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New film from Selma Vilhunen, who directed 2019 Berlinale Crystal Bear winner ‘Stupid Young Heart’.

LevelK has boarded international sales for Selma Vilhunen’s Four Little Adults, which premieres in Rotterdam’s Big Screen Competition and screens as part of Goteborg’s Nordic Competition.

The Finnish feature stars Alma Pöysti (Tove), Eero Milonoff (Border), Oona Airola (The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Maki) and Pietu Wikström (Girl Picture).

The story is about a woman who discovers her husband is having an affair, and decides to explore polyamory without secrets.

Venla Hellstedt and Elli Toivoniemi produce for Tuffi Films and...

Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market runs August 23-26.

Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.

The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.

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The story is about a woman who discovers her husband is having an affair, and decides to explore polyamory without secrets.

Selma Vilhunen has wrapped shooting on her new feature, Four Little Adults. The film stars Alma Pöysti (Tove), Eero Milonoff, and Oona Airola and Pietu Wikström, who both appear in Sundance and Berlinale 2022 selection Girl Picture.

The first image has also been released featuring Pöysti and Milonoff (see above).

The story is about a woman who discovers her husband is having an affair, and decides to explore polyamory without secrets.

The film shot in Helsinki for 31 days and is being readied for a 2023 launch.

The documentary was produced by Berlinale award-winning Finnish firm Tuffi Films

The Yellow Affair has boarded world sales on feature documentary Just Animals, directed by Finland’s Saila Kivelä and Vesa Kuosmanen.

Elli Toivoniemi, Juha Löppönen and Venla Hellstedt produce for Finland’s prolific, female-centred production company Tuffi Films, whose credits also include Berlinale Crystal Bear winner Stupid Young Heart.

Just Animals will reveive its market premiere at the European Film Market (EFM), ahead of Aurora Studios releasing the film in Finnish cinemas on March 4.

The film follows an animal rights activist through the legal battles of her youth, and...

Vilhunen’s feature credits include Stupid Young Heart and Little Wing.

Tuffi Films has optioned the screen rights to the acclaimed Finnish novel Defiance (Ei kertonut katuvansa).

Tommi Kinnunen’s award-winning novel is a nominee for the Finlandia award, the top literary prize in the country.

Selma Vilhunen will direct the film, and she is co-writing the script with Jan Forsström, whose credits include Miami and The Good Son. Vilhunen, a co-founder of Tuffi and a former Oscar nominee, has feature credits include Stupid Young Heart and Little Wing.

The team plans to shoot the film in May 2023, with Tuffi...

Paris-based sales company Totem Films has boarded Lovisa Siren’s new film “Sagres,” a dynamic European road movie.

“Sagres,” which has just gone into production, follows two sisters and a teenage daughter who travel from Stockholm, Sweden, to the picturesque cliffs of Sagres, Portugal — located in the southwestern most part of Europe, known as “The End of the World.”

Maya, the younger sister, is a free-spirited, half-failing musician who has left her son in Portugal with her mother, while older sibling Nilo is a control freak in a sexless marriage. When the sisters’ mother phones up to say she’s sick, the pair — joined by Nilo’s rambunctious teenage daughter Laura — embarks on a road trip through Europe to reunite in Sagres, culminating in a tragicomic reunion no one expected.

“Sagres” marks Siren’s feature debut. Her 2014 film “Pussy Have the Power” picked up the Best Short Award at the Goteberg Film Festival.

Ten films have been chosen, produced by 14 different European nations.

Neasa Hardiman’s sci-fi thriller Sea Fever is one of the 10 female-directed features chosen for Sydney Film Festival (Sff) and European Film Promotion (Efp)’s Europe! Voices of Women in Film initiative, which will run online from June 10-21.

Chosen by Sff director Nashen Moodley, the 10 films are produced by 14 European countries.

Hardiman’s film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival last September, and is an Ireland-Sweden-Belgium-uk co-production. It stars Connie Nielsen, Hermione Corfield and Dougray Scott in the story of a West of Ireland trawler crew who struggle for...

The film is comprised of six shorts following women dealing with discrimination.

Screen can reveal the first trailer for Force Of Habit, a Finnish feature comprised of six short films about women looking at gender stereotypes.

The all-female production explores the different forms of discrimination faced by women both in public and in private. Screen first reported on the project in October last year.

The episodes that comprise the anthology are presented under the four category banners of consent, rape, gaze and power dynamics.

15 female directors and screenwriters were assembled for the Finnish production, six episodes of which have been assembled into this feature.

Goteborg Film Festival, the biggest showcase of local and international movies in the Nordics, will kick off its 43rd edition with Maria Bäck’s “”Psychosis,” and will close with actor-turned-director Mårten Klingberg’s “My Father Mary Anne.”

