Actualités

LevelK has boarded the dark comedic drama “The Kidnapping of a President” by Finnish director Samuli Valkama (“No Thank You”), the company announced this week in Helsinki. The film, which is produced by John Lundsten (“Renki”) and Melli Maikkula (“KilJuset”) for Tack Film, is based on the incredible, pulled-from-the-headlines story of the abduction of the first president of Finland.

In a director’s statement provided to Variety, Valkama noted: “‘The Kidnapping of a President’ tells an absurd and comical story based on real events about how in October 1930, a group of Finnish top echelon military officers went drinking and decided to kidnap the first — and already retired — president of Finland, Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg. The plan went south right at the outset,” he continued, “as the incompetent crew recruited for the task were forced to allow the stubborn wife of the president, Ester Ståhlberg, to come along. This kicked off a bizarre series of events,...

10 of the selected projects are live-action films, with one animation and one documentary.

Cinekid Script Lab, the European initiative for the development of children’s films, has picked 12 feature projects for its sixth edition, featuring more than 50% women across the selected teams.

The six-month script workshop will begin during the Cinekid for Professionals event in Amsterdam (Oct 21-25) and runs through to the Berlinale in February 2020.

A total of 10 of the 17 writers on the list are women, while nine of the 19 producers are female. There are no directors attached at this stage.

Alongside new talents, Cinekid welcomes back a few regulars,...