| | Tom of Finland and Post Punk Disorder Share Works in Progress Award This year the Finnish Film Affair jury selected two films to share the Works in Progress Best Pitch award – each will receive a prize of €1500 courtesy of the Finnish Film Foundation. The winners were directors J-P Passi, Jukka Kärkkainen and producer Sami Jahnukainen (Mouka Filmi) for their documentary film Post Punk Disorder, and director Dome Karukoski and producer Annika Sucksdorff (Helsinki Filmi) for the feature film Tom of Finland. Jury members included Sergei Rakhlin, Chair of the Foreign Language Films committee of HFPA, Scott Feinberg, noted awards columnist at The Hollywood Reporter, Cia Edström, the head of Nordic Film Market at Göteborg Film Festival and Marie-Pierre Valle, Head of Acquisitions at Wild Bunch. According to the jury, all the projects were notable for their quality. “In a typical year, you only have several good Works-In-Progress and the rest does not stand out, but this time they were all excellent. We had a difficult time choosing the best one” – admitted Sergei Rakhlin.
See full lineup of films and projects here.
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Finding Concepts and Stories That Travel | | | | Adam Leipzig, Claudia Lewis, Mike Runagall, Laura Munsterhjelm and Mike Goodridge, photo: Petri Anttila | | | |
Finnish Film Affair industry panel ‘Finding Concepts and Stories That Travel’ was moderated by industry veteran Adam Leipzig and included such acclaimed panelists as Claudia Lewis (former President of Production at Fox Searchlight), Mike Goodridge (Protagonist Pictures) and Mike Runagall (Altitude Film Sales). The panel discussed how to reach international audiences from many different angles including casting, languge, and genres, and by using two very different Finnish films as case studies: Tom of Finland by Dome Karukoski (Protagonist Pictures) and Big Game by Jalmari Helander (Altitude Film Sales). Not only did the case films differ in genre and the chosen language, but also how they were financed. | | |
Northern Exposure and forthcoming film incentive | | | | | FFA guests visiting a reindeer farm in Kuusamo
photo: North Finland Film Commission / Lotta Salonen | | |
The Finnish government announced the decision to push forward a cash rebate incentive model on September 1st. The cash rebate of 25% will be admitted for the money spent on local goods, services and salaries in conjunction with production work carried out in Finland. A delegation of FFA guests including HFPA members and panelists was invited to the North of Finland. The North Finland Film Commission led by Anne Laurila hosted a dozen international guests in Kuusamo and Oulu over the weekend after the Finnish Film Affair. The program included rafting, a visit to a reindeer farm and visiting the predator center in Kuusamo, but also getting to know the local film industry in Oulu and the region as a potential filming location. | | |
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