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Sf Studios is set to co-produce and distribute “Kalevala: The Story of Kullervo,” a big-budget historical drama based on Finland’s national epic “Kalevala” which will be directed Antti J. Jokinen.

Nordic stars Elias Salonen and and Eero Aho (“The Unknown Soldier”) are set to star in leading roles. Johanna Enäsuo and Marko Röhr, at ReelMedia are producing the film, while Sf Studios will distribute the film in the Nordics with an expected theatrical release in Finnish theaters in early 2026. REinvent has boarded international sales.

“Kalevala: The Story of Kullervo” marks the first feature film adaptation of the Finnish national epic poetry compilation “Kalevala” which blends Karelian and Finnish folklore and mythology, and was created in 1835 by Elias Lönnrot, a Finnish doctor and explorer.

Set in the 1100’s, the period film will be mainly shot on location in Bomba, near the Lake Pielinen in Nurmes in North Karelia. Extensive sets are being built,...

Set during the final days of World War II, Sisu boasts an impressive roster of characters, played by a talented cast. Featuring one action set piece after another, Sisu brims with relentless gore as it follows the journey of an unforgiving former commando named Aatami, who stands tall in the face of danger and stops at nothing to serve justice to wrongdoers. Owing to his unrelenting grit and determination, he goes on a rampage against Nazis when they attempt to steal gold from him.

While Sisu's one-man death squad narrative may seem familiar, the movie is already being lauded by critics for its crowd-pleasing delivery of exactly what it promises. Given how it is Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander's third film after his critically acclaimed Big Game and Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, its early critical acclaim is not surprising. However, other than Jalmari Helander's directorial forte, Sisu's success can...

The face-bandaged “Unknown Soldier” created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert for DC Comics, debuted in the title “Our Army At War” #168 (1966) , following ‘Eddie Ray’ a wounded soldier who undergoes intensive training to become an intelligence operative code-named "The Unknown Soldier’ in honour of 'The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia:

“…’Eddie Ray’ joins the United States Army together with his brother ‘Harry’ less than two months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

“Assigned to the Philippines when the Pacific War breaks out, he and Harry are present when the Japanese sweep across the islands. In their foxhole, Harry tells his brother not to lose hope even though they are outnumbered, because ‘one guy can affect the outcome of a whole war! One guy in the right place... at the right time...’

“The two fight off wave after wave of invading Japanese soldiers when a...

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...

The hybrid event will run September 23-25 in Helsinki.

The Finnish Film Affair has unveiled the lineup for its hybrid event, which will run September 23-25 in Helsinki as well as online.

Some 300 industry professionals are expected to attend, with some in-person and 150 online.

New talents and female voices are prominent in this year’s programme, with debut features comprising one-third of the lineup. Across the selection, at least 58% of projects have at least one non-male director.

Nearly 50 films in development, production or post-production will be on offer. Some highlights in development include Lapland War from Unknown Soldier director Aku Louhimies,...

In his new, small-scale drama, the director of the war epic The Unknown Soldier shows how to stop worrying and love the Covid-19 restrictions. As the pandemic restrictions ease up, film and TV productions are slowly resuming all over Europe. But few upcoming projects seem to fit the new on-set rules as well as Aku Louhimies’ Odotus – The Wait, an intimate love story set on an isolated island, all the way up in the Finnish Archipelago Sea. It is to be shot already this summer and, as advertised, in a sustainable manner, thanks to the collaboration with Compensate – a Finnish non-profit organisation combatting climate change. “The script was already written before [the pandemic], but the current situation made us think: ‘Ok, why don’t we just plan the production so that we can do it this summer?’” explains Louhimies to Cineuropa over Zoom, discussing the story which, inspired by...

Company will distribute Aku Louhimies’ The Wait in 2021; also developing Marimekko CEO biopic.

A new film development, financing and distribution company is launching in Finland from the team that financed the box-office hit The Unknown Soldier.

Aurora Studios will work on “commercially and artistically ambitious” films and other audiovisual content. The company won’t act as producers on the films.

The new company is owned by private equity professional and CapMan founder Ari Tolppanen, investment banker and Icecapital founder Ari Lahti and Otava Oy, which is Finland’s largest book publisher.

Aurora will exist as an independent company, not a subsidiary of Otava Oy.

Finland’s Auli Mantila writes and directs.

Rikke Ennis’ REinvent Studios has boarded sales for suspense drama Transport, as Berlinale Series Market wraps up today (Feb 26).

Finland’s Auli Mantila writes and directs. Producers are Miia Haavisto and Tia Talli, of Finland’s Tekele Productions. Haavisto is a seasoned producer who has also worked on films including Miami, Tom Of Finland and Unknown Soldier. Co-producers are Helen Perquy and Philippe de Schepper of Belgium’s jonnydepony.

The 8 x 50’ series will start shooting in September, in Finnish and English. It explores money laundering and food fraud across Europe, particularly involving horse transport,...

London-based sales agency Film Republic has boarded Finnish film “Eden” as it prepares for the European Film Market in Berlin. The company has released a teaser for the film.

