A New Chapter of Viborg Animation Festival with Karoline Nederby

Karoline Nederby worked as a producer and production manager on Danish Broadcasting Corporation shows for many years, working her way up through the industry. Last year she made the big leap to become the director of Viborg Animation Festival, ushering in a new phase for herself as well as the festival. In this interview, we get to know Karoline, and learn more about her approach to the festival and her hopes for the future. 

WA: To start off with, tell us a bit about your background

KN: I worked in the media industry before the festival, so I’m very comfortable behind the scenes, and not so used to giving interviews myself. It’s quite a change.

I studied communications in university, and my first job was at a production company called Deluca Film. I was then offered a job working for the most listened to radio show at the time, Café Hack, which aired on DR. I was a production manager on Café Hack for three years, and a lot of that job was calling famous people and asking them to be on the show. Based on that experience, I was offered a job helping to cast celebrities in various lifestyle content. Over time I did more and more work for DR, eventually becoming a producer for these lifestyle programs. I did a lot of different roles during that time, working on both the practical side of television production, as well as creative development as a series producer.

After a while I started looking around and wondering if this is all, is this going to be my life, is this who I am? And even though I really loved my job, and had the best colleagues in the world, and it was so fun, I realized that I wanted new challenges. I wanted to see what else was out there.Karoline Nederby

So when I saw a job posting for the festival director at Viborg Animation Festival, I felt a kind of tingling in my body. It sounded really fun, and I thought I would just apply since I didn’t have anything to lose. When they called me for an interview, I thought I would just go and see what happens. And after another interview, they actually offered me the job, and I thought “Oh shit! I’m doing this!”

So I started at VAF a year and a half ago as the festival director, and since then it’s been a very steep learning curve. I’ve had to learn about the festival and the animation industry, along with what we do and how we work, trying to make everything happen.

WA: What’s your connection to Viborg?

KN: I moved here in 2018. At the time, I was working for DR and commuting to Aarhus and taking care of five children, so I didn’t have a lot of time to get to know the city. Of course I liked it; it is a beautiful place with lots of nature, but it’s only been recently that I’ve started to build roots here. 

So I have spent a lot of time asking questions, getting to know the city and getting to know the festival, trying to find out what it means to all these different people. Some people in Viborg felt that VAF didn’t really involve them, so one of our challenges is to open up and invite the community to feel more included.

VAF has activities for all kinds of people. We invite kids and people from Viborg, who may not know much about animation, to see the films and participate in the activities. We have activities for students and artists; we have talks and industry events… How can we frame our communication to appeal to all these different people, inviting everyone to be a part of it?Karoline Nederby

I was really inspired by Birgitte Weinberger, the former director of Odense Film Festival. She said that the people of Odense are their honorary guests: the festival may be all of these different important things internationally and externally, but we are really doing it for the local citizens, and we would be nothing without their support. That seems like a great way to balance our ambitions while remaining relevant to our community. 

WA: What’s your biggest challenge so far?

KN: I think it’s the complexity of the festival. We have a lot of people invested, sometimes literally with their money, and we have to deliver on multiple agendas, and be lots of things to lots of people. So it’s a challenge to balance our resources and figure out what is necessary and what is important, creating clarity and communication for something so complex.

I feel like VAF is a tree that grew organically into something with a lot of different branches, and all the leaves are very beautiful, but they are all going in different directions. We have to be aware of the limits of our resources: we are a small core team with limited resources, so delivering on all these different agendas, and making sure that it’s a joyous and inspirational activity, while also guarding our resources, is a challenge.

WA: What’s the most fun aspect of the job for you?

KN: I really do like a challenge. I like the diversity of it all.

When I was working for DR, I thought that doing television was a job where no two days were the same, but looking back I see that it was always just television. It was like playing one octave of a piano, and now I have the full piano to play on. I have films, events, workshops, talks, different venues; I get to be involved in the strategy and where we are positioning ourselves and where we are going with this festival; I am responsible for the funding; I am involved in communication… It's so broad, and it brings me so much joy to be involved in so many different things. It’s so alive and dynamic.Karoline Nederby

WA: What can people expect from VAF this year?

KN: Oh, that’s a difficult question! There is so much I would like to mention. But there are a few especially exciting things this year.

First, the films. We have a really strong programme this year, with short films from all over the world as well as a selection of international feature premieres. Personally, I’m very excited that we are screening We Are Aliens, an impressive debut feature by Japanese director Kohei Kadowaki. It’s a moving story about friendship, very original and beautifully told. Visually, it’s absolutely stunning.

For people from the animation industry, we have the Industry Days on Thursday and Friday, September 10-11, with Danish and international guests sharing their artistic work and their perspectives on where the industry is heading. Flóra Anna Buda, our VAF Artist this year, will give insight into her work and artistic practice, while other talks explore things like the creator economy, and how creatives can build careers and make a living across different platforms. I’m particularly looking forward to Keld Reinicke’s keynote on Friday morning. He’ll take a broader look at where the media industry is right now, and what the next five years might bring in terms of opportunities and challenges for people working within the animation industry. I think that will be really interesting, also for people with a broader interest in how our media landscape is currently changing.

I’m also very excited about VAF Land, which is something new this year and aimed particularly at families and the local audience. From Thursday to Sunday, we are transforming Paradepladsen in the centre of Viborg into a festival space, with a huge skyliner, a big outdoor screen, local food stalls and lots of creative activities. Together with DR, we’ll have a special screening of FredagsTamTam featuring premieres of new Danish animation series. Wulffmorgenthaler will perform a show with their quintuplets (Femlingerne), and throughout the four days there will be outdoor animation screenings and creative activities inspired by the films. With VAF Land, we really want to invite people to come and explore the world of animation and show that animation is for everyone.

I want people to come, and be a part of it. I wish that more people would give animation a chance; it can be a very niche area for the general public, and I would like for more people to take a peek into the world of animation and see how much is in there.

WA: Where do you see the festival evolving in the future?

KN: We have a lot of goals ahead, but I don’t necessarily see us adding more and more events in the years to come. For the industry programme, for example, I would rather focus on making our events as relevant as possible, so that professionals feel that coming to Viborg each year is a must for them.

I’m thinking a lot about how we make sure that VAF has a lasting positive impact on the lives of our guests. How do we bring inspiration and how do we create value? Whether that’s acting as a resource and an inspiration for professionals, or helping kids learn about animation and giving them a way to tell their own stories, or just inviting people to the cinema to see something that moves them in some way, I’m really concerned that the things that we do need to matter to people.Karoline Nederby

Not that what we already do doesn’t matter, but I want that to guide our path forward. And even though I’ve been here for a year, I still feel very new, and I reserve the right to continue to learn and develop things as we go along.

We're going to grow VAF one small step at a time, just like they did in Odense with OFF. I'm really focused on taking those steps in a meaningful direction, day after day and year after year, and building it into something really impactful.

Text: Rebekah Villon and WeAnimate

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