‘It’s Idiotic’: Finnish Film Foundation CEO Lasse Saarinen Laments Planned Budget Cuts

Lise Pedersen A non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema, the Foundation has overseen the restoration of over 900 films to date. In her keynote address at the Lumière Festival’s Classic Film Market, Bodde explained how it came about.“It was 1990 and Martin Scorsese and a group of his fellow filmmakers like Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Kubrick and Pollack were really agitated at the idea that the cinema they grew up loving was

Canneseries Awards: ‘The Allegation’ And ‘Mister 8’ Take Home Prizes

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.

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

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNiija Kuykendall is joining Netflix as vice president of film, where she will oversee a new group focused on making and developing mid-sized films. She joins the streamer from Warner Bros., where she was an executive vice president of production, working on such films as “It,” “A Star is Born,” “Magic Mike” and “Judas and the Black Messiah.” She will report to Scott Stuber, Netflix’s head of original films.

Date night! Christopher Meloni and his wife Sherman Williams made a rare public appearance together at a screening for the new James Bond movie, No Time To Die, at the IPIC Theater in New York City on Thursday, October 7. The longtime couple looked so in love as they posed together on the red carpet for photos. They were also dressed in fairly fancy attire for the event, which was hosted by Champagne Bollinger and The Cinema Society.

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”).

Sharon Stone, 63, is one of the most beloved and respected actresses of the past four decades. After beginning her acting career in the 1980s with small roles, the actress broke out to a mainstream audience with her role in 1990’s sci-fi thriller Total Recall.

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.

Marta Balaga Taking place at the Zurich Convention Center two days before its official theatrical release, the Swiss premiere of “No Time to Die” attracted a slew of local celebrities, Zurich Film Festival delegates and even Finnish racing driver Kimi Räikkönen, all of whom were eager to witness Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007.The event marked the film festival debut for a James Bond movie, and the gathered audience rose to the occasion with no-nonsense opinions about the 25th instalment in

Sharon Stone is opening up about her family. The 63-year-old actress was honored with this year's Golden Icon Award at the Zurich Film Festival and spoke about her life and career alongside a screening of her flick "Casino." During the discussion, Stone talked about her family.

Marta Balaga Discussing her career at Zurich Film Festival, Sharon Stone also commented on the referendum taking place on the same day in Switzerland, with nearly two-thirds of Swiss voters backing the introduction of same-sex marriage. “It should be more because when is anyone else’s sex life your business? You may not like it, you may not understand it, but it doesn’t belong to you,” she said.

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.

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

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