Both timely Swedish dramas dealing with trauma post-sexual abuse, and the experience of a transgender priest, respectively, “Psychosis” and “My Father Mary Anne” will have their world premiere at Goteborg.

Stellan Skarsgård, who just won a Golden Globe for his performance in the hit HBO series “Tchernobyl,” will receive the prestigious Nordic Honorary Dragon Award and will be honored with a retrospective of some of the greatest films of his career. As part of the tribute, the estival will also host the Nordic premiere of “The Painted Bird” which was recently shortlisted for the international feature film category at the Oscars. During the festival, Skarsgård will also having a masterclass.

In addition to opening the festival,...

“Girls need to see positive and authentic characters that can inspire them”.

The world’s most popular films are sending a message to girls and young women that leadership is mostly for men, according to new research from development organisation Plan International and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

Even if women are portrayed in positions of leadership, they are still shown as sex objects in most films.

The research, which analysed the 56 top-grossing films of 2018 in 20 countries, found that of the characters in leadership positions, women and girls are four times more likely than male characters to...

The all-female production spans 11 episodes and a feature film.

Paris-based sales company Totem Films has acquired world rights to hard-hitting Finnish anthology series Force Of Habit exploring how women are discriminated against because of their gender in public and private life.

The multi-faceted, all-female production - spanning 11 episodes and a single feature film - is produced by Elli Toivoniemi and Sanna Kultanen at Finnish company Tuffi Films.

The dynamic Helsinki-based company is behind a string of festival hits including Finland’s 2020 Oscar submission Stupid Young Heart and the Oscar-nominated short Do I Have To Take Care Of Everything?, both by Selma Vihunen,...

Cast includes The Innocents’ Laura Birn; project presented at Finnish Film Affair’s works in progress this week.

LevelK has acquired world sales rights for Jenni Toivoniemi’s Finnish comedy Games People Play.

Venla Hellstedt and Elli Toivoniemi produce for Finland’s award-winning female-focused production company Tuffi Films, whose credits include 2019 Berlinale Crystal Bear winenr Stupid Young Heart. The deal marks the first collaboration between LevelK and Tuffi.

Jenni Toivoniemi makes her feature film debut following award-winning shorts such as The Date and The Committee.

Games People Play is a bittersweet comedy about a group of thirtysomething friends regressing to...

Norway, The Netherlands and Finland have selected “Out Stealing Horses,” “Instinct” and “Stupid Young Heart,” respectively, to vie for a nomination in the international feature film category of the Oscars.

Directed by Hans Petter Molands, “Out Stealing Horses” was chosen over Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Beware of Children” and Eirik Svenssons’s “Harajuku.” Based on Per Petterson’s novel, the movie is set in 1999 and follows a lonely 67-year-old man who discovers that his neighbor is someone he knew back in 1948. “Out Stealing Horses” won the Silver Bear in Berlin.

“The film’s sensual and inner tranquility reverberates in very beautiful scenery and a nicely tuned actor ensemble that is needed to lift the film’s themes and seamless shifts between different time periods,” said Norway’s Oscar committee. “Out Stealing Horses” was produced by Turid Øversveen and Håkon Øverås for 4 ½ Fiksjon. TrustNordisk is handling international sales.

“Instinct,” which marks...

Instinct, the psychological thriller starring Game of Thrones‘ Carice van Houten and Aladdin‘s Marwan Kenzari, has been chosen by The Netherlands as the country’s official selection in the Oscars’ International Feature Film race.

The pic, which won an award for its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and is prepping for its North American premiere this month at Toronto, is from first-time feature director Halina Reijn. The plot revolves around and experienced psychologist working in a penal institution who becomes obsessed with a sex offender who appears to be ready to return to society. (See a trailer below.)

Topkapi Films produced in a co-production with Man Up and Bnnvara, and is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, the Netherlands Film Production Incentive en CoBo Fund. Films Boutique is handling international sales...

The project is directed by 15 female writers and directors.

Tuffi Films short film anthology One-Off Incident won the Finnish Film Affair’s work in progress award, which goes to the project presented that is most likely to attract international attention.

One-Off Incident is an anthology of short films about how power is used against women in their private lives as well as in society. The project will also include an awareness campaign.

The project is directed by 15 female writers and directors and curated by Tuffi Films’ group of female producers; it was pitched by director Alli Haapasalo and Tuffi producer Elli Toivoniemi.

Vilhunen’s 2016 film Little Wing also debuted at Tiff.