“Eden,” the debut feature film by Ulla Heikkilä, is produced by Miia Haavisto from Tekele Productions. It will be released in Finland in the summer by Nordisk Film.

A coming-of-age film about a religious summer camp, Eden tells the story through the eyes of three youths who are torn between ideology, independence and falling in love.

Heikkilä said: “It’s been a wonderful experience to be making a coming-of-age film. For me, youth is condensed humanity: it’s almost like being an adult but not having had the time to get used to all the drama that life consists of. The bliss and the pain of growing up move me, maybe because I’m still feeling both all the time. I...

Tony Award winners Linda Lavin and Stephanie J. Block are among the cast announced today for the world premiere production of Sarah Silverman’s Off Broadway musical The Bedwetter. Sami Bray, who appeared on Broadway in the 2017 production of 1984, and Zoe Glick (of Broadway’s Frozen) will share the role of Sarah, the 10-year-old title character inspired by Silverman.

The casting was announced by the Atlantic Theater Company.

Based on Silverman’s bestselling memoir, The Bedwetter begins performances on Saturday April 25 for a limited engagement at the Linda Gross Theater, with opening night set for Wednesday May 20. The musical will run through Sunday June 14.

Other cast announced today: Ashley Blanchet (Frozen), Rick Crom (HBO’s Divorce), Darren Goldstein (Continuity), Taylor Paige Henderson (Off-Broadway debut), Charlotte MacLeod (Off-Broadway debut), Ellyn Marie Marsh (The Rose Tattoo), Charlie Pollock (Pretty Woman The Musical) and Emily Zimmerman (Off-Broadway debut).

Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Directed by Antti Jokkinen, the biopic is about Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck.

Picture Tree International has boarded sales for Antti Jokinen’s Finnish drama Helene.

Picture Tree plans to screen the film for buyers at Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market and at Berlin’s European Film Market, with a festival premiere coming later in 2020. The film was previously touted as a work in progress in Haugesund in August 2019.

The biopic is about Helene Schjerfbeck, a Finnish painter who lived a quiet life in the countryside with her elderly mother. The film covers her life from 1915-1923, when an art dealer...

Sf Studios has boarded Nordic distribution and worldwide sales rights to a pair of action-thriller films and a series based on Ilkka Remes’ bestselling novel “6/12,” which will be directed by Antti J. Jokinen (“Flowers of Evil”) and headlined by Jasper Pääkkönen.

Titled “Omerta,” the new Finnish franchise will be produced by the banner Cinematic and will revolve around a secret unit of European special forces. The two feature films will be titled “Omerta 6/12” and “Omerta 7/12,” and will be released in the fall of 2021 and 2022 by Sf Studios across Scandinavia. The TV series has been ordered by C More in Sweden.

“Omerta 6/12” begins as a hostage thriller, with a Serbian terrorist group executing a coordinated attack on the presidential reception ball on Dec. 6, Finland’s Independence Day. The storylines of “Omerta 6/12” and “Omerta 7/12” will take place in Helsinki, Moscow, Brussels and Minsk, and will be shot in several languages, including Finnish,...

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,...

In “Finnish Blood, Swedish Heart,” Finland’s Mika Ronkainen, best known for his documentaries – 2003’s “Screaming Men,” 2009’s “Freetime Machos” – portrays the dislocation of 1970s Finnish emigrants in Sweden via a father-and-son musical road movie.

For “All the Sins,” a Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize entry written with Merja Aakko, Ronkainen takes very much the same elements – a genre, here the murder mystery; a near documentary depiction, here of small town bigotry; and cornerstone family relationships – and recasts them in a drama series, awash in a sense of (unmerited) shame and guilt, with a contemporary feminist turn. The result is a crime thriller which works on several levels.

“All the Sins” begins in classic Nordic Noir with a body winched upside down in a barn as a shadowy assassin draws a knife seemingly to dispatch the victim. But, diverging from the Nordic Noir playbook, we never see the corpse. After a ten-year absence,...

Finnish production from Frozen Land director will feature 14,000 extras.

Finnish director Aku Louhimies will start shooting his new epic The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) on June 6, with 80 filming days scheduled.

Sf Film Finland has the theatrical launch slated for October 2017, timed to the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence.

The World War 2 historical-drama tells the story of a platoon of ordinary Finnish soldiers in the battlefield between Finland and the Soviet Union.

The script is adapted from Väinö Linna’s bestselling 1954 novel, and its uncensored version from 2000.

The book, translated into 23 languages, has been filmed twice before as 1955 and 1985 hits.

“The story of The Unknown Soldier is very universal. It’s a gripping portrayal of how a tragedy changes us all,” said Louhimies.

Eero Aho (Tears Of April, 8-Ball) will play Corporal Rokka, Jussi Vatanen (Lapland Odyssey) will play Second Lieutenant Koskela, and Aku Hirviniemi (Finland’s Saturday Night Live) will play Corporal Hietanen.

The production...