A special issue of the Danish film journal Kosmorama focuses on Danish films for children and youth in the 2000s. The introduction and first chapter discuss recent trends as well as current challenges in a small nation film culture with 25% of the public film financing earmarked for children and adolescents, based on findings from an investigation of the films supported by the Danish Film Institute since 2000 as well as a number of interviews with people working with children’s films in Denmark (published as individual interviews in the issue).
Among other things, the analyses points to how live action children’s films are under pressure while the market as well as funding is increasingly focused on family films and animation; how there are on-going negotiations of how to define children and young audiences in a time where audiences in their 20s are also hard to reach; and on how short formats have very limited funding opportunities in the existing support structures even though short formats are popular with children and young audiences on digital platforms.
Introduced by Eva Novrup Redvall