Fourteen books devoured on a single road trip. A teenage obsession with musicals and VHS horror films. An intern who borrowed money just to take her dream job at Fortissimo Films — and later helped steer Lumière from DVDs to Netflix deals.

That same drive now powers Marike as Head of International Financing & Co-Productions at Nordisk Film — where she’s building bold partnerships across Europe while mentoring, moderating, and shaping the next generation of storytellers.

In our conversation we speak about:
✨ moving countries for love
✨ why business in Belgium starts with three lunches
✨ bath- and barroom pitches that actually close co-productions
✨ taking scary but calculated risks
✨ and why connection — not algorithms — is the real through-line of her career.

And we made a little pact: for my 100th episode (still far, far away — and for which I’ll need the continued support of this community), Marike will flip the mic and interview me as guest host.