‘First Five’: HBO Max Unveils Trailer For Docuseries About Finnish PM Sanna Marin

Fabula’s “Superman’s Bodyguards,” “Sisi” head writer Andreas Gutzeit’s thriller “Disgrace” and “Hildur,” from Finland’s Matti Laine, who scored with “The Paradise,” all feature at this year’s   still vastly expanded Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, the Europe-Latin America TV and networking forum, now in its seventh edition. They will be presented to an audience of producers and distributors at the industry centerpiece at Conecta Fiction.   Set up at Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín’s Fábula, producer of Oscar winning A fantastic Woman” and “Spencer,” “Superman’s Bodyguards” tells the true story of Christopher Reeve’s perilous mission to Chile to attempt to save the lives of 78 Chilean actors under death threat from an extreme right faction in a Chile still ruled by Augusto Pinochet.  

There’s been a lot of intrigue surrounding Dance Brothers, the first original Finnish series ordered at Netflix.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Germany’s Beta has licensed Spanish special ops thriller “La Unidad – Kabul,” to Max for the U.S., the third instalment in one of Movistar Plus+’s longest running franchises, “La Unidad,” whose six episodes deliver an engrossing and sometimes shocking take on the 2021 Fall of Kabul. With the purchase, all 18 episodes of Spanish series “La Unidad” are now available to stream on Max in the U.S.   Beta has previously sold the thriller, spangled by action scenes and haunting in its sudden deaths, to 50 territories including France, Latin America, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Australia.  

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International MUBI has acquired Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves” for major markets including North America following its well-received debut in Cannes. The indie streamer and distributor has also picked up the movie for the U.K., Ireland, Latin America and Turkey. The competition title from the Finnish auteur had a number of bidders following its world premiere on Monday. MUBI will release the film theatrically, with specific release plans to be announced in due course. “Fallen Leaves” is the 20th film from Kaurismäki, who previously won the Grand Prix and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for his film “The Man Without A Past,” which went on to be nominated for the best international feature Oscar in 2003.

Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful drama “Four Daughters” which mixes documentary and fiction to tell the story of Tunisian mother whose two elder daughters joined ISIS is scoring a slew of sales following its well-received Cannes competition premiere. French company The Party Films Sales has sealed deals on “Four Daughters” for: Benelux (Cineart); Spain (Caramel Films); Italy (I Wonder); Switzerland (Trigon); Sweden (Triart); Denmark (Camera Film); Norway (Arthaus); Finland (Cinemanse); Poland (New Horizons); Greece (Ama Films); former Yougoslavia (Discovery) and Turkey (Bir Film). Rights to the film for multiple other territories are under negotiations, the company said.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Aki Kaurismäki, the deadpan cockeyed minimalist of Finland, has become the ultimate illustration of the principle that if you make movies in the same mood and style, with the same monosyllabic bombed-out hipster vibe, for a period of 30 years, your movies may not have changed — but the world around them has, so the films will have a totally different effect. In “Fallen Leaves,” the Kaurismäki bauble that’s showing at Cannes this year, there’s actually a scene in which a character uses a computer. The film’s heroine, Ansa (Alma Pöysti), loses her job as a supermarket worker, and to find another gig she rents an HP laptop at a makeshift Internet café that charges 10 Euro for half an hour. Apart from that, the movie unfolds in that scruffy and sparsely decorated so-familiar-it’s-cozy pre-tech Kaurismäki zone, where people still use electric adding machines or listen to a bulky kitchen radio that looks like it’s from the early ’60s. “Fallen Leaves” is set in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, but to our eyes it’s a weirdly underpopulated place where shopping, as a pastime, doesn’t exist, and neither, in any meaningful way, does conversation.

