For this year’s YDA Jury Presentation, Henrik made an homage to the quintessential Oslo Film. Without any words.

This year, we tapped our own very talented Oslo-based director Henrik Dyb Zwart and he did not disappoint. Watch the film below, and keep scrolling for Henrik’s explanation of this ultra Norwegian film.

Making a creative stab at an entertaining Jury Presentation for the Young Director Award in Cannes has become a Bacon tradition. Each year since 2018, we have gotten young filmmakers to give their interpretation of how to present a ton of names in a non-boring way.

Henrik: “Bacon asked me if I had any ideas for a YDA jury intro film and I just said "Yes, of course", but really had no clue of what to do or what I had just signed up for.

The most famous genre examples are of course Trier's excellent Oslo 31st of August and The Worst Person in the World, but I think pretty much every living Norwegian-based director has made at least one short in the genre (I myself am of course also guilty). The short film festival in Grimstad has a generous supply every year - and they're good!

I wrote a script in Norwegian, with real dialogue. I then converted that to the jury names, jiggled them around for the dialogue to sound real and had Anna and Fredrik make it sound as Norwegian as possible. Axel, the composer, delivered a fantastic score and Mario, our DP, shot it in beautiful classic Scandi low-light in two of the city's iconic parks - just like we would have if it was a normal short film. And I'm pretty happy with how it all came together.”

That was also the angle: Let's try and make a proper, real short film as best we can. These kinds of nods are best when they're crafted with as much passion as if they were the real thing - it's funnier that way I think. And much more fun to make.