Statutes for the Nordic Council Film Prize
The purpose of the Nordic Council prizes is to increase interest in the Nordic cultural community and in environmental co-operation, as well as to recognise outstanding artistic and environmental initiatives. The prizes will help to highlight Nordic co-operation and increase its visibility
§ 1. General conditions
The Nordic Council Film Prize was established in 2003 following the recommendation of the Nordic Council.
The statutes for the Nordic Council Film Prize are jointly agreed by the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
The statutes are to be revised at the request of either the Nordic Council or the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Should the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers agree, the statutes and thus the Nordic Council Film Prize shall be brought to an end.
Funding for the activity will be provided by the Nordic Council of Ministers within the budget for Nordic cultural co-operation. The size of the Nordic Council Film Prize will be determined together with the budget.
The prize is administered by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The Nordic Council of Ministers may enter into an agreement with a third party for it to act as the secretariat for the prize (the prize secretariat).
§ 2. The prize-winning work
The prize will be awarded to a Nordic-produced feature film/cinema film with a running time of at least 72 minutes.
The nominated film must be of a high artistic quality and capably unite the numerous elements of the film into an integrated work.
The film must have been premiered within the most recent period – 1 July to 30 June – i.e. the premiere should take place in the period between 1 July and 31 December in the year prior to the awarding of the prize, or between 1 January and 30 June in the same year that the prize is awarded.
A Nordic-produced film means a film that is recognised by the national film institutes/funds (or equivalent body for Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland) and is in
either Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Faroese, Greenlandic, or Ålandic. A recognised film means a film which meets the criteria for funding from a Nordic national film institute/fund.
The film’s principal producer must be Nordic, i.e. the producer must have its main base in either Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, Åland, or the Faroe Islands.
The prize will be awarded equally to the film’s screenwriter, director, and producer.
A Finnish, Norwegian, or Swedish film recorded in a Sami language is considered as a Nordic-produced film, provided that it meets the other criteria of the Nordic Council Film Prize.
The nominated films should primarily be in a Nordic language.
The winner will be announced and the prize awarded once a year in conjunction with an event to be decided by the Nordic Council.
The Nordic Council must inform the prize secretariat of when and where the prize will be awarded no later than the beginning of the calendar year.
Three weeks before the prize is awarded, the Nordic adjudication committee will notify the directors of the Nordic Council of its decision regarding the winner together with its motivations.
§ 3. The national adjudication committees and the Nordic adjudication committee
National adjudication committees in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as a Nordic adjudication committee, are to be affiliated with the Nordic Council Film Prize.
In consultation with the Nordic Council and the prize secretariats, the Nordic Council of Ministers is establishing a handbook for the administration of the prize. This is being determined in the context of the rules on, e.g.:
- The activities of the adjudication committees
- The annual cycle of the prize
- Voting rules, and
- Remuneration of the adjudication committee members
The national adjudication committees
A national adjudication committee from each country nominates candidates for the prize. The adjudication committee consists of three ordinary members.
The members of the national adjudication committee are appointed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (by the Secretary General) on the recommendation of the national ministers for culture for four years with the option to extend this by a further four years. At the same time, the ministers for culture appoint a spokesperson for each national adjudication committee who is also a member of the Nordic adjudication committee. Ordinary members rotate in accordance with a rotation system as described in Appendix 2 of the handbook.
Members who have served for two four-year periods in succession may be reappointed after a four-year break.
One work may be nominated from the Faroe Island, Greenland, Åland, and the Sami language areas. In these cases, the national film institute/fund or equivalent body nominates one work for each country/area, A representative of each film institute/fund or equivalent body is assigned to the adjudication committee as an adjunct. Each area’s national body for culture will inform the Nordic Council of Ministers who it has appointed as an adjunct. The adjunct member participates in the adjudication committee’s activities on the same terms as its other members.
The members must be experts in relation to their nation’s film output and, as far as possible, in the films of the other Nordic countries.
Nomination procedure
Each national adjudication committee may nominate no more than one (1) film. In addition, one additional work from the Faroe Islands, one from Greenland, one from Åland, and one from the Sami language area may be nominated.
The nominations must be made no later than four months before the prize is due to be awarded.
The national adjudication committee is sworn to secrecy regarding the works that are nominated until they are made public.
The Nordic adjudication committee
The Nordic adjudication committee selects the winner based on the nominations made by the national adjudication committees.
The Nordic adjudication committee is made up of eleven members and consists of the spokespersons for the national adjudication committees of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden and any adjunct members from Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Åland, and the Sami language area.
The Nordic adjudication committee is operated by the Nordic Council of Ministers or a third party commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers to act as the prize secretariat. The secretariat for the Nordic Council Film Prize may appoint two additional members each year: the director of the Nordic Film & TV Fund, who will provide a special Nordic insight, and an internationally recognised film personality, who will ensure an international perspective on and impact for the prize. The international adjudication committee member will be appointed by the Nordic Film & TV Fund for a term of one year.
The Nordic adjudication committee will decide on when and how the nominations will be made public.
Members of both the national and Nordic adjudication committees are responsible for taking bias into account in the assessment of specific works. If a member is considered biased, he or she may not take part in the discussion and assessment of this or these works. If there is disagreement regarding the existence of bias, this shall be decided by the spokesperson or vice spokesperson.
The national adjudication committees’ decisions on nominations and the Nordic adjudication committee’s decision on the winner are final and cannot be appealed before any higher body.
§ 4. The activities of the Nordic adjudication committee
The spokesperson and vice spokesperson of the Nordic adjudication committee are appointed in accordance with the rotation system described in the handbook.
The Nordic adjudication committee constitutes a quorum in which at least one representative from each participating country and any adjunct members from Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Åland, and the Sami language area are present.
The adjudication committee is served by the secretariat appointed by the Nordic Council of Ministers for this purpose.
If an international member of the adjudication committee is appointed, he or she is automatically appointed as a spokesperson during the year in which they are active in the adjudication committee.
If, in exceptional circumstances, their participation is not possible, they may participate by way of another member from the national adjudication committee acting as a proxy or via a means of telecommunication.
The Nordic adjudication committee decides by way of a simple majority. The decision regarding who to award the prize to follows a special voting procedure as described in the section on voting rules in the handbook. Each member has one vote. In case of a tie, the vote of the spokesperson is the deciding vote.
The Nordic adjudication committee is sworn to secrecy regarding the winning work until this is made public.
The Nordic adjudication committee normally holds one meeting a year. Minutes of the adjudication committee’s meetings are taken.
§ 5. Administration and finance
The Nordic Council of Ministers may enter into agreements with third parties for the performance of the function of prize secretariat. The prize secretariat handles the tasks related to the administration of the prize and the servicing of the adjudication committees. The prize secretariats tasks etc. are determined in the handbook.
The financial year of prize activities follows the calendar year.
Reporting and administration of finances must take place in accordance with Nordic Council of Ministers’ rules for budgeting, financial administration, bookkeeping, and auditing, as well as with other rules laid down by the council of ministers.
Remuneration to members is paid in accordance with the decision made by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Current rates are stated in the handbook.