Finnish sales company The Yellow Affair has acquired worldwide rights to Selma Vilhunen’s Stupid Young Heart, which screened at the Toronto Film Festival in the Contemporary World Cinema strand.

The project is written by Kirsikka Saarì, who collaborated with Vilhunen on the Oscar-nominated short Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?. Vilhunen’s 2016 film Little Wing also debuted at Tiff.

Stupid Young Heart revolves around two suburban teenagers who discover they are expecting a baby. Lacking a father figure himself, Lenni latches on to a member of a right-...

Eurimages Lab Project Award goes to performance artist story Burning Man from Norway.

Two Danish films were the buzz hits of Haugesund’s works in progress presentations this week. They were Queen Of Hearts, a drama starring Trine Dyrholm as a middle-aged woman having an affair; and political thriller Sons Of Denmark.

Dyrholm, whose credits include The Commune, Oscar winner In A Better World and TV’s The Legacy, stars in May el-Toukhy’s second feature Queen Of Hearts alongside rising Swedish actor Gustav Lindh. The story is about Anne, a lawyer who works with troubled youth, who shockingly starts...

17 projects selected for festival showcase.

A strong crop of works in progress projects are set to be presented at Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market, which runs Feb 1-4.

Source: Maipo Film

Queen Of Ice

The selection includes new films from Benedikt Erlingsson (Of Horses and Men), Michael Noer (R), and Anne Sewitsky (Happy Happy).

Presentations of clips by the directors/producers will be made to the industry attendees in Goteborg.

Erlingsson will present his new film Woman At War, an “arthouse action film” about an Icelandic woman on an environmental mission. Noer will discuss his new Danish period drama A Better Life starring Jesper Christensen as an 1850s farmer. Sewitsky will unveil footage of her Sonja Henie biopic Queen Of Ice.

The 17 projects are:

Swoon, dir Mans Marlind and Björn Stein, prod Kristina Aberg (Swe) Bergman, dir Jane Magnusson, prods Mattias Nohrborg, Fredrik Heinig, Cecilia Nessen (Swe) Happy People, dir Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm, prod Jakob Høgel (Den...

Drama, set to shoot in East Helsinki, will touch on teenage pregnancy and extreme right

Finnish director Selma Vilhunen, whose debut feature Little Wing premiered at Toronto 2016, will shoot her second fiction feature Stupid Young Heart in autumn 2017.

Tuffi Films will shoot in East Helsinki and plan to premiere the drama in Finnish cinemas by late 2018.

Tuffi’s Elli Toivoniemi and Venla Hellstedt produce the film, described as an “edgy and warm drama” about suburban teenagers dealing with an unexpected pregnancy as well as extreme right ideas entering their multicultural neighbourhood.

Kirsikka Saari wrote the script; she and Vilhunen previously collaborated on the Oscar-nominated short Do I Have To Take Care of Everything?

Backers are the Finnish Film Foundation, Yle, Nordisk Film, The Church Media Foundation and Creative Europe. Co-producers are Hob Ab from Sweden and Windmill Film from The Netherlands.

Vilhunen said: ”Kirsikka Saari has written a script where the pulsating, wild and delicate...

Screen reports on the 19 project pitches, including animations, family fare and a Daniel Dencik drama.

The Nordic Co-Production And Finance Market at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films event hosted its project pitches today (August 24).

They included Daniel Dencik’s drama about a disintegrating relationship 1000 R.I.P.; a children’s animation from Norway’s Aleksander Nordaas, the director of festival hit Thale; Icelandic director Marteinn Thorsson’s new psychological thriller; Martin Skovbjerg’s debut feature produced by hot new Danish outfit Snowglobe (who won Locarno’s Golden Leopard with Godless); and a new family film, hand drawn 2D animated Amundsen & Nobile.

Projects from Georgia, Italy and Canada were also included in the 19-strong line-up.

Overview of pitches:

1000 R.I.P., dir Daniel Dencik, prod Michael Haslund-Christensen, Company Haslund/Dencik Entertainment (Den)

The team behind 2015’s Gold Coast reunites for this fable inspired by The Passenger about a couple who meet a half Japanese model in the desert...

Once I Was A Dragonfly was selected from 10 works in progress presented to the festival’s jury.

Producer-director Elli Toivoniemi’s feature documentary debut Once I Was A Dragonfly received the Best Pitch Award at this year’s Finnish Film Affair (Sept 22-24) in Helsinki.

The new $3,400 (€3,000) award, which was sponsored by the Finnish Film Foundation for use in the film’s international marketing, was decided by a three-person jury made up of Fortissimo Films’ Berenice Fugard, Robert Burke of TenOne Entertainment and La-based critic Barbara Gasser.

