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Empire, an absurdist period drama about Denmark’s colonial history from filmmaker Frederikke Aspöck and writer Anna Neye, has won the 2023 Nordic Council Film Prize.

The award was announced Tuesday evening during the Nordic Council Prize ceremony at the Opera house in Oslo. The gong was handed to Aspöck and Neye alongside producers Pernille Munk Skydsgaard, Nina Leidersdorff, and Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen.

Speaking of Empire, the council jury said: “It is a rare thing to come across a film that is so confidently and thoroughly thought through in every single detail, and where such an extraordinarily clear vision from the filmmakers behind it shines from every frame. They serve a beautiful, sweet, and colorful treat laced with bitter poison and low-intensity rage. The film is complex and thought-provoking, and the filmmakers do not stumble once while telling their tale about an ugly part of history.”

Conceived and written by Neye,...

The award was handed out tonight during a ceremony at Oslo’s Opera House.

Danish drama Empire (Viften) has won the lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize for 2023.

The prize, worth $45,000, is split between director Frederikke Aspöck, screenwriter Anna Neye and producers Pernille Munk Skydsgaard, Nina Leidersdorff and Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen.

The award was handed out tonight during a ceremony at Oslo’s Opera House.

Empire celebrated its world premiere in Göteborg and opened in Danish cinemas in April via Sf Studios. REinvent handles international sales.

The film was selected among six Nordic candidates by a jury consisting...

Six nominees vying for the lucrative annual award.

The Nordic Council Film Prize is including a Greenlandic nominee for the first time, with six titles in the running for the prize, worth $45,000.

The full list of nominees this year are:

The Edge Of The Shadow (Greenland) Directed and written by Malik Kleist and produced by Nina Paninnguaq for PaniNoir and Imalik Film. Empire (Den) Directed by Frederikke Aspöck, written by Anna Neye and Frederikke Aspöck and produced by Pernille Munk Skydsgaard, Nina Leidersdorff and Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen for Meta Film Bubble (Fin) Directed by Aleksi Salmenperä , written by Reeta Ruotsalainen and Aleksi Salmenperä,...

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.

Almost anyone over 30 has owned a Nokia phone at some point in their lives, but not many people know that the iconic brand was created at a Finnish company formerly specializing in rubber boots.

Once the world’s biggest mobile manufacturer at the turn of the 21st century, the company was nearly wiped out of the smartphone market by Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android well before 2010, and ultimately sold its handset division to Microsoft in 2013.

When news broke of Microsoft’s takeover on TV, Finnish director Maarit Lalli’s first thought was, “There’s going to be only one [drama] on Nokia in Finland: It will either be me or someone else, and it’s most likely going to be made by a man,” she told Variety during a set visit in Helsinki.

The next morning, Lalli called Finnish TV channels and the Finish Film Foundation to check if...

The 10th edition of the Finnish Film Affair took place as a hybrid event from Helsinki.

Denmark’s The Great Silence was inaugural winner of the best Nordic project award at the 10th edition of the Finnish FIlm Affair (Ffa) which took place as a hybrid event from Helsinki this week,

The Great Silence is the directorial debut of Katrine Brocks and is produced by Pernille Tornøe of Monolit Film. The pair pitched remotely because they are currently shooting the film The drama is about siblings , played by Ninjababy’s Kristine Kujath Thorp and Winter Brothers’ Elliott Crosset Hove, coming...

The 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 announces she is divorcing her father to be with her lesbian lover, was described by director Aleksi Salmenperä as a heartwarming dramedy focusing on the challenges facing teens in dealing with departures from their comfort zones.

While the protagonist of the story, 16-year-old Eveliina, is, like most teens, liberal in her beliefs, “this liberal thinking doesn’t extend to her parents,” as producer Minna Haapkylä put it.

In scenes that are both tense but also tinged with ironic humor,...

Fresh off another win at Finland’s Jussi Awards, this time for his short film “The Bouncer,” Aleksi Salmenperä is already in post-production with his upcoming feature “Bubble,” about to be presented at Helsinki International Film Festival’s industry event Finnish Film Affair in its Fiction in Progress section.

“I was sort of embarrassed by this win,” he jokes. The comedy was shot six years ago and originally intended as a part of an episodic film. At previous Jussi Awards, Salmenperä was named best director for “Distractions” in 2016, and drama “Void” won best director and best film in 2019. “Bubble,” set to premiere in the spring of next year, is bound to surprise some of his fans, however, with Salmenperä calling it “the cosiest film” he has ever made.

“I don’t know what happened! Maybe I am just getting old, but there is so much warmth in this film. I...

A new TV series will chart the rise and fall of Finnish cell phone company Nokia.

