Estonia‘s producers dive into the making of Beta Film’s event series showcased at Mipcom

The 8X45' series Estonia currently filming for another two weeks, was commissioned by MTV3 Finland, C More-TV4 Sweden, Telia in Estonia and produced in collaboration with Beta Film, handling sales.

The sinking of the MS Estonia ferry, one of the worse maritime disasters in peacetime 20^th century, dramatised in Fisher King’s upcoming series Estonia, might have unfolded nearly thirty years ago-in 1994 in the Baltic Sea. But the accident is still fresh in the collective memory of many Finns, Swedes and Estonians whose nations lost 852 souls in the tragedy.

“When this happened, I was serving in the maritime academy, quite coincidentally, with Juuso Syrjä, [co-director of the series with concept director Måns Månsson],” said MTV3’s Head of Drama and Development Jani Hartikainen to a crowd of TV executives and journalists, gathered on Sunday at an informal event hosted by Beta Film.

“When we heard the news, we thought for a moment we might have to come and help in the rescue operations. It was a very powerful and emotional moment,” recalled Hartikainen.

Similarly, one of the lead actors, Pelle Heikkilä (Invisible Heroes) who was 16 at the time, kept a vivid memory of the event, as his own father whose job was to tow away ships, stayed glued to his radio to monitor the rescue operations. Heikkilä who plays a rescue diver who saved 42 people - out of 137 survivors - the night of September 28, 1994, said he was honoured to meet the common hero (whose name was changed) to prepare for his role, and to portray him on screen.

Speaking to nordicfilmandtvnews.com, producer Matti Halonen (Bordertown, Helsinki Sydrome), co-founder of Fisher King with Estonia showrunner Miikko Oikkonen, said both of them came up with the idea during a pitching session with MTV3 Finland’s Hartikainen and Chief Content Officer Marko Karvo.

For Halonen, the MS Estonia ferry tragedy is like a wound still open for many Finns, Estonians and Swedes, as the report from the official investigation team published two years after the tragedy left many questions unanswered - and no one was held accountable.

“It’s like a myth! How come a ferry with over 1,000 passengers could sink within 30 minutes in 1994? It’s an unbelievable story, that simply had to be told. It is hugely important for our collective memory and for the younger generation who don’t know about it,” insists Halonen.

When documents from the official Joint Accident Investigation Committee (JAIC), set up by Finland, Estonia and Sweden, were officially released to the Finnish national archives in 2019, Fisher King creatives were able to dig into more than 14,000 archive materials to build the backbone for the series.

Three countries perspective
Halonen points out that it was quintessential - out of respect for all involved in the tragedy and their families - to put aside the numerous conspiracy theories and stick to the facts and the points of view of the three nations involved.

Therefore, on top of a team of writers from Finland (Tuomas Hakola, Olli Suitiala, Sanna Reinumägi) who worked together with creator Oikkonen, writing colleagues from Estonia (Andris Feldmanis, Livia Ulman) and Sweden (Henrik Engström) were added to decipher each country’s cultural differences and approaches to the tragedy. “Nobody owns the sorrow,” said Halonen, who compares the MS Estonia disaster to that of the Titanic. “We’re still learning from what happened,” he said.

Beyond the significance of the true crime story, the production itself was of a mammoth scale as explained by Halonen. Filming started in July in Belgium, at the Lites studios, home to one of the most advanced interior water studios in the world- before moving to Turkey, where a roller ship was dressed up as the MS Estonia ferry. The cast & crew then headed off to Estonia, Finland and the UK, where Chernobyl’s DNEG are handling the VFX. Another two weeks of filming in Finland are still on the table.

Lassila says working across five countries in a limited time frame required a warfare type of organisation, and the high level of production neared a James Bond movie in sophistication. In Belgium in particular, the underwater scenes and construction of a tilted platform able to capsize, were pushed to the limit.

On top of that, the producers used the ‘albert’ green production tool kit, which meant that only heads of departments and the actors including as well Katia Winter (Dexter, Agent Hamilton), Jussi Nikkilä (Love and Other Troubles), Peter Andersson (Jack Ryan), Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey (Inglorious Basterds, The White Ribbon), were asked to travel from one country to the next. A lot of work in post-production with CGI technology will contribute to cutting down on the production’s carbon footprint.

“If anyone wants to learn how to make a complex production with green filmmaking methods-come and talk to us”, quipped Lassila.

The €15 million series spearheaded by Beta Film’s Finnish brand Fisher King, was co-produced by Kärnfilm in Sweden, Panache Production Belgium, and Estonia’s Amrion, with support among others from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Seven.One Entertainment Group has pre-bought the show for German-speaking territories.

Asked how it felt to soon deliver his biggest production ever, Halonen said: “I’ve been in the film business for over 30 years and Johannes [Lassila] is also hugely experienced. It’s been a challenging project but we knew how to put it together, using a typical film financing structure, with a mix of soft money and private equity, local tax incentives, and the help from major European co-producers who also reunited an amazing team of local talent.”
Top Nordic behind the scenes talent include DoP JP Passi (Compartment No6, Chernobyl), and production designer Liv Ask (22 July, Top Dog).

Estonia is toplining Beta Film’s Mipcom drama slate, together with the eco thriller The Swarm, currently in post-production, and the surveillance drama Concordia which just starting filming. The two major international co-productions are produced by Intaglio Films, a joint venture between Beta Film and ZDF Studios in Germany, headed by Game of Thrones’s executive producer Frank Doelger.