Helmer A.J. Annila Boards First HBO Max Finnish Original Series (EXCLUSIVE)

Finnish skier Remi Lindholm went viral this weekend after he revealed just how cold his body was during the Olympic men’s 50km mass start cross country skiing race.

Marta Balaga As the industry starts paying closer attention to Finnish films and talent – following the Cannes success of Juho Kuosmanen’s “Compartment No. 6” and Zaida Bergroth’s crowd-pleasing “Tove” – Finnish TV drama is next in line, argued the participants of the Berlinale Series Market Focus on Finland drama showcase.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMemento International has closed major sales on Ursula Meier’s Berlin contender “The Line,” and “Boy from Heaven” by Tarik Saleh, the Swedish-Egyptian helmer of “The Nile Hilton Incident.” A religious and political thriller, “Boy From Heaven” is set in Cairo, in a Koranic school following the collapse of a grand imam which marks the start of a ruthless battle for influence.The movie is headlined by Tawfeek Barhom and Fares Fares, who previously starred in “The Nile Hilton Incident.” Saleh’s Stockholm-based outfit Atmo is producing the movie with Memento. Memento International has sold the film to Benelux (Cineart), Spain (La Aventura), Italy (Movies Inspired), Greece (Cinobo), Hungary (Vertigo) and Middle East (Falcon). Other territories in negotiation.

EXCLUSIVE: Copenhagen-based REinvent International Sales has closed two significant deals on Omerta 6/12, a Finnish action thriller.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOne of Scandinavia’s leading film distributors, Scanbox Entertainment is changing ownership with a new board including CEO Thor Sigurjonsson. The company was bought back from Scanbox Chairman Joni Sighvatsson. New owners include COO Kim William Beich, commercial director Torben Thorup Jorgensen, and producer Chris Briggs.

Amazon Prime, Banijay & Others Boarded For UK Apprentice Scheme

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNordic streamer Viaplay is partnering with filmmaker Mikael Håfström to produce the ambitious period film “Stockholm Bloodbath.” The female-led epic adventure movie will mark the service’s second English-language film original, following Oscar-nominated helmer Lasse Hallström’s biopic “Hilma,” which will premiere later this year.Set in 1520, “Stockholm Bloodbath” explores a dark chapter in Sweden’s history, which saw the infamous massacre of nearly 100 nobles and civilians in the Swedish capital. The story is told through the eyes of Anne and her foster sister Freja as they seek revenge on the men who murdered their family at Anne’s wedding.

Manori Ravindran International EditorA crowdpleaser that quickly became a word-of-mouth hit in Cannes, Juho Kuosmanen’s “Compartment No. 6” follows Finnish academic Laura (Seidi Haarla) who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Russian miner Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov) on a train from Moscow to Murmansk, a city in northwestern Russia. The Finnish film, which has drawn parallels to the Before Sunrise trilogy, was quickly snapped up out of Cannes for major territories, including North America, by Sony Pictures Classics.

Although the U.S. women’s hockey team celebrated an upset against defending bronze-medalists Finland at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday (January 3), the win came with a price: star player Brianna Decker is out after suffering a brutal injury. Just moments into the first period, Brianna collided with an opponent, causing a serious leg injury, agonizing screams from Brianna and several doctors to take her off the ice in a stretcher. “She’s one of the toughest, strongest players in the world, and so when you hear her react like that, obviously, it was devastating and nerve-racking for us,” team captain Kendall Coyne Schofield told The New York Times.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCharades (“Petrov’s Flu,””Diamantino”) has come on board “Hit Big”, a dark humor-laced crime film set in Spain and directed by critically acclaimed Finnish filmmaker, Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa (“They Have Escaped”). Currently in post, the film is being presented at the work-in-progress sidebar of Goteborg Festival’s Nordic Film Market.

