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Audiovisual Producers Finland (Apfi) has unveiled its Mipcom slate.

The “diverse” lineup “highlights the extraordinary storytelling coming out of Finland,” teased executive director Laura Kuulasmaa.

The second season of the documentary series “Untold Arctic Wars” will focus on Cold War espionage and military conflicts in the region.

After the blockbuster success of the first season, which found placements in almost every major territory across the Americas, Europe, Mena and Asia, Tvf will be partnering again with Ntrnz to bring this latest season to buyers around the world, said Sam Joyce, Tvf’s senior acquisitions manager.

“Factual buyers are hungry for fresh angles on contemporary history and this series offers that in spades. With brand new testimony and newly unearthed archive, it promises to challenge our understanding of the global distribution of power during the Cold War years. This is exactly the kind of high-end, globally-minded series that broadcasters are clamoring for,...

Finland’s industry is ready to appeal to the government as the future of a film and TV production incentive is under threat, with a 25% cash rebate levied on spend on foreign and Finnish shoots in the country conspicuously absent from a provisional budget for 2024, announced Monday.

“People have been hopeful, so they didn’t want to believe in what the government has been saying. For the whole autumn, we kept hearing they will cut the incentives altogether and that our budget at the Foundation will be cut by a few per cent. The final decision was made on Monday,” said Finnish Film Foundation CEO Lasse Saarinen.

“All these years when we had the incentives, we had opposition in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. These officials just didn’t like the idea,” he noted.

But the fight isn’t over just yet.

“I will speak to the Minister...

As proven by a slew of new shows in development, series creators from Finland keep on experimenting.

“People are exploring some bold, risky topics. Ones that make you go: ‘Wow, they are really making a show about that?’,” says Laura Kuulasmaa, executive director from the producers’ association Apfi.

Aamu Film Company’s “Monster,” about a teenage Nicke, realizing he is in love with his girlfriend’s 11-year-old sister, is bound to ignite discussions.

“I wanted to do this show because I believe that raising awareness of minor-attracted persons can save children from abuse,” creator Eva-Maria Koskinen tells Variety.

“It’s not about blurring any borders: Sexual contact between an adult and a child is wrong and also criminal. But research shows that when a minor-attracted person can’t talk about their sexuality, the pressure builds up. Wouldn’t we want people like Nicke to seek help, if it keeps them from the wrong path?...

Exclusive: The Audiovisual Producers Finland (Apfi) today announced the slate of new series its members are bringing to Berlin (scroll down for the full list) alongside a new industry event titled Focus on Finland to be held during the festival.

Focus on Finland will be an official part of the Berlinale Series Market schedule and will feature an industry panel titled ‘Why So Series?’ which will focus on Nordic scripted comedy and drama series.

The panel will take place at CinemaxX Theatre on Potsdamer Platz on February 20 and will feature writer Brendan Foley (The Man Who Died), producer Jackie Larkin (Strike), commissioner Arttu Nurmi (Modern Men), and distribution executive Jean-Michel Ciszewski (Bnei Aruba). The panel will be moderated by Marike Muselaers, Chief Content & Partnerships Officer, Lumiere Group.

“This year we’re focusing on expanding the industry and audience perceptions of what makes Nordic Noir,” said Laura Kuulasmaa, Executive Director of Apfi.

Finland has responded to a spike in demand for its content with a slew of new series. As revealed by Laura Kuulasmaa, executive director at Audiovisual Producers Finland (Apfi), over 30 will be released this year alone, a 20% uptick on 2018.

“Compared to eight, ten years ago, when there were maybe only five scripted series per year, the increase has been huge,” she tells Variety ahead of French TV festival Series Mania’s “Focus on Finland” showcase.

The Film in Finland cash rebate has facilitated international investments and growth of the budgets, she notes.

Matti Paunio, head of production at the Finnish Film Foundation, adds:

“I think the biggest trend overall is the diversification of subjects and points of view. Scripts and series are more courageous, they take on different genres more often than ever. Production is booming, but apart from the quantity, we are also providing quality.”

According to Paunio, about 47% of writers,...

The Göteborg Film Festival’s annual TV industry event, TV Drama Vision, has unveiled its program, which focuses on sustainability and healthy working conditions at a time of hyper-competition in the drama space.

TV Drama Vision is set to unspool both in-person and online over Feb. 2-3.

As opening keynote, Johanna Koljonen, author of the anticipated Nostradamus Report, will kickstart the event’s conference strand, which is also due to new paths for creative producers, public funding at a crossroads, green filmmaking, diversity, changing business models and storytelling.

“The program, designed as always in close collaboration with the industry, will reveal how the streaming disruption, accelerated by the pandemic, is affecting us all. It’s important for all partners to find common grounds and reflect on long-term plans to create a sustainable industry,” says Göteborg head of industry Cia Edström, who will be hosting the event with moderators Johanna Nunnu Karppinen,...

Mika Ronkainen and Merja Aakko won the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize for outstanding writing on a Nordic drama series on Wednesday evening for “All the Sins,” a crime thriller and broken family drama set in Finland’s singular Bible belt and sod by Sky Vision.

The six-part series marks the first venture into series drama creation by documentary director Ronkainen, whose 2003’s “Screaming Men” played Sundance, and 2009’s “Freetime Machos” the Tribeca Film Festival, and by Aako, a former journalist specialized in human interest stories and social issues.

“All the Sins” is lead produced for Finnish VOD service Elisa Viihde by Ilkka Matila at Finland’s Mrp Matila Rohr Productions.

The series begins with detective Lauri Räiha being dispatched to investigate the murders of two men, both pillars of the ultra-conservative Laestadian religious community, in Varjakka, a small northern Finnish town where he grew up. He is accompanied by a senior officer,...