Norway and the Netherlands may immediately evoke fjords and canals, but their film commissioners used a session at the AFCI Destination Lounge, held within the ambit of TIFF: The Market, to make the case for two production territories whose selling points increasingly extend well beyond recognisable scenery.

During the talk “To the Fjords and Beyond: Netherlands & Norway” which took place on 13 September, the Norwegian Film Commission chief executive Meghan Beaton and Roeland Oude Nijhuis representing the Netherlands Film Commission, joined by Claire Brooks, executive director of the AFCI (Association of Film Commissioners International), put the emphasis not only on their countries’ visual diversity, but also on their infrastructure, their level of expertise when it comes to production and their experience in international collaboration.

Norway’s extreme landscapes remain a powerful draw, but Beaton made a point of underlining that they are more accessible than outsiders often assume – with more than 50 airports across the country as well as an extensive network of tunnels and bridges. Svalbard provided her with her most striking example, as the Arctic archipelago has hosted more than 400 productions over two decades, including Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Superman, in which it stood for Antarctica.

Despite the ice, the isolation and the occasional polar bear film crews may encounter, the territory, according to Beaton, could not be more production-ready. “It seems unreal,” she said, “but it’s very, very doable.”

For Nijhuis, the Netherlands presents almost the opposite challenge. Amsterdam’s popularity with both tourists and filmmakers means that major shoots require careful coordination. The commission and its regional partners have therefore established production base camps outside the city centre, allowing smaller units to easily move from there, into densely populated locations.

The Dutch offer is backed by a 35% cash rebate on qualifying expenditure, capped at €3 million per project, while selective support can include up to €450,000 for minority co-productions. The current rebate and ceiling have been confirmed by the Netherlands Film Commission.

Meanwhile, Norway provides a 25% production incentive on qualifying local expenditure. The scheme has no individual project ceiling but it operates within an annual allocation, making the application process competitive. The incentive can be combined with support from the country’s regional funds.

Both speakers argued that incoming productions are increasingly feeding domestic expertise rather than operating as a separate service sector. Nijhuis noted that the Netherlands Film Commission is a division of the Netherlands Film Fund, allowing national filmmaking, European co-production and inward investment to function within the same ecosystem. International shoots, he said, give Dutch crews experience that subsequently flows back into domestic projects.

Beaton pointed to a similar development in Norway, where local producers are increasingly becoming more international. She mentioned Mer Film, the producing company behind Joachim Trier’s Oscar-winning drama Sentimental Value, as an example of a Norwegian firm now accessing the incentive for an international production.

The discussion also touched on cultural representation. Beaton highlighted the International Sámi Film Institute and its guidelines for productions working with Sámi stories and communities, whilst Nijhuis described growing infrastructure and consultation guidelines supporting the Frisian-language audiovisual sector in the Northern Netherlands.