Our Team

At the heart of the Nordic Film Festival: Los Angeles is a small, hands-on team of founders and directors who shape the festival from the ground up. Working closely across programming, partnerships, and production, they bring both creative instinct and practical experience to every aspect of the festival.

From curating films to building relationships with filmmakers and collaborators, the team is deeply involved in creating a festival that feels thoughtful, personal, and connected—both to the Nordic region and to the international film community in Los Angeles.

Black and white photo of a middle-aged man with short hair, some facial hair, wearing a dark button-up shirt, sitting with his arms crossed, looking directly at the camera.

Founder and Executive Director
Film Producer | Director
Los Angeles

Christian D. Bruun

Christian D. Brun is a Danish director, producer, and cinematographer working across documentary and narrative film, based in Los Angeles. A member of the Producers Guild of America, his work has received international theatrical and broadcast distribution and screened at major festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, Berlin, Telluride, Toronto, San Sebastián, Locarno, IDFA, and Hot Docs. He has also directed and produced national commercial campaigns.

Christian is the co-founder of Northern Lights Entertainment currently in pre-production on its inaugural project, Babette's Feast (written by Guy Branum). Recent projects include The End (NEON, dir. Josh Oppenheimer), Son of the South (Prod. Spike Lee), The Burning Child (Harvard University). He is currently developing Candy Darling, a feature about Andy Warhol muse and transgender.

His films have been exhibited at MoMA, the Whitney, the Venice Biennale, and Centre Pompidou and he has been a critic on media, design and technology at Columbia, Princeton, and Pratt. He was the co-founder of the Danish Film Festival in LA, Christian was recently appointed Honorary Consul of Denmark in Los Angeles.

Black and white portrait of a smiling woman with long light-colored hair, crossed arms, wearing a striped shirt and a dark blazer, standing against a plain background.

Gudrun Giddings

Founder and Founding Director
Film Producer
Los Angeles

Giddings is the Honorary Consul of Sweden in LA. Giddings is also the CEO at G4C Innovation. She co-founded Entertainment Capital Network and has worked as the VP of Production at Paradox Entertainment and Director of Production at Davis Films, Metropolitan Filmexport's production company, including various executive positions and head of departments in the global film industry for 25+ years.

Giddings recently exec produced THE MOVERS starring Jenna Malone, Terrence Howard and Christopher Lloyd. The feature film BANSHEE CHAPTER, a pilot in collaboration with Stan Lee's company POW! Entertainment (SPIDERMAN, X-MEN) and Michael Eisner's Vuguru hosted by Mark Hamill (STAR WARS) She executive produced the fantasy thriller movie THALE, and FLYPAPER, written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (The HANGOVER) directed by Rob Minkoff (THE LION KING) starring Patrick Dempsey and Ashely Judd.

Other credits include: CONAN THE BARBARIAN starring Jason Momoa, Tony Scott's DOMINO, Christopher Gans' SILENT HILL, SOLOMON KANE, the RESIDENT EVIL franchise, George Clooney's GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK and Terry Gilliam's THE IMAGINERIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS. Together with Peter Safran (DC studios), Giddings produced the original content series, MIRACLE OF PHIL directed by Andrew Douglas.

A smiling woman with short, light-colored hair, sitting with her chin resting on her hand, wearing a light-colored V-neck shirt and dark jeans, in black and white.

Co-Founder and Festival Director
Journalist | Author | Host | Producer
Los Angeles

Tina Jøhnk Christensen

Tina Jøhnk Christensen is a Danish-born, Los Angeles-based, award-winning journalist, author, podcast host, and producer specializing in film and entertainment. Based in Los Angeles since 2001, she has 25 years of experience reporting from Hollywood for a vast variety of Scandinavian media. Both print and TV.

Since 2013, she has been a voting member of the Golden Globes, served more than five years on the Board of Directors, and held a position on the press conference committee. In this capacity, she collaborated closely with the major film studios in Los Angeles as well as independent companies. She has furthermore overseen non-English-language films on the Golden Globes eligibility committee and has built strong relationships with the international film community, as well as Nordic creatives.

She has co-produced and hosted a podcast-series, Danish Originals (now running its season 10 of 10 episodes each), which highlights Danish creatives, who have made a significant mark in the US.

In 2002, she held a position as a member of the board of the Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. (SFFLA). Tina Jøhnk Christensen holds an M.A. in English and Film and Media Science.

Black and white photo of a woman with shoulder-length hair smiling, wearing a dark top.

Co-Founder and Creative Director
Journalist | Author | Photographer | Producer
Los Angeles

Kirpi Uimonen

Kirpi Uimonen is an experienced Hollywood journalist, producer, author, photographer, event coordinator, and Board of Director. She began her career as a music journalist in Helsinki in the early 1990s, later working as associate editor and managing editor. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2002, she's reported for leading Finnish media outlets.

