News

Keshet International has set its slate for Mipcom, with highlights including thriller “Too Much Love,” docuseries “Sas: Catching the Criminals” and rom-com “Save the Date.”

“Too Much Love” (“L’homme qui aimait trop”) from Slovakian prodco Piknik Pictures is an eight-episode thriller with a twist based on Duo Productions’ Canadian format. It tells the story of a man whose two wives meet for the first time after he is hospitalized following a car accident. The show is set to premiere in Slovakia this September on free-to-air broadcaster TV Joj.

Factual series “Sas: Catching the Criminals” is a 10-part acquisition (format and tape) from Double Act about an ex-Sas leader who works alongside Britain’s enforcement agencies to deploy covert intelligence, surveillance and disruption tactics against offenders. It is expected to premiere on the BBC in the U.K. this fall.

“Save the Date,” which Variety exclusively unveiled on Wednesday,...

Keshet International (Ki) has picked up global rights to Finnish sci-fi thriller “Valhalla Project” (“Operaatio Valhalla”), produced by L.A. and Helsinki -based Snapper Films for Finnish streaming service Elisa Viihde.

The Elisa Viihde Original six-part series, currently in post-production, will be sneak peeked April 7 at MipDrama in Cannes, MipTV’s buyers and press’ only showcase for premium dramas.

Toplining the international cast of the high-end series, which is filmed in English, Finnish and Russian, are Sara Soulié, Alistair Brammer, Iben Dorner, Joonas Saartamo and Pääru Oja.

The “Valhalla Project” is directed by Snapper Films’s founder and producer Juha Wuolijoki from a screenplay by award-winning writer Jari Olavi Rantala.

The multi-layered story delves into the concept of parallel dimensions, while also exploring themes of humanity, identity, and the limitations of life.

We follow climate researcher Alina Railo (Soulié) as she travels to the Finnish Lapland with an international expedition to...

Sf 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. McEnroe”).

Pääkkönen plays Max Tanner, a Finnish secret service agent operating for the European Union’s special forces. Set during Finland’s Independence Day festivities, when the Presidential Palace is attacked and the heads of state are taken hostage. Tanner is tasked to negotiate the hostage crisis and realizes that the terrorist attack is a plan to destabilize the security of Europe. Blondell plays the Swedish secret service agent Sylvia Madsen, and Gudnason stars as the leader of the Serbian groups, Vasa Jankovic.

“Omerta 6/12” is set for a theatrical release in Finland on Nov. 19, followed by a theatrical release in the Nordics during winter.

Seasoned Finnish writer-director-producer Aku Louhimies is plotting multi-season TV drama “Conflict,” a near-future political action thriller that turns on a Finland threatened by an unknown military force.

Comparing the project to high-profile Norwegian TV show “Occupied,” the director said he had the idea for “Conflict” after his war epic “Unknown Soldier,” Finland’s record-breaking movie with over 1 million ticket sales. “I started thinking what if Finland was suddenly threatened by foreign forces. How would we react and how would that affect geopolitics in the Nordic region?” reflected Louhimies, who contemplates building the project as a major international TV drama.

The project is co-penned by actor Andrei Alén, novelist and officer in reserve Helena Immonen, and long-time writing partner Jari Olavi Rantala.

Set on Midsummer’s Eve, the story follows an unknown military unit, as it invades a peaceful sea-side town in Finland. All residents are taken hostage, and civilians, used...

Sf Studios has released the first teaser trailer for the anticipated action thriller “Omerta 6/12” which just wrapped shooting. The big-budget film is directed by Aku Louhimies and stars Finnish actor Jasper Pääkkönen and Swedish actors Nanna Blondell (“Red Dot”) and Sverrir Gudnason (“Borg vs. McEnroe”).

“Omertà 6/12″ is expected to premiere in theaters in Nov. and is being represented in international markets by REinvent International Sales. Sf Studios will distribute the film in the Nordics.

Based on llkka Remes’s bestselling novel “6/12,” the film follows Max Tanner, a Finnish secret service agent operating for European Union’s special forces. Jari Olavi Rantala wrote the adaptation based on the screenplay by Antti J. Jokinen and Mika Karttunen.

The teaser trailer takes the viewers right in the middle of Finland’s Independence Day. Festivities take a tragic turn when the Presidential Palace is attacked, and the heads of state are taken hostage.

Emmanuelle Guilbart and Laurent Boissel’s up-and-coming Paris-based company About Premium Content is joining forces with Finish production company Mogul Movies to develop “Isolated,” a high-concept fantasy thriller series set in a remote island.

“Isolated” unfolds in a peaceful island plagued by a strange phenomenon which cuts the power and prevents the inhabitants from leaving. Meanwhile, a survivor of the Ms Estonia, a passenger ship that sank more than 24 years ago, washes ashore. Faced with those extraordinary events, the islanders quickly descend into paranoia and start fighting to gain control of local resources.

The 8-part series, now is development, is based on an original idea by Markos Annala, Lassi Vierikko and Petja Lähde, who co-wrote “Fingerpori,” a comedy about a fictional town and its uncommon people. Jari Olavi Rantala, a popular Finnish screenwriter who won the Jussi prize for “Frozen Land” in 2005 and is a frequent collaborator of director Aku Louhimies,...

Heavy Trip, the story of big dreamers from a small town, had its world premiere last month at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin. In the film, Turo, with his band Impaled Rektum, steal a van, a corpse and a coffin from the local cemetery, a new drummer from the local mental hospital and flee to Norway. As they are escaping Finnish police, they have to face the Norwegian Army in order to get to play their first real gig.

“Two directors from very high up in the North came to us explaining that they had the best comedy ever on an idea basis,” said producer Kai Nordberg during his stop at Deadline’s SXSW studio. The two director he’s referring are Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio, both of whom co-wrote the script with Aleksi Puranen and Jari Olavi Rantala. “After developing the script for four years with them...

Five Scandi shows will be judged for the award.

Five Nordic drama series will compete for the second annual Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, which will be presented on Jan 31 at the TV Drama Vision conference in Goteborg.

Source: About Premium Content

Deadwind

One drama series apiece from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden is nominated for the award, which comes with a prize of $25,000 (Sek 200,000) for the main writer(s) of the series. The first two episodes of each series are shown at the Goteborg Film Festival.

This year’s nominees are Borderliner from Norway, Deadwind from Finland, The Lawyer from Sweden, Ride Upon The Storm from Denmark, and Stella Blomkvist from Iceland.

This year’s jury includes Swedish acterss Sofia Helin (The Bridge); Walter Iuzzolino, the UK-based TV executive and curator of streaming service Walter Presents; and Finnish journalist Kirpi Uimonen Ballesteros.

Petri Kemppinen, CEO of Nordisk Film & TV Fond, said: “Initiating this prize...