Exclusive - YLE Sales’ Stop Nyqvist goes to Kino Lorber for the US, Critical Point to AMC Iberia

The major deals on the two Finnish series were announced at MIPCOM by sales manager Maria Kivinen.

Currently in post-production, the three-part series Critical Point (Kriittinen piste) is being produced by Antti Kaarlela of Oulu-based Whatevergroup for Yle. Kaisa el Ramly (Getaways & Dreams) directs from an original script by Kaarlela, Naima Mohamud, Antti Kairakari and Aleksi Puranen.

The coming-of-age story set in Lapland, centres on Somali teenager Hodan (newcomer Fadumo Hersi