Finnish Series ‘Mister8’ Set to Bow Internationally at Canneseries (EXCLUSIVE)

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

Annika Pham One of the top drama decision-makers in the Nordics, Ivar Køhn has been heading Norwegian pubcaster NRK’s drama department since 2013.

The category underwent a huge change last year with the expansion of the shortlist from 10 to 15 films, and the elimination of a hand-picked committee that in the past had chosen three films to fill out a list that is otherwise made up of voters’ favorites.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorGear up for some boozin’ and brawlin’ animated adventuring, Critters: “The Legend of Vox Machina” series from Critical Role will storm onto Amazon Prime Video next February.Season 1 of “The Legend of Vox Machina,” an adult animated fantasy-adventure series based on Critical Role’s first Dungeons & Dragons campaign, is scheduled to premiere Feb. 4, 2022, exclusively on the Prime Video streaming service worldwide.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be joined by Darren Pettie (“Mad Men”), Noah Weisberg (“Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”), Mark Gessner (“Power”) and Joel Kelley Dauten (“Feud: Bette and Joan”) in the upcoming Showtime anthology series “Super Pumped.” The four cast members will recur in the first season of the show, which will tell the story about the ride-sharing app and Silicon Valley unicorn Uber.The series, which is executive produced by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Beth

Annika Pham Paris-based APC (About Premium Content) has acquired world sales rights on the six-part Finnish thriller “A Good Family,” currently filming in Estonia before moving back to Finland.The high-end drama about love, marriage and parenthood is based on Finnish author and screenwriter Petri Karra’s 2019 novel “The Dark Light” (“Musta Valo”).

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.

Anna Sawai (F9: The Final Saga, Giri/Haji) is set to star alongside Hiroyuki Sanada and Cosmo Jarvis, rounding out the three leads in Shōgun, FX’s limited series period drama based on the best-selling novel by James Clavell.

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.

Proud pop! Tom Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., has a lot to say about his son’s departure from the New England Patriots and whether he made the right choice.

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.

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