The annual
Nordic Freelance Seminar gathered this year some 120 freelancers in Stockholm
for a weekend on September 3-5th, 2010. The seminar moves from one Nordic country to
another every year and has been organised since early 1990's in Sweden,
Denmark, Norway and Finland. It is the major gathering of journalists on the
Nordic level.
This year
the theme of the seminar was cooperation: cooperation between freelancers,
journalists from neighbouring countries and networking with other
professionals.
The seminar
started with matchmaking, short prebooked business meetings between
participants to create own networks and find colleagues intrested in same
topics as you are. This was found succesful, as there are not too often possibilities
to discuss on possible cooperation with freelance journalists from other
countries.
Other parts
of the programme included themes like how to find and use tools for
cooperation, how to develop a production company and how to find new ideas.
Awarded photojournalist Pieter Ten Hoopen told the meeting about his methods to work and
collaborate with writing journalists.
Participants also
heard how Swedish freelancer Fredrik Gertten got
sued by a large American corporation Dole due to his documentary film Bananas. It tells the story of 12 workers
in Dole fields in Nicaragua. Gertten presented the film, the reaction it created
and actions to support the film maker.
The next Nordic Freelance Seminar will be held in Helsingør (Elsinore), Denmark, 13-15th May
2011. The seminar is open to all and the working language is English. The
actual information can be found on the seminar web page: www.nordicfreelance.com.
Heikki
Jokinen
The Nordic
freelance coordinator
