National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY)

Scan Design Foundation has provided over a decade of support to the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) to fuel their collaboration with StationNext, a film school for youth in Denmark. The three way partnership has now given nearly 4,000 NFFTY alumni the opportunity to learn from Denmark's distinguished cinema. The Scan Design Foundation Master Class is a cornerstone of the partnership, which brings top Danish film producers to teach aspiring filmmakers at NFFTY.

NFFTY's mission is to advance and connect talented young filmmakers worldwide. Founded to address discrimination against young film professionals, they celebrate and elevate work by women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other young persons from traditionally marginalized communities at a crucial stage in their emergence as an artist and storyteller. They work to ensure that emerging filmmakers are represented and given a platform to share their perspectives.

NFFTY is the largest and most influential film festival for young filmmakers (age 24 and under). NFFTY occurs each spring in Seattle and includes screenings, filmmaking panels, workshops, keynotes, parties, and opportunities for young filmmakers to network with industry professionals and each other. Young filmmakers from around the world submit short films and episodic work in narrative, documentary, animation, music video, and experimental categories. More than 10,000 film fans attend the festival each year, which screens 250+ projects from the most promising emerging talent. Year-round, they produce additional events and programs that further NFFTY's mission -- including working with mission-driven organizations to co-produce/co-present screenings, professional development, and other artist service offerings for young creatives -- and are pleased to work with funders such as Scan Design Foundation in the furtherance of those initiatives.

Scholarship Program

Scan Design Foundation provides scholarships for Danish film students to attend the NFFTY Festival and present their films.

Station Next

Station Next is a film school for young people between the ages of 13 and 18 from all over Denmark. They give students hands-on experience and responsibility for their own productions and use professional filmmakers as teachers and coaches. The students work in a realistic film environment and work in crews as they would on a professional production.

Station Next offers film camps, short courses, and Greenhouse sessions throughout the year to:

• teach students the craftsmanship of filmmaking.
• give students the experience of a typical film production in order to improve their skills and improve their future productions.
• increase the student's awareness of the wide variety of jobs involved in film making and to encourage them to find jobs within the film industry.
• establish contact between young people and the film industry.

NFFTY 2020: Isabella Eklöf & Lin Alluna “PAINTING IN TIME” - Similar to real life, the complex villains of Isabella Eklöf’s films are both attractive and repulsive at the same time, but what is the key to casting and working successfully with actors? In this Masterclass, the Danish director and former NFFTY award-winner Lin Alluna talks to the award-winning Swedish director and scriptwriter Isabella Eklöf, who dares to have fun with her art, while ruthlessly using her personal experience as honest inspiration for her unusual films.

NFFTY 2019: Anna Emma Haudal - Writer and director Anna Emma Haudal will take you through the development of her web series DOGGYSTYLE and discuss how it started as a graduation script for a feature film and ended as a web series that screened on national broadcast tv. A masterclass about research, developing and the anxiety of being a successful artist.

NFFTY 2018: Aske Bang “THE ART OF SHORT-FORM STORYTELLING” - Join us as Oscar-nominated Danish filmmaker Aske Bang leads us through his burgeoning career, from film school to his 2017 Oscar nomination. Explore his films' themes and characters: quirky individuals looking for their niche in "normal society." He also tells us his experience of journeying a low-budget short all the way to the Oscars. Plus: enjoy a screening of his Oscar-nominated short, Silent Nights.

NFFTY 2017: Wikke & Rasmussen “LONGEVITY WITH LEVITY” - Steen Rasmussen and Michael Wikke teamed up at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in the 1980s, forming their own production company Graested Film & Television. With over three decades in the industry, they have served as producers, writers, directors and actors in a range of film, radio and television projects. During the NFFTY 2017 Masterclass, Wikke and Rasmussen took the opportunity to share with the visiting students, film enthusiasts and visiting filmmakers insights into their long, successful career. And how creativity and offbeat humor helped to propel their careers forward. Rassmussen and Wikke were well received, with the audience enjoying stories on building a successful career in the industry.

