and Norwegian filmmaker Eilif Bremer Landsend – gave our four prizes: Best Nordic Film Made by Someone Under 18, Best Nordic Film Made by a 19- to 21-year-old, and Best Nordic Film by Someone Aged Between 22 and 26. There was also an Audience Award. Outside of the competition, mentor Fleifel showed five of his award-winning short films and was in conversation with Aftab.

Here is the complete list of award winners at NUFF:

Best Nordic Film

Under 18 category
12 – Hanna Davidsen (Faroe Islands)

19-21 category
Dol. Mol. – Jack Elliot (Sweden)

22-26 category
Slowdance – Christian Zetterberg (Sweden)

Best Nordic Film
Field Trip – Malthe Kalbakk Elgaard (Denmark)

Best International Film
Bonobo – Zoel Aeschbacher (Switzerland)

Audience Award
Him and I – Ibrahim Handal (Palestine)