Jamie Lang On-the-rise Spanish boutique sales company Feel Content has acquired a pair of features ahead of this month’s European Film Market: Finnish-Danish drama “Yellow Sulphur” – recently premiered at the Göteborg Film Festival – and French-Colombian co-production “The Rust,” a competition player at last year’s San Sebastian.From Finnish director-writer-producer Claes Olsson, “Yellow Sulphur Sky” is adapted from Kjell Westö’s eponymous novel and produced by Solar Films, Nordic Film Pool and Smile Entertainment. The book and now film tell the story of Frej, a writer who revisits his own youth as a source of inspiration, forcing the author to face long-forgotten memories.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIcelandic smash hit drama series “Blackport” won on Wednesday the 2022 Nordisk Film & TV Prize, Scandinavia’s top plaudit for drama series writing.The award was announced on site at the end of an intense first day of conference panels at the Göteborg Festival’s TV Drama Vision, with two of the series’ three writers, Gísli Örn Garðarsson and Mikael Torfason on stage to collect the Nordic TV Drama Screenplay Award, carrying a €20,000 ($22,600) cash prize. They were accompanied by producer Nina Dögg Filippusdóttir.

Researchers have spent more than 30 years and billions of dollars studying HIV (seen in closeup) and various vaccines, with little success. But, the first doses of an experimental HIV vaccine using the same messenger RNA technology in the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines have been given to clinical trial participants. Photo: iStock.

Researchers have spent more than 30 years and billions of dollars studying HIV (seen in closeup) and various vaccines, with little success. But, the first doses of an experimental HIV vaccine using the same messenger RNA technology in the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines have been given to clinical trial participants. Photo: iStock.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentITV Studios Finland and French production and distribution group Oble have partnered up on “Helsinki Crimes,” a new Finnish crime drama which will debut at Goteburg TV Drama Vision.“Helsinki Crimes” is an eight-part crime series based on Matti Yrjänä Joensuu’s bestselling novels. Set in contemporary Helsinki in the height of summer, the series revolves around Timo Harjunpää (Olli Rahkonen), a popular detective known for his honesty and empathy for the victims, as well as the criminals.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNetflix and Finnish broadcaster YLE are set to co-produce “Dance Brothers,” a young adult dance drama series which marks Endemol Shine Finland’s first scripted commission. “Dance Brothers” is a 10-part Finnish language series created and produced by Max Malka, Endemol Shine Finland’s head of scripted. Filming is set to kick off in the Spring in Helsinki, Finland’s capital, with Taito Kawata on board to direct.

Annika Pham Stockholm-based production house Hobab whose buzzy Cannes Directors’ Fortnight “Clara Sola” was snapped by New-York-based Oscilloscope Laboratories, is ramping up its ambitions, with female-led projects.“Our vision is to combine arthouse sensitivity with mainstream appeal, and to help talents – both Nordic and international – grow with care,” said Nima Yousefi, producer and joint owner with Peter Krupenin.Pedigree European shingles Finland’s Tuffi Films, Denmark’s Toolbox and Italy’s Intramovies have boarded as co-producers Hobab’s next Swedish feature drama “Sisters,” from first-time fiction helmer Mika Gustafson.Ruben Öslund’s former alumna at Göteborg’s Valand Academy, Gustafson had her international break with the short film “Mephobia,” followed by the doc-biopic “Silvana,” about rapper and feminist icon Silvana Imam. Due to start lensing in June, “Sisters” is penned by Gustafson with actor-screenwriter Alexander Öhrstrand, seen in “The Bridge” and “The Hunt for a Killer.”The coming of age story follows siblings Laura (16), Mira (12) and Steffi (7), fending for themselves in a Swedish working-class suburban housing estate, as their mother vanishes for lengthy periods.

Alissa Simon Film CriticHelsinki-based helmer-writer Aino Suni makes her feature debut with “Heartbeast,” a queer love story with a dark twist about a Finnish teen whose mother moves her to France. It world premieres in Nordic competition at this year’s Göteborg Festival.What inspired the story?Suni: The documentary “Never Again” I made about Finnish rapper Mercedes Bentso definitely gave me a lot of inspiration. Mercedes Bentso, one of my closest friends today, uses rap as a way to express even the darkest emotions, fears, wants and the most forbidden fantasies, as does Elina, the protagonist of “Heartbeast.”It’s personally important for me to tell stories about queer people.

Manori Ravindran International EditorHBO Max is continuing a steady roll-out in Europe with its second wave of countries.The WarnerMedia-owned streaming service is launching in an additional 15 nations on March 8, this time targeting Central and Eastern Europe. This covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.Christina Sulebakk, general manager for HBO Max EMEA, says it has been a “cautious choice” to get the markets launched in Europe, where the HBO Max roll-out began in earnest in October with launches in the Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland) as well as Spain and Andorra.