Vice Distribution Strikes Content Deal With Nordic Streamer Viaplay (EXCLUSIVE)

Schafter, who has served on the boards of Midsumma and Star Observer and is a board director at Twenty10, was named one of Australia’s Outstanding 50 LGBTQI+ Leaders in Deloitte’s Out50 report. Schafter also MCed on the main stage at Fair Day.As Content Lead for ABCQueer, Schafter is responsible for curating queer youth content across various platforms.

EXCLUSIVE: Simon Baker, star of CBS’ The Mentalist, has partnered with MGM International Television Productions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Novelist’s Film,” which Wednesday earned Korean director Hong Sang-soo the Grand Jury Prize in Berlin, has scored multiple rights deals. With Seoul-based Finecut handling the rights sales, the film was licensed to Ama Films for Greece and Cyprus, Mimosa Films for Japan, L’Atalante Cinema for Spain, Arizona Films Distribution for France and to The Cinema Guild for the U.S.Finecut also did European Film Market business with “Contorted,” an unorthodox horror about a family tragedy.

EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films is continuing to expand its international footprint, having recently inked a deal with distribution partners in Switzerland and Benelux. The L.A.-based company has signed with WW Entertainment in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and Ascot Elite in Switzerland, which it will add to deals it already has in place in the UK and Ireland (Altitude), Germany and Austria (Splendid), France (ACE Entertainment), Spain (Key2Media), Scandinavia (Mis.Label) and Australia and New Zealand (Defiant Screen Entertainment).

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 CorrespondentLoco Films, the Paris-based world sales and production company, has unveiled the trailer for Yulia Trofimova’s feature debut “The Land of Sasha” which is premiering today at the Berlinale, in the Generation 14plus strand.“The Land of Sahsa” tells the story of an indecisive 18-year-old struggling to pursue his desire to become a painter as his mother urges him to choose a safer career path. The sudden appearance of the boy’s estranged father complicates things further. But when Sasha has an unexpected encounter with an unusual girl called Zhenia, he realizes he has no choice but to finally grow up.“The Land of Sasha” was produced by Katerina Mikhaylova and Konstantin Fam for Moscow-based Vega Film.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFollowing its recent launch in the U.S., Viaplay has acquired domestic rights to Erik Poppe’s “The Emigrants” from REinvent International Sales.Produced by SF Studios, “The Emigrants” is a big-budget epic drama based on Vilhelm Moberg’s story about Swedes who left misery behind for a new life on the other side of the Atlantic in the mid-19th century. The film’s cast includes Lisa Carlehed (“In Your Arms”) and Gustaf Skarsgård (“438 days”), who star opposite Sofia Helin, Lena Strömdahl and Swedish pop sensation Tove Lo.REinvent International Sales has also closed deals for former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe) and Hungary (Vertigo).Helene Aurø, REinvent sales and marketing director, pointed out that “The Emigrants” will be one of the first films shown by Viaplay’s newly launched US platform.

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.

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefDiscovery has announced that it has struck a multi-year agreement to supply content to Foxtel Group, Australia’s pay-TV market leader.The renewed deal covers factual, documentary and reality content from the flagship Discovery Channel as well as the TLC, Investigation Discovery, Discovery Turbo and Animal Planet channels. Significantly, Discovery’s content will be available for Australian subscribers to stream on demand on Foxtel and on its associated streaming service Binge.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAustralian streaming service Stan has renewed its exclusive content partnership with Hollywood studio MGM. The deal covers series and film titles.

Annika Pham 2021 was another annus horribilis for cinemagoing in the Nordics, due to on-going and strict Covid restrictions that halved admissions compared to pre-pandemic levels.Released late September/early October when cinemas for once ran at full capacity, “No Time to Die” literally saved the film year, and even ranked No.  1 among all James Bond movies ever released in Denmark. Aside from Sweden, strong homegrown offers such as “Checkered Ninja 2” in Denmark, “Class Reunion 3” in Finland, “Cop Secret” in Iceland, “Three Wishes for Cinderella” in Norway enabled the Nordic nations to secure bullish market shares.In 2021, “No Time to Die” smashed all B.O.

Alissa Simon Film CriticDanish debut feature helmer-writer Tea Lindeburg’s period drama “As In Heaven,” that portrays a fateful summer day and night in 19th century farming society, came away the biggest winner at the 44th Göteborg Film Festival, scoring on Saturday the best Nordic film kudo, this year worth approx. $44,000.Meanwhile, Seidi Haarla of Finland’s Oscar-shortlisted drama, “Compartment No.

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.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAnders Klarlund’s Nordic noir feature “The Last Client” with “Borgen” star Signe Egholm Olsen has been acquired by international sales and aggregation outfit LevelK. The thriller, produced by Morten Rasmussen (“Held for Ransom,” “White Sands”) at well-established Danish banner Deluca Film AS, revolves around the intense relationship between a psychotherapist and her dangerous new client. The strong cast is headlined by Egholm Olsen and Anton Hjejle (“Liberty”).“The Last Client” was written by Anders Klarlund and Jacob Weinreich, the creative duo known as A.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: NENT streamer Viaplay is seeking to partner with more major U.S. distribution platforms as it beds in “for the long term,” according to EVP and Chief Content Officer Filippa Wallestam.

Endeavor Content-backed Scandinavian indie Nordic Drama Queens has hired the producer behind Netflix’s upcoming The Playlist (Spotify Untold).

NRK since 2013, will be joining Banijay Nordic’s scripted label Rubicon as its Chief Executive Officer.  Announced by Banijay Nordic on Monday, the appointment marks big news for Scandinavia’s TV sector as it prepares to gather tomorrow at Sweden’s Göteborg Festival for its annual TV Drama Vision confab.Under Kohn’s leadership, NRK emerged from the shadow of Denmarks’s DR (“The Killing,” “The Bridge,” “Borgen”) by producing a string of international hits such as, just recently, International Emmy winner “Atlantic Crossing,” Canneseries 2018 laureate “State of Happiness” and “22 July,” which won a Nordisk Film and TV Fond Prize in 2020.  Most recently for NRK, Izer Aliu’s “Countrymen,” a Rubicon production, picked up a Canneseries award last October for its ensemble cast, plus a nomination for this week’s Nordisk Film and TV Fond Prize. An institution in Norway, Køhn spent six years before joining NRK as the Norwegian Film Institute’s head of development and production.