The operations at the Institute for Northern Culture have been started from arranging the organizational co-operation and learning steps. It is clearly stated in the action plan of the Institute that the operational area is the Barents region and networking and international co-operation are important at this point. The aim is the development of a synchronized film and television production in the Arctic region.

There is a lot of discussion on the regional and local film and television production in Finland at the moment. It is important to support film commission activities and foreign production companies. However, regional development is also necessary, and considering from the Institute’s perspective, especially film and television production entrepreneurship in northern and Arctic regions needs to be developed. A form of development could be e.g. to activate the tourism film production and television entrepreneurs to team up with tourism entrepreneurs for co-operation.

Public forums are necessary for clarifying matters. Nevertheless, the lack of publication channels is a common occurrence. Therefore, it is important that the Institute supports co-operation between the current operators, also internationally, and that the Institute is there to support acquiring new distribution channels. Thus, we are in the development and opening up publication opportunities also for local and regional film and television programme productions.

Hannu Kahakorpi
Professor, Film and Television Production