NICE-Festival is a combined arts festival celebrating Nordic art and culture based in the North West of England, taking place from 19th November until 3rd December 2009, and subsequently every year within a similar time frame.

Our primary focus is to provide a showcase for contemporary Nordic art and culture through a series of events carried out in conjunction with the main cultural centers in the North West. NICE is setting the scene for long term collaborations, exchanges, cultural and economic development between the North West and the Nordic countries.

The NICE-Festival film programme will include a selection of feature film premieres, animations, documentaries, shorts, and artist film & video, taking place at FACT, Novas Contemporary Urban Centre, and other venues across Liverpool City Centre. Films featured will come from across the Nordic countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - to premiere in the North West, many of which will never have been seen in the UK before.

As well as working with our partner venues, NICE will be collaborating on a unique event with Liverpool’s LGBTI film festival, Outsiders, and is proud to be working with the Finnish Film Foundation, AV-Arkki, the Icelandic Film Centre, the Estonian Film Foundation and the Swedish Film Institute. On top of this, NICE-Festival welcomes submissions of short films to be part of the festival's moving image programme: films will be selected to screen as part of a shorts programme at Novas Contemporary Urban Centre and / or before our feature films at FACT.

On top of this, NICE-Festival welcomes submissions of short films to be part of the festival's moving image programme: films will be selected to screen as part of a shorts programme at Novas Contemporary Urban Centre and / or before our feature films at FACT.

NICE-Festival accepts all genres and types of moving image works - narrative and artist video, live action and animation, fiction and documentary. Entries can be shot or created on any format, but must be available to be screened on the formats specified below. Films must be produced within the following countries, or must be co-produced between the UK and the following countries: Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Contact Film Programme Director Melanie.Iredale@nice-festival.com for details.

The top films at the festival will receive the Killer-B Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Foreign Film and other categories.

The Liverpool Film Festival brings together local, national and international independent filmmakers, industry professionals, amateurs and enthusiasts.