02/09/2013 - Head of production Petri Kemppinen, of the Finnish Film Foundation, appointed new CEO of the fund which supports Nordic cinema by €10 million annually

Head of the production department Petri Kemppinen (photo), of the Finnish Film Foundation, was Friday (August 30) named chief executive officer of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond as of November 1, replacing Hanne Palmquist, who will leave the position after six years to become commissioning editor for drama at Swedish pubcaster SVT.

“In recent years Nordic television drama, documentaries and feature films have achieved an unusual international recognition and great audiences, and the fund, with Palmquist, has played a key strategic role in this. I am thrilled to join the fund to keep these golden times and this visibility going,” said Kemmpinen.

An MA in communication and a former journalist, Kemppinen was ao head of youth programmes at the Finnish broadcasting company YLE for nine years, until he took over as production chief at the Finnish Film Foundation in 2005. He has been on the board of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond since 2008.

“Kemppinen is a true ‘Nordic believer’,” added the fund’s chairman, Claus Ladegaard, head of production and development at the Danish Film Institute, welcoming the first Finn as managing director of the foundation, which supports Nordic cinema by €10 million annually, providing top-financing for features, TV fiction and documentaries.

Since 1990, backed by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the five Nordic film institutes (in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) and 12 Nordic television channels, the fund also contributes to cross-border distribution in the region and administrates the Nordic Council Film Prize, which will announce the 2013 nominations tomorrow September 2).