Göteborg Film Festival’s 7th Nostradamus Report – “A Creative Explosion” – was presented today at a seminar at Nordic Film Market. The annual report looks into the future of the screen industries 3-5 years from now through research and interviews with industry experts.

Nostradamus Report: A Creative Explosion can be downloaded here  

The report holds forth a near future where high quality, creativity and scripted content is king. A new wave of artistically outstanding feature filmmakers will offer opportunities for arthouse cinema to connect with younger audiences. Demand for gender and cultural diversification will continue, and the industry will next need to address the more complex pipeline problems affecting diverse recruitment.

Other themes discussed in the report are the consequences of the escalating streaming wars, alternative release patterns taking shape, and how the capacity issues caused by extreme demand on scripted content threaten quality. Streamers are also putting pressure on the traditional role of the producer, which may challenge cultural diversity down the line, especially as consolidations continue. Access to data analysis will be of increasing importance across roles in the industry.

Finally, the report discusses how emerging technologies – VR, deep fakes, game engines, etc – is causing fundamental changes in how audiovisual storytelling is produced and understood, with inevitable ripple effects on how audiences perceive the formats and platforms of film and TV as well.

“This is obviously a fun time to speak to intelligent and passionate experts about the next few years”, says Johanna Koljonen, author of the report. “Opportunities are enormous, and there is real excitement both in the industry and audiences for the new voices breaking through internationally. The enormous demand is good for business, but everyone also seems to feel the market now also allows for real action on social responsibility, and for long-overdue experiments with releasing.”

This year’s interview subjects were: Lars Blomgren/ Excecutive Producer and Head of Scripted EMEA at Endemol Shine Group, Anna Croneman/ Head of Drama at SVT, Leon Forde/ Managing Director at Olsberg SPI, Stine Helgeland/ Head of Communications, Strategic Insight and International Relations at the Norwegian Film Institute, Philip Knatchbull/ CEO at Curzon, Alexandra Lebret/ Managing Director at the European Producers Club, Fabio Lima/ Founder and CEO at Sofa Digital, Alex Mahon/ CEO at Channel 4, Susanna Snell/ Head of Audience Insight at YLE, Bérénice Vincent/ Co-founder of Collectif 50/50 and Co-founder of Totem Films.

At the seminar today, the presentation of the report was followed by a panel discussion themed “The Future of Gender Parity and Inclusion” in connection to Göteborg Film Festival’s gender parity initiative 50/50 Vision. Panel: Iram Haq, director (What will people say?, I Am Yours), Norway; Anna Serner, CEO, Swedish Film Institute, Sweden; Bérénice Vincent, Co-founder of Collectif 50/50, and co-founder, Totem Film, France; and Rhys Ernst, director/producer (Adam, Transparent) United States.
Moderated by Johanna Koljonen, media analyst and author of the Nostradamus report.

The filmed seminar is available to watch at Kulturakademin’s K-play.

Nostradamus Report: A Creative Explosion can be downloaded here  

Editorial team: Johanna Koljonen, Cia Edström, Josef Kullengård

Editorial Advisory Board: Åsa Garnert, Tomas Eskilsson

The Nostradamus Project is founded and run by Göteborg Film Festival with support from and in collaboration with the project’s new main contributor Film i Väst. With additional support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Västra Götalandsregionen,Creative Europe/MEDIA and Kulturakademin.