Rabbit Films has begun production on “Mobile 1.0” (working title), a six-part scripted drama that explores the meteoric rise of Nokia to become the world’s leading manufacturer of mobile phones before a dramatic fall from grace.

The Finnish and English-language series, shot in Finland and the U.S., will launch in early 2022 on Scandinavian streamer C More, with a linear premiere to follow on MTV3. C More has also picked up the first-window VOD rights for the Nordic and Baltic regions. Rabbit Films is handling international distribution.

“Mobile 1.0” is the first account of the Finnish electronics company’s expansion from a small business into a global player in the mobile phone industry, beating huge established brands. The first season will focus on the years 1988-1990, when technology for mobile phones was in its infancy.

Finland’s Aurora Studios has launched a private equity fund aimed at film and TV content, kicking off with “Bubble,” a movie directed by Aleksi Salmenperä (“Giant”).

“Bubble” will star Minna Haapkylä, Tommi Korpela, Anna-Maija Tuokko and Stella Leppikorpi. Haapkylä is also producing the movie at Rabbit Films.

The 5.5 million euros ($6.4 million) private equity scheme, called the Finnish Impact Film Fund, was created by Aurora Studios, which is owned by the publishing group Otava, along with Ari Tolppanen’s financing vehicle Capman, and the investment banker Ari Lahti, founder of Ice Capital.

“Aurora Studios was established to facilitate the work of producers and creators, and to further the completion of domestic, high-quality audiovisual content, so the Finnish Impact Film Fund is an integral part of this strategy,” said Tolppanen.

“With it we can act as even better partners and allies to producers and creators, as well as help talented teams...

Private equity fund will invest in Finnish films and TV series.

Finland’s Aurora Studios is launching a private equity fund worth $6.4m (€5.5m) to invest in Finnish films and TV series, kicking off with Aleksi Salmenperä’s drama comedy Bubble.

The Finnish Impact Film Fund is backed by private equity professional and CapMan founder Ari Tolppanen, investment banker and Icecapital founder Ari Lahti and Otava, which is Finland’s largest book publisher.

Salmenperä’s Bubble is in post-production after shooting in the Finnish town of Karkkila in February, and Aurora plans to distribute the film at the end of...

Seven feature-length fiction films, three documentaries and two shorts have received close to €4.2 million in production aid. March has already got off to a good start in Finland, with 12 new titles being granted Finnish Film Foundation backing as part of the 50/50 production support scheme – aimed at productions with high audience appeal. Jussi-winning director Aleksi Salmenperä, now developing Bubble with Minna Haapkylä, of Rabbit Films, was granted €800,000, while Markku Pölönen will focus on Hamsters, following the successful run of his previous historical drama, Land of Hope. Popular franchises also keep going strong, with Lapland Odyssey 4 given €700,000 and Mika Kaurismäki taking over the third part of the successful Grump series, about a cranky yet ultimately rather loveable older man. Produced by Jukka Helle,...

Finland’s top streaming service Elisa Viihde has ordered “Summer of Sorrow,” a high-concept mystery thriller series that’s being produced by Rabbit Films and will be sold by Keshet Intl. around the world.

The 10-episode show, created Jani Volanen (“M/S Romantic”) and set in the early 1980s, takes place in an idyllic Finnish suburb of Munkkivuori where a small child disappears. With little support from the police, concerned parents take justice into their own hands and launch a desperate hunt for the child.

The events will be depicted from the perspective of the local children, who are eavesdropping on the adults, gossiping and drawing their own conclusions about what happened to the missing child.

“Summer of Sorrow” is expected to start shooting in May in Helsinki. Rabbit Films’ Minna Haapkylä and Olli

Suominen will be serving as executive producers.

“Finnish fiction is emerging as the hotbed for distinctive drama from the Nordic region,...

Pirjo Honkasolo’s Concrete Night and J-p Valkeapään’s They Have Escaped were among the winners at the Finnish Film Week (Sept 18-24) in Helsinki.

Honkasolo’s drama - Finland’s Best Foreign Language Film submission at the last Oscars - won awards for art director Pentti Valkeasuo and the team of gaffer Jani Lehtinen, camera operator Nea Salmisen, key grip/second unit cameraman Arttu Peltomaan and colour editor Jussi Myllyniemen.

Helsinki-Filmi’s Aleksi Bardy was named Producer of the Year for They Have Escaped, for which J-p Valkeapään was named Director of the Year.

Bardy, Valkeapään and screenwriter Pilvi Peltola have also been nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize which will be announced during a session of the Nordic Council in Reykjavik on Oct 27.

Professional associations also recognised the achievements of screenwriter Petja Peltomaa, head of drama at Yellow Film & TV, and Iikka Vehkalahti, documentary filmmaker and Yle commissioning editor.

Actors to receive...