Announcing the winner on Wednesday evening, Gasser said that it had been a “tough decision” to make the final choice from the 10 works in progress, but Toivoniemi’s film boasted “stunning visuals” and was “a story we could also relate to”.

The $224,000 (€200,000) Tuffi Films production centres on 24-year-old Miikka Friman’s lifelong fascination with dragonflies from the tender age of six and the decisions he must take as the obligations...

Now in its fourth year, the Finnish Film Affair, which runs Sept 22-24, has attracted a record number of 70 guests and top Us executives for a panel on how to develop films for the American market. New this year is the award for Best Pitch in the works-in-progress presentation worth 3000 Euros of international marketing funds. The Finnish Film Affair takes place as part of the Helsinki International Film Festival, a.k.a. Love & Anarchy.

With Jalmari Helander putting Finland on the map with "Big Game" starring Samuel L. Jackson and its international success, local filmmakers can find out more on how to tackle the U.S. market from leading U.S. experts, including Ryan Wickers (Director of Development of U.S. Production at EuropaCorp), Peter Trinh (Agent, International and Independent Film ICM), Robert Burke (Managing Director, TenOne Entertainment) and Sundance Film Festival senior programmer Hussain Currimbhoy. The panel’s moderator is La-based producer Gudrun Giddings (CEO & Producer at G4C Innovation).

Last year’s Finnish Film Affair projects that went on to international success were Pirjo Honkasalo’s "Concrete Night," which won the Spotlight Award from the American Society of Cinematographers this year, and Klaus Härö's "The Fencer," which is this year’s Oscar entry for Finland and sold is by the Little Film Company.

This year’s Works-in-Progress line-up of nineteen projects includes work by as many as six female directors: Katja Gauriloff ("Canned Dreams," Berlin 2012), Zaida Bergroth ("The Good Son," Tiff 2011), Selma Vilhunen (Academy Award-nominee for Best Short Film "Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?" 2014), and Elli Toivoniemi (producer of "Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?," now launching her directing career).

As Hiff executive director Sara Norberg comments, “It’s great to see former Finnish Film Affair titles doing so well. After three successful editions, the Finnish Film Affair has clearly established itself internationally as the place to discover new local talent. Our aim is to strengthen that local talent with our panels, the Project Development Clinic and now the new award for best pitch. At a time when the discussion about equal funding opportunities for female directors has become a hot topic, we are especially proud to be presenting so many female-driven projects.”

The Project Development Clinic will feature ten projects by first and second-time filmmakers. Confirmed guests include sales companies, distributors and programmers from Europe and North America: Fortissimo, Urban Distribution, Picture Tree International, Dogwoof, Trust Nordisk, Cinemavault, Nonstop Entertainment, Sundance, and SXSW.

For more information and the full line-up of films screenings visit Here.

Line-up revealed for fourth edition.

The Finnish Film Affair (Sept 22-24) has attracted a record number of 70 guests for its fourth edition and top Us executives for a panel on how to develop films for the American market.

New this year is the award for Best Pitch in the works-in-progress presentation worth $3,300 (€3,000) in international marketing funds.

The Finnish Film Affair takes place as part of the Helsinki International Film Festival (aka Love & Anarchy).

Local filmmakers will be invited to find out more on how to tackle the American market from Us execs including Ryan Wickers, director of development of Us production at EuropaCorp; Peter Trinh, agent, international and independent film at ICM; Robert Burke, MD of TenOne Entertainment; and Sundance Film Festival senior programmer Hussain Currimbhoy.

The panel’s moderator is La-based producer Gudrun Giddings, CEO and producer at G4C Innovation.

Projects

Projects at last year’s Finnish Film Affair projects that found international success were Pirjo...

The 2014 Oscar nominated short films (in live-action, documentary and animation) are making their way to theaters January 31 (and debuting on iTunes February 25). Check out the full list of 15 short films playing in the program, plus watch the compilation's trailer, below. A list of participating theaters is here. List of films, after the jump. Live Actiondo I Have To Take Care Of Everything?Finland / 7MINDirector: Selma VilhunenProducer: Elli Toivoniemi, Tuffi Films Ltd.Mother Sini wakes up in a panic: she has slept in and the family is late for a wedding. She wakes up her husband Jokke and daughters Ella, 6, and Kerttu, 4. They start to prepare themselves in a hurry. Mother is going crazy since nobody else seems to be able to do anything right. Who has messed father’s shirt, hid girls’ dresses and the wedding gift?Heliumdenmark / 23MINDirector: Anders WalterProducers’: Kim Magnusson, Tivi Magnusson and M&M ProductionsExecutive Producers’: Andreas Rostock,...