Arte adds Helsinki Syndrome to string of Nordic coproductions

The French cultural channel which co-produces between 2-3 European TV dramas a year, remains a devoted partner to Nordic producers of high-end TV dramas.

The latest project announced Sunday was the thriller Helsinki Syndrome, produced by Beta Film’s majority-owned Finnish production brand Fisher King, part of the Beta Nordic Studios umbrella. The German group’s sales arm Beta Film handles global distribution.

Besides Arte, the 8-part TV show commissioned by Yle is co-produced by Germany’s NDR, Belgium’s Panache Productions, with co-financing from Business Finland. Filming is soon scheduled to wrap.

Commenting on the partnership with Arte, Yle’s Head of Drama Jarmo Lampela told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “Yle has had a collaboration with Arte for more than 20 years in feature films, documentaries and cultural programs like opera etc. I feel delighted and think that Yle, Arte and NRD’s collaboration in drama series is a great starting point for a longer partnership, after few years of discussions about handful of projects. We all have high hopes for the forthcoming years,” he said.

“We are really happy to have such great broadcasters attached to Helsinki Syndrome,” added producer and Fisher King CEO Matti Halonen. “Having NDR and Arte on board underlines its European and international relevance.”

Tagged as “a modern ‘Robin Hood-like Nordic noir”, Helsinki Syndrome reunites Bordertown’s writer Mikko Oikkonen and director Juuso Syrjä. The show examines the powerplay between individuals through an unusual robbery, using as a reference and flashbacks the Finnish banking crisis of the 1990s.

Peter Franzén (Vikings, Heart of a Lion) stars as Elias Karo who kidnaps four renowned journalists at their newspaper’s Helsinki headquarters in the hope that they will expose the crimes committed by banking officials and the government against his family.

The premiere on Yle is slated for the fall 2022.

Yesterday at Series Mania’s TV festival unspooling both in Lille and virtually, Arte took centre stage to present its current and upcoming event co-productions, including Italy’s Anna (Sky Italia) and Iceland’s Blackport (RÚV), both platformed at the international competition programme.

Arte’s Head of Drama Olivier Wotling and Deputy Head of Drama Alexandre Piel reiterated their strategy, which is to secure rights as early as possible on carefully selected quality series, to beat competition and to take part in artistic decisions.

“We love politically-charged TV dramas, told from an intimate angle, with an interesting character-arc,” explained Wotling, citing Blackport as an Icelandic-specific story of greed and power, relevant to audiences around the world.

Piel said upcoming major Nordic co-productions include season 2 of Arte’s hit Danish show DNA, and the Norwegian show Countrymen produced by Rubicon for NRK.