The $25m (€20.1m) Chinese/Finnish/Canadian co-production has benefitted from the 25% Finnish tax rebate and is closing its shooting with two-day filming in Turku region.

Next to Hollywood star Andy Garcia are a whole line up of Finnish cast and crew members working on the sci-fi adventure under director Timo Vuorensola and producer Tero Kaukomaa’s aegis. Those include actress Malla Malmivaara, who plays Doctor Anna Kontula, and cinematographer Mika Orasmaa (The Unknown Soldier) and composer Tuomas Kantelinen (The Italian Key, Purge), who both worked with Vuorensola on Iron Sky: The Coming Age, sequel to the original Iron Sky film.  

The International cast also comprises Stephanie Paul, James Quinn, Udo Kier (from the first Iron Sky film), Chinese actor Duan Yihong, Taiwanese/British actor Rhydian Vaughan and newcomers Lin Yi, Vivienne Tien and Wan Lian who form the main trio of the film. 

The third instalment in the Iron Sky universe series focuses on two AV geeks who are kicked out of university. In need of cash, they end up decrypting a mysterious voice message received from the moon. Soon they find themselves fighting for the future of humanity, facing the mother of all conspiracy theories, the Illuminati. 

Andy Garcia plays William Russell, the wealthy boss of Illuminati.  “Having Andy Garcia in our film significantly increases the film’s distribution potential”, said producer Tero Kaukomaa.” “One of our company’s main roles in this production has been the maximisation of the sales and distribution of the film outside China.”

After four months filming in China, the Iron Sky team were originally meant to move to the Alps in Central Europe for the final shoot, but the attractive new Finnish tax rebates, administered by Business Finland, lured them to Finland instead. 

Teija Raninen, Film Commissioner of the West Finland Film Commission said: “The production incentive is the best thing to happen to the Finnish film industry in years. Big studios and production companies are now finally interested in everything Finland has to offer. We wouldn’t be sitting at the table without the incentive.

Raninen confirmed to nordicfilmandtvnews.com that the two-day shoot in Turku will bring about €200,000 to the local economy and jobs for 30 local film professionals.

Iron Sky: The Ark is one of 24 projects supported in 2017 by the Finnish cash rebate, introduced a year ago. The scheme’s €10 million fund was already fully allocated by the end of June. Upcoming Finnish projects funded include Klaus Härö’s film One Last Deal (Making Movies) and TV series Archipellina and the Chalk Crystal (Långfilm Production) both supported as well by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. 

Iron Sky: The Ark was produced by Finland’s Iron Sky Universe with China Film Group, Jiabo Culture Development, and Pan Pan Pictures, with Canadian co-production partner Longevity International Enterprises. The film is slated for an early 2019 release. 

The second film in the Iron Sky franchise, Iron Sky the Coming Race is scheduled for an August 22, 2018 theatrical release in Finland.