APC Scoops Rights to Finnish Thriller Series ‘A Good Family’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Discovery+ has picked up North American streaming rights for Hostile Planet producer Plimsoll Productions’ Handmade: Good With Wood format.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorWolfe Releasing has acquired worldwide rights to transgender drama “Death and Bowling” from writer/director Lyle Kash. The film world premiered at Outfest Los Angeles, where it won the Narrative Feature Audience Award, and is playing NewFest on Monday.

Entertainment One (eOne) is to strengthen its relationship with Nordic networks as the studio reveals plans for a “Swedish Scandi-noir” production in the region.

The U.S. on Thursday regained a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, three years after the previous administration withdrew from it.

JD Linville “Mister8,” a Finnish comedy series produced by It’s Alive Films, is set to make its international debut at Canneseries. In this meet cute turned meet-your-competition, Juho (Pekka Strang) pits himself against his love interest Maria’s (Krista Kosonen) seven other partners – one for each day of the week.

Christopher Vourlias Abacus Media Rights has picked up international sales rights for “The Recruiter,” a spy series co-created by “Ransom” executive producer and co-creator David Vainola, one of the buzz titles being presented during the co-production forum at Rome’s MIA market this week.“The Recruiter” is a high-stakes espionage thriller inspired by the work of the “Five Eyes,” an alliance of the intelligence agencies from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia.

Emiliano De Pablos Onza Distribution has taken worldwide sales rights outside Spain and Portugal to “Motel Valkirias,” a thriller series co-production led by Galician company CTV.Producer of Netflix’s 2018 Galician-language pioneering TV drama hit “O Sabor das Margaridas” (“Bitter Daisies”), CTV is teaming on “Motel Valkirias” with SPI, the Portuguese co-producer of HBO’s series “Auga Seca,” plus pubcasters TVG in Galicia and RTP in Portugal.Created by “El Sabor das Margaridas” writer-producer

Annika Pham Mikko Pöllä and Roope Lehtinen, seasoned Finnish showrunners and co-founders of Fire Monkey (“White Wall,” “Bad Apples”), are bringing to market a handful of premium dramas in post and development.Headlining their production slate under REinvent’s sales banner is the thriller “Enemy of the People,” from “Man in Room 301” helmer Mikko Kuparinen, currently in post.Co-created by Lehtinen and Timo Varpio (“Easy Living”), the eight-part TV show boasts a stellar cast, including Kreeta

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentA trio of well-experienced Finnish producers, Eero Hietala, Lasse Koskinen and Ilkka Hynninen, have joined forces to launch Take Two Studios, a production company which will focus on premium drama, documentaries and podcasts. Hietala and Hynninen previously co-founded Aito Media in 2003 and produced more than 1,700 hours of programming during their 18-year run as co-CEO’s.

Will Tizard ContributorLocal characters in Finnish TV and film are increasingly diverse in ethnicity, disabilities and gender roles, according to industry insiders who took on the issue in Helsinki on Friday at the Finnish Film Affair, but there is still a long way to go.“We know this is not just a Finnish challenge – this is a global challenge,” said Keely Cat-Wells, CEO and founder of C Talent and Zetta Studios, who has also advised organizations from UCLA to Virgin Media on disability

Will Tizard ContributorFinnish film productions, which tend to be small-scale, have some of the lowest carbon footprints in Europe, panelists agreed at the Finnish Film Affair industry event on Friday.

Marta Balaga The Finnish Film Foundation, which receives its funding through the Ministry of Education and Culture from lottery and pool funds allocated for promoting film art, is facing new budget cuts. Its CEO, Lasse Saarinen, speaks to Variety about his battle to minimize the damage.The cut of 440,000 euros ($515,000) introduced this year might be followed by an additional 1.94 million euros ($2.28 million), making up approximately 8.8% of the foundation’s subsidy and operating budget.

Will Tizard ContributorThe Finnish Film Affair industry event awarded the upcoming feature “Bubble” with top honors for its fiction in progress pitch on Thursday, capping a competition in which six projects presented a wide range of stories, settings and styles.Mainly Finnish productions pitched their films, some seeking international partners, with most hoping for sales, festival and distribution deals.“Bubble,” the story of a teenage girl whose life is turned upside down when her mother

WarnerMedia’s New Singapore Base

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSF Studios has unveiled the trailer for the action thriller “Omerta 6/12,” one of the biggest-budgeted Finnish films ever. The film is directed by Aku Louhimies with a cast headlined by Finnish star Jasper Pääkkönen (“BlacKkKlansman”) and Swedish actors Nanna Blondell (“Black Widow”) and Sverrir Gudnason (“Borg vs.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMichael Strahan will continue to greet ABC morning viewers as part of a renewed pact that will keep him on “Good Morning America” for the next several years.Strahan, who was named a “GMA” co-anchor in 2016 and placed alongside Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, has signed a new four-year deal with ABC News, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Marta Balaga Pop singer Kikka, a.k.a. Kirsi Hannele Viilonen, who passed away in 2005 at just 41 years old, will finally get her due in the upcoming biopic being produced by Helsinki’s Komeetta.

Will Tizard ContributorThe spectacular rise of green-haired Finnish pop star Alma has inspired one of Finnish Film Affair’s most buzzy documentaries in progress, “Alma – Who Am I?” Finnish director and actor Pamela Tola spoke to Variety about her film.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBanijay has boarded “Countrymen,” a new drama series produced by its Norwegian label, Rubicon, with a cast of Scandinavian stars, including Nader Khademi (“Ninjababy”), Ayaz Hussain (“Kasim Bæder”), Jonas Strand Gravli (“Ragnarok”) Arben Bala (“Lilyhammer”) and Erika Strand Mamelund. The show will world premiere at Cannes Series and has been commissioned by the public broadcaster NRK, in co-production with Arte France.

Will Tizard ContributorFinnish producers are hailing a new partnership aimed at combatting climate change on projects shooting in the country, says Anni Wessman, head of APFI, the film and TV producers’ association in Finland.The initiative, done in concert with the Albert international environmental nonprofit focused on the film and TV sector, will give producers a set of tools and metrics already embraced by 20 countries for measuring everything that factors into a production’s carbon