In 2021 POWR Baltic Stories Exchange was transformed into a completely different, ultra-contemporary and urgently needed new workshop format, the EmPOWR Sustainable Stories Lab 2021.

EmPOWR Lab presents an innovative, collaborative process to reimagine the current power structures of the Nordic storytelling and production landscapes. By injecting a loving, dynamic and wild energy into the story development process the lab proposes to imagine more inclusive and sustainable structures for people and projects to emerge within.

EmPOWR Lab is run by longtime POWR mentors, Valeria Richter and Helene Granqvist, who in collaboration with the Industry@ Tallinn & Baltic Event team wish to create tangible impact and to identify the right questions needed to boost and drive a shift of the dominating value systems in the current European film and tv industry.

Creating a safe and generous space for equal exchange, the lab invites 4 Nordic/Baltic project teams and a number of guest speakers to participate in our 3-day collaborative “think-tank”-workshop in Tallinn, which will take place during the Baltic Event TV-Beats Forum. The projects, selected by the mentors, will be a mix of TV-series and film formats, fiction or documentary, preferably in a late development stage.

2021 EmPOWR projects

1. The Fool (TV-series by Aurora Studios, Finland), Anniina Leppänen (producer), Marjo Airisniemi (screenwriter)
2. Rosengård (TV-series by Anagram Sverige, Sweden), Ann Lundberg (producer), Fredrik T Olsson (screenwriter)
3. Sweet Sixty (TV-series by Tuffi Films, Finland), Elli Toivoniemi (producer), Anna Ruohonen (screenwriter)
4. Beyond the Visible Flowers (Feature film by Kartuliõis, Estonia), Tiina Savi (producer), Jaanika Arum (screenwriter)

Find out more about the projects from the PROJECT CATALOGUE 2021.