With 15 years of experience at the Golden Globes, including serving as a voter, organizing hundreds of press events and set visits in Los Angeles and around the world, and producing over 200 episodes of the organization's podcast with Hollywood personalities, she has developed strong relationships with studios and publicists. She also served as a Board of Directors for over eight years, five as an Executive Board Member, helping shape organizational strategy.

Concurrently, she has supported Finnish creative community and filmmakers in Los Angeles by providing guidance and facilitating their integration into the Hollywood community. She founded a film event called "Midsummer in Hollywood" and contributed as a producer to the documentary "Code Green."

In 2023 she curated two photography exhibitions in Helsinki, showcasing her portraits of influential Hollywood figures. The following year she published her memoir "Työpaikkana Hollywood" (Hollywood as a Workplace) in Finland.

A black and white portrait of a bald man wearing a dark suit jacket, white shirt, and a patterned pocket square, looking confidently at the camera.

Communications Director
Talent Manager | Entrepreneur
Los Angeles

ERIK STEIGEN

Erik A. Steigen is a Los Angeles–based entrepreneur, talent manager, consultant, and speaker with more than 25 years of experience across film, television, and the global entertainment industry. He is the founder of USA Media Rights®, Onward Talent Management™, SoCal Records™, and Biz In LA™, operating at the intersection of creative development, rights strategy, and international collaboration.

Erik holds a magna cum laude B.A. from Berklee College of Music and has studied political science at the University of Bergen and environmental management at Harvard University. He began his career at MCA Records (Universal Music Group) before moving into entertainment law and business management, developing expertise in publishing, royalties, deal structuring, and negotiations. His clients and collaborators have included Lionel Richie, Brian Wilson, Pearl Jam, Blondie, and Alexander Rybak. He later expanded into film and television, working across music supervision, rights management, and talent strategy.

Originally from Norway, Erik has long connected Nordic creatives with the U.S. market. He led the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles from 2018 to 2025 and is active in cultural initiatives such as Peer Gynt LA. He also publishes Reels & Riffs, exploring Nordic creativity through a Hollywood lens.

Black and white portrait of a middle-aged man with gray hair in a suit and tie, smiling.

Legal Counsel
Principal | Founder
Los Angeles

KEITH BERGLUND

Keith Berglund is the founder and principal of The Berglund Group, bringing more than 40 years of experience in complex commercial litigation, entertainment law, international business transactions, and corporate restructuring. Since beginning his legal career in 1983 following a federal bankruptcy clerkship in Chicago, he has advised corporations, entrepreneurs, investors, and high-net-worth individuals on sophisticated domestic and cross-border matters, with particular expertise in Europe, the Pacific Rim, and Latin America. His international work includes serving with the Royal Danish Consulate.

His entertainment practice has represented leading studios, record labels, financiers, and artists, including Universal, Sony, EMI, Fox, Nordisk Film, Madonna, Gloria Estefan, and Pope Saint John Paul II. He is recognized in the 2026 Chambers Spotlight Guide for Media & Entertainment in Los Angeles and holds Martindale-Hubbell's highest AV Preeminent rating.

A graduate of Eastern Illinois University and DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Berglund also completed Harvard University's executive program, The Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports. Beyond his legal practice, he is an active philanthropist, mentor, and board member supporting cultural, business, educational, and conservation organizations in the United States and Scandinavia.

Black and white portrait of a man with shoulder-length hair, slight beard, and mustache, wearing a striped shirt, standing against a plain white background.

Website Creative Director
Founder | Visual Storyteller
Los Angeles

ANDERS DAHL

Anders Dahl is a Danish-born, Los Angeles-based art director and creative director with two decades of experience building brands for global entertainment and wellness companies. His work on the District 9 campaign at Sony Pictures Interactive won a Clio Key Art Award and became a case study in viral marketing, generating millions of organic impressions and setting the tone for the studio's genre releases that followed.

At Sony Pictures Animation, Dahl created a series of spoof film posters that took on a life of their own online, helping grow the studio's social following from 100,000 to over a million. He later applied the same instinct for cultural moments to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles campaign for Paramount, generating widespread organic pickup across social platforms and press without any paid media behind it.

At BODi by Beachbody, Dahl led the creative for Ladder, the premium supplement brand backed by LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger, developing the visual identity that carried the brand across its campaigns. His client roster spans Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Honda, and Unilever, alongside Broadway campaigns for The Book of Mormon and Blackbird.

Dahl is also the founder of Danes Abroad, a Los Angeles-based community connecting fellow Danes with their culture and each other, and partnering with Danish companies and cultural institutions to bring their brands to a U.S. audience.