Lise Pedersen The highest award for docs-in-progress at the Cannes Film Market’s sidebar dedicated to documentary, Cannes Docs, has gone to Ya-Ting Hsu’s debut feature doc “Islands of the Winds.” Twenty years in the making, the film follows the anti-eviction struggle of the patients of Losheng Sanatorium for lepers, which became a symbol of the fight for democracy in Hsu’s native Taiwan. The prize comes with a €10,000 ($10,800) cash prize and project follow-up by IEFTA (the International Emerging Film Talent Assn.). It is produced by Hsu’s Taiwan-based Argosy Films and Media Productions, Huang Yin-Yu (Moolin Films, Ltd. & Moolin Production, Co., Ltd, Taiwan and Japan) and Baptiste Brunner (Wide Productions – La Cuisine aux Images, France).

BBC sign language translator has gone viral after translating the Finnish entry ‘Cha Cha Cha’ into British sign language at the Eurovision final.The upbeat dance track by Käärijä was an early favourite to win the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest 2023. One viewer described the performance as “fucking bonkers and brilliant”, with another adding: “The Eurovision village went wild for Finland…biggest reaction of the night so far.”However, ‘Cha Cha Cha’ ultimately came in at second place to Swedish singer Loreen and her song ‘Tattoo’.BBC sign language translator Adrian Bailey was praised for his enthusiastic performance of the tune.

Eurovision 2023 winner Loreen and her banger Tattoo have moved one step closer to Official Chart domination - creeping up today to outpeak Euphoria and even potentially challenge for Number 1, the Official Charts Company can confirm.

As Liverpool sweeps the last of the stray sequins from its streets, the Eurovision effect continues to impact the Official Chart.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Global Screen has racked up presales to multiple territories for the animated family adventure movie “Niko — Beyond the Northern Lights,” the third in the box office hit franchise about a flying reindeer. The sales agency will be showing a first scene to buyers at Cannes Film Market. The animated movie has been picked up Kino Swiat for Poland, Bluelabel for South Korea, Just4Kids for the Benelux, GPI for the Baltic states, Karantanija for ex-Yugoslavia, Zinos Panagiotidis for Greece, Bad Unicorn for Romania, Bohemia Motion Pictures for Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Pro Film for Bulgaria and Bir Film for Turkey.

Following last weekend's big Eurovision Song Contest grand final at Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena, a host of entries are set to make their mark on the Official Singles Chart.

The Eurovision Song Contest took place in Liverpool on Saturday with Sweden’s Loreen topping the leader board with her song ‘Tattoo’ and in doing so winning the event for a second time, something only one other performer has ever done. The UK’s Mae Miller, meanwhile, came second from last, just above Germany.Speaking at a press conference following the show, Loreen said: “Everything feels surreal. I am seriously overwhelmed.

Swedish singer Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with her power ballad “Tattoo”, at a colourful, eclectic music competition clouded for a second year running by the war in Ukraine.

Sweden has won the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, marking a historic double for its victorious artist Loreen. 

Christian Nodal and Cazzu are in the middle of an exciting journey, as they are expecting their first child together. Yesterday was Mother's Day in Mexico, and the Mexican singer made special gesture for his girlfriend. While Cazzu revealed that they live together in Argentina, they are spending time apart while he is on tour.

The second round of Eurovision 2023 semi-finals have taken place at Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena, with the final 10 contestants qualifying for the final announced.

The second round of Eurovision 2023 semi-finals have taken place at Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena, with the final 10 contestants qualifying for the final announced.

The second of two Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals took place on Thursday in Liverpool, northern England.

Eurovision fan, after believing that he was this year’s representative for Finland, Käärijä.A fan-favourite from this year’s instalment of the iconic song contest, Käärijä recently turned heads at the first semi-finals for his eccentric neon green outfit, featuring puffy sleeves, a bare chest and a spiked collar. However, the look has since inspired a few hardcore Eurovision fans, and led to a few attendees taking to the streets of Liverpool, sporting the same look.One Käärijä fan, however, seems to have pulled off the look a little bit too well, and even convinced a few journalists that he was “the man himself”.The man, who actually turned out to be a member of an Australian Eurovision fan group was approached on the street by reporters for the news programme BBC North West Tonight, who declared to viewers that they had “managed to catch up with the main man himself”.“How do you think Liverpool’s done out there?” The news reporter asked the lookalike, to which he responded: “Oh, incredible.