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Since 2010 Nordic Film Music Days has been the place where composers, musicians, producers and directors within the film and music industry communicate, start future collaborations, educate, and network. As a part of Nordic Film Music Days, the HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award is handed out to a Nordic composer who has shown excellent work in a composition for a feature, documentary, or TV series.

The nominees for HARPA 2024 are:

DENMARK Jonas Struck for Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia

FINLAND Pessi Levanto for Karoline Lyngbye’s Superposition

ICELAND Edvard Egilsson for Anna Hint’s Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

NORWAY Ola Fløttum for Ole Giæver’s Let the River Flow

SWEDEN Irya Gmeyner & Martin Hederos for Anders Hazelius & Sanna Lenken’s  Thin Blue Line

You can meet all our nominees in the nomination videos at their individual pages at nordicfilmmusicdays.com

An international jury, from 3 continents and 4 time zones, will determine the winner. The chair of the jury is last year’s winner, Norwegian composer Jørund Fluge Samuelsen. Besides him we have Canadian composer Erica Procunier, German composer and festival director Michael P. Aust. From Industry@Tallinn we have Music Meets Film project manager, Hanna-Greth Peetson; from Jecheon International Music and Film Festival, Lee Dongjune. Director of European Film Market, Dennis Ruh and American Sydney Levine, international film consultant are also part of this year’s jury.

The award, created by Icelandic Ragnar Kjartansson, crafted by ORR and sponsored by Orchestral Tools will be handed out at an award ceremony, Saturday February 17th at Nordische Botschaften.

 Nordic Film Days – Programme

Friday February 16^th 2024.

14 – 15:30 | Friday afternoon, for the first time ever, Nordic Film Music Days is part of the Berlinale program. In a seminar during European Film Market, moderated by Norwegian composer and chair member in NOPA, Kate Havnevik, we are putting focus on the Value of the Score.
16 – 17 | Following that, we offer international producers and directors a speedmeeting program with Nordic and selected Baltic film and media composers. Our activities during European Film Market are carried out in collaboration with Los Angeles and Berlin-based international film consultant, Sydney Levine.

18:30 – 21 | Friday night, in collaboration with the Baltic Embassies in Germany and three major film festivals in the Baltic region: Industry@Tallinn & Music Meets Film, Estonia, Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris, Lithuania, and Riga International Film Festival, Latvia, we present Baltic Nights, 4 short films with scores from Baltic composers.
ESTONIA Tanel Kadalipp with score for Eeva Magi’s 3rd Octave F
LITHUANIA Paulius Klibauskas & Vygintas Kisevicius with score for Etvydas Doskus’ Once Upon a Vilnius
LATVIA Artūrs Liepiņš with score for Zanete Skarule No Regrets and Fable

Saturday February 17^th, 2024.  

Saturday afternoon, we are giving seminars and talks, focusing on different aspects of the work of the score composer and the impact of the music. All are open to the public and free of charge to attend.

12:00-12:45 | The seminar afternoon will start with a big dive into our most important asset when experiencing music as part of film and tv: the brain. Danish composer, musician and researcher Peter Vuust, the leading expert in the field of music and the brain – a research field he has single-handedly built up as leader of the group Music In the Brain, will give us an update on different neuroscientific mechanisms that are at stake.

13:05-13:50 | An ambition of Nordic Film Music Days is to support sustainable and lifelong careers within the field of music composition as well as raising awareness and implementation of composer rights on a Nordic and European level. The following seminar, Rights and international law, hosted by Danish composer and vice chair of ECSA, Jesper Hansen and featuring chair of ECSA, Helienne Lindvall will give us the necessary brush up on legal and contractual matters.

14:10-15:00 | As this year HARPA nominated scores are presenting two award winning and acclaimed documentaries, Apolonia, Apolonia and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood we are grasping the opportunity and focusing on the professional aspects at stake when scoring for documentaries. Finnish composer and HARPA winner 2022, Sanna Salmenkallio will moderate the talk with Danish composer  Jonas Struck, Icelandic composer Edvard Egilsson and the directors; Estonian Anna Hints and Danish Lea Glob.

15:30-16:45 | Focus on the scores, the scoring process and the work of the score composers, will be even more strengthened when HARPA winner 2023, Norwegian composer Jørund Fluge Samuelsen in a conversation with the composers presents the nominated scores.

19:00 – 21:00 | Set in the exhibition area of the Nordische Botschaften we are honoring this year’s five nominated composers and their scores and selecting and celebrating the winner of the year: The Nordic composer who has shown the most excellent work in a composition for a feature, documentary, or TV series.

Sunday, February 18^th 2024

The nominated scores will be screened free of charge at the Nordic Embassies’ auditorium, and you will be able to hear the scores through GENELEC’s state-of-the-art speaker system.
Each screening will either be introduced or concluded by the composer.

10:00-12:00 | DK Jonas Struck | Apolonia, Apolonia

12:30-14:15 | Fin Pessi Levanto | Superposition

15:45-17:15 | IS Edvard Egilsson | Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

17:45-19:45 | NO Ola Flyttøm | Let the River Flow

20:15-21:30 | SE Irya Gmeyner | Thin Blue Line

Monday February 19^th you can also meet the Nordic composers, as a part of Nordic commissions event, Nordic Monday at Nordische Botschaften.

Please note that due to necessary security concerns, we ask all our attendees to sign up to the event and to be at the embassies 30 minutes before the start of the event.

About HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award and Nordic Film Music Days

Previous Winners of HARPA Nordic Film Composers Award
2023 Berlin | Jørund Fluge Samuelsen | Norway | “Alle Hater Johan”

2022 Hybrid | Sanna Salmenkallio | Finland | “Aalto”

2021 Virtual | Flemming Nordkrog | Denmark | “Shine Your Eyes”

2020 Berlin | Gaute Storaas | Norway | “Bröllop, begravning & dop”
2019 Berlin | Davíð Þór Jónsson and Benedikt Erlingsson | Iceland | “Woman at war”
2018 Berlin| Daníel Bjarnason | Iceland | “Under the Tree”
2017 Berlin and Cannes | Honor award | Bent Fabricius-Bjerre | Denmark
2017 Berlin and Cannes | Sune Martin | Denmark | “Land of Mine”
2016 Berlin | Honor award | Johann Johannsson | Iceland
2016 Berlin | Atli Örvarsson | Iceland | “Rams”
2014 Espoo | Matti Bye | Sweden | “Faro”
2013 Trondheim |Tuomas Kantelinen | Finland | “Puhdistus”
2012 Reykjavik |Fredrik Emilson | Sweden | “Kronjuvelarna”
2011 Copenhagen | Gaute Storaas | Norway | “Elias og jakten på havets gull”
2010 Gothenburg | Dani Strömbäck | Finland | “Letters to Father Jacob”

Partners of HARPA Nordic Film Music Days 2024

• SKAP (The Swedish Society of Songwriters, Composers & Authors)
• FST (Föreningen af Svenske Tonsättere)
• Music Finland
• Finnish Music Creators FMC
• STEF (Icelandic Collective Rights Management Society)
• NOPA (Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists)
• BFM (Danish Organization for Film- and Media Composers)

Collaborators of HARPA Nordic Film Music Days 2024

• Sound Track Cologne
• EFM (European Film Market)
• Jecheon International Film & Music Festival
• Industry@Tallinn
• Riga International Film Festival
• Vilnius Film Festival & Kino Pavasaris Distribution
• Nordic Music Days & Glasgow Film Festival
• IMMSANE, The International Media Music and Sound Arts Network in Education
• Orchestral Tools
• GENELEC

Supported by

• Nordische Botschaften
• The Danish Music Publishers Association & Koda Kultur
• The European Commission: Culture Moves Europe
• Nordisk Film og TV fond
• Orchestral Tools
• Botschaft von Estland
• Botschaft der Republik Lettland in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
• Botschaft der Republik Litauen
• Lithuanian Cultural Institute

For more information, contact:
Project coordinator | Lone Nyhuus | lony@filmkomponister.dk | +45 23 84 24 56
PR and Marketing |  Andrea Mellerup | composers@nordicfilmmusicdays.com | +45 81 71 62 09

Coordinator of the value of the score and speedmeetings | Sydney Levine| sydneyjlevine@icloud.com

International press | manlin sterner | manlin@manlin.se