NFFTY 2016: Christian E. Christiansen “THE INDIE FILM HUSTLE” - Join us as Danish filmmaker Christian E. Christiansen helps us navigate the hard- fought road from indie openings to Oscar noms. It’s the beginning filmmakers’ conundrum: you have a barely-there resumé and no money, and yet you need to balance business, story, and production while creating your own platform and staying in control. He also tells us about the difference between making movies in the U.S. and making movies in Europe – through the lens of his own career, venturing from a low-budget Danish movie to a #1 opening at the U.S. box office.

NFFTY 2015: Rasmus Heisterberg “THE JOURNEY FROM IDEA TO STORY” - Join us as Danish screenwriter Rasmus Heisterberg leads us on the intricate process from an idea to a story. Often we see films where the idea was strong and original, but the whole script never completed the intentions. In this workshop we will explore how to find the right path for an idea so it can develop into characters, plot and themes. You’ll also learn how to stay on that path throughout the writing process with the goal of turning ideas into scenes and sequences, and finally a whole script.

NFFTY 2014: Kræsten Kusk “YOUR STORY, YOUR WAY” - Danish director Kræsten Kusk has always used his own personal stories as a creative motor in his filmmaking. Since 1998, he has directed 15 short films. His newest collaborative film ”Sundays” will be screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May. As a filmmaker, Kræsten constantly balances retaining his creative integrity while still allowing room for collaboration with other creatives. How do you manage to put your own private story into a film and harness the input of an entire crew of colleagues? Is it possible to use collaboration as a creative drive? This workshop will focus on Kræsten’s very personal take on filmmaking combined with the collaborative approach. Kræsten will show clips from his latest film ”Where the Light Gets In“ and from the unfinished “Sundays.”

NFFTY 2013: Pernille Rose Grønkjær “DOCUMENTARIES THE DANISH WAY” - Danish documentary films are winning awards the world over for their unique artistic storytelling. In this masterclass award winning documentary director Pernille Rose Grønkjær will dive into why that is. Based on her own work and the work of other great Danish directors. This masterclass will cover insights into cinematic vision, the crucial personal motive to make a film, universal and international understanding and the funny, eye opening and surprising experience of the process of making great documentary films!

NFFTY 2012: Caroline Sascha Cogez “FINDING YOUR VOICE” - The tiny country of Denmark is a filmmaking powerhouse. Last year the Oscar for best foreign film and the Cannes Lion for Best Director went to Danish directors. How are so many powerful films being made without big budgets or special effects? The Stories. Award winning Danish Director Caroline Sascha Cogez will guide you through a personal journey of discovering how to tell the very best story. What elements could inspire you as a filmmaker to find your inner voice? What makes a good story, how does a filmmaker create compelling storytelling and character development? Be prepared to walk away from this panel with vast inspiration and knowledge.

NFFTY 2011: Martin Strange-Hansen “STORYTELLING: MY WAY” - Academy Award winning director Martin Strange-Hansen has traveled all the way from Denmark to share his storytelling expertise. This master class will feature clips of Martin’s work and conversation about his unique perspective relating to how tomorrow’s storyteller can best ensure that their story has the greatest possible impact and value, along with anecdotes on lessons learned and what he can share as an artist.

The NextFilmFestival International

TheNextFilmFestival International is a StationNext program that involves a camp and a film competition for young filmmakers. NTTFY and StationNext partner with some of the best international film festivals and film schools to send top student filmmakers to the festival with a film teacher.

Twenty international talents are teamed up with twenty young Danish film talents for workshops, masterclasses, and networking, providing a unique educational experience in which students learn from top Danish film creators. The festival also allows for beneficial networking opportunities for future projects.

Each year Scan Design Foundation supports young filmmakers, aged 20 or under, from the Pacific Northwest to screen their work and to be accompanied by a film teacher/chaperone to attend the festival in Denmark.

Read more about the long-standing partnership between Scan Design Foundation, Station Next, and NFFTY: https://www.nffty.org/scan-des...