Finland’s biggest international film and TV drama market, Finnish Film Affair, unspooling parallel to the Helsinki Intl. Film Festival – Love & Anarchy, has unpacked its full program, rolling out Sept. 23-25 in the Finnish capital.
Selected as FFA opener, Hanna Bergholm’s horror “Nightborn,” top winner at the Fantasia Festival and Berlinale Golden Bear contender, will set the tone for this year’s Nordic market, where eight Nordic genre pics in development will compete for best pitch, as part of a new partnership with the Nordic Genre Lab. The training and networking program is the brainchild of seasoned Finnish executive Laura Laaksonen (Purr PR), co-founder of Nordic Genre Lab with former Netflix executive Claire Willats (Two Magpie Entertainment).
Lydia Taylerson
Courtesy of Alejandro Ramirez
Genre projects to watch include Making Movies’ “Alma” helmed by Pete Riski (“Icebreaker,” “Dark Floors”) from a script by Ilja Rautsi (“Red Snow,” “Nightborn”), the first Faroese horror feature “Whistler,” produced by Outlier Projects, “Linden Lane 6,” produced by the prolific banner It’s Alive Films (“Euthanizer,” “100 Litres of Gold”) and “Trespassers,” produced by Patrick Andersson (“Midsommar”), with Mylla Films co-founder Jakob Abrahamsson.
“Lonesome Land”
Courtesy of Euphoria Film
Besides Suutari’s latest plea to safeguard Finnish forests after her multi-awarded “Once Upon a Time in a Forest,” topics range from a tribute to working-class Italian men during WW2 in “Umarells – We Know Better,” to biopics about New York/Helsinki-based late artist Iria Leino in “Dear Iria,” and fallen-from grace Olympic medallist Mika Myllylä in “Myllylä.”
On the scripted front, the eight films in development and five works in progress selected by Taylerson, Katre Kajamäe-Gupta (Eurimages) and Natasha Degnova (LeveK) play across an equally wide range of topics and genres.
“Lex Julia” is also one of four Nordic selections, together with the Norwegian thriller “11 Hours,” the Danish psycho drama “Without You” and Icelandic coming-of-age “Just a Kid.”
European Drive“All in all, it’s been very interesting to receive a record number of submissions for the Fiction in Development (45), Fiction in Progress (11-the largest number since 2022) and Documentaries (22), which proves the attractiveness of Finland as filming and production destination,” Taylerson observed.
“Also, this year we ended up with quite a few European co-productions in the final lineup, another display of the growing trend of Europe-leaning partnerships,” she said, underscoring the endemic lack of public funding for film in Finland, forcing indie producers to look beyond national borders for coin.
To help Nordic producers and filmmakers further hone their skills, more than 20 top industry experts, such as Isabel Arrate Fernandez (IDFA), Jason Gutierrez (Tribeca), Hugo Rosak (Karlovy Vary), Jim Kolmar (SXSW), Celine Dornier (IPR.VC), James Copp (Night Train Media), Mette Damgaard-Sørensen (Danish Film Institute) and Kjetil Omberg (Norwegian Film Institute), will take center stage to discuss among other things how to better budget, finance a feature, co-produce, navigate the international festivals, distribution landscape and the next Agora EU program in Europe.
Furthermore, as part of the FFA training scheme Nordic Flair, 10 Nordic producers with a first feature project, will have access to the full FFA program and micro-sessions with mentors Max Malka (Banijay Finland), Jim Kolmar (SXSW), Gary Cranner (Mantra Films Norway) and Natascha Degnova (LevelK).
“Halima”
Courtesy of Keke Leppala
Fiction in Progress“Good Times, “directed by Pamela Tola, produced by Bardy Studios, Estar (Finland, Estonia)“Halima,” directed by Naima Mohamud, produced by It’s Alive Films, No-Office Films, Vico Films (Finland, Ireland)“Lapland War,” directed by Aku Louhimies, produced by Backmann & Hoderoff (Finland)“Lex Julia,” directed by Laura Hyppönen, produced by Greenlight Productions, Orka Film, Alexandra Film, Götafilm, Breidablick (Finland, Poland, Estonia, Sweden) – also part of the Nordic Selection“The Campers,” directed by Kari Ketonen, produced by Red Carpet Film & TV (Finland)
Nordic Genre Lab“Alma,” directed by Pete Riski, produced by Making Movies (Finland)“Echo Chamber,” directed by Juha Fiilin, produced by Fiilin Good Films (Finland)“Linden Lane 6,” directed by Josefina Rautiainen, produced by It’s Alive Films (Finland)“Long Way Home,” directed by Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, produced by Truewest (Norway)“Sauna Diplomacy,” directed by Teemu Niukkanen, produced by TACK Films (Finland)“The Evil Eye,” directed by Kristian Lidegaard, produced by Manna Film (Denmark)“Trespassers,” directed by Johannes Persson, produced by Mylla Films (Sweden)“Whistler,” directed by Gudmund Helmsdal, produced by Outlier Projects (Faroe Islands)
Nordic Selection“11 Hours,” directed by Daniel Fahre, produced by Fenomen Studios, Maha Film (Norway)“Just a Kid,” directed by Vala Ómarsdóttir, produced by Ursus Parvus (Iceland)“Without You,” directed by Nils Holst-Jensen, produced by Hyæne Film (Denmark)
