The First Nordic Animation Forum is the result of a meeting which took place in Oslo in April, earlier this year, which brought together a broad spectrum of professionals from the Nordic media industry. Broadcasters, producers, animators, directors, writers and representatives of educational institutions came together to discuss the rapid developments of the animation industry and how their respective professions could possibly adapt to further develop their niche.

MediaXchange was commissioned to produce a forum which would provide a platform for a more structured discussion, with a wider objective to define new goals and to implement a means of industry development. It is a process which will take time, and all those present are invited to contribute to the early stages over this weekend.

Over recent years, a good funding system for both public service television and quality filmmaking was developed, and the Nordic film and television industry operates in an efficient way because of this. However, the potential audience is not big enough to make animated filmmaking or TV-productions profitable without state funding. Specifically for Nordic animation, there is a strong tradition for animated features.

There is also a long and strong tradition for state funding of independent animated shorts in all the Nordic countries. Especially, independent animated shorts for kids. In the 60's and 70's quite a few animated TV-series were made in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, but in recent years, Nordic animated TV-series have been almost non-existent, even though the number of animated features has been steadily growing.

In the rest of Europe, over the last 10 years the animated TV-series has become a huge industry. Thanks to initiatives such as CARTOON and close collaborations between animation studios in different European countries, a significant amount of TV animation is produced in Europe every year.

However, the Nordic countries are currently only a small part of this international industry. Though, both, political will and money to stimulate Nordic co-productions within the cultural field, the Nordic countries will be able to play a bigger part in the rapidly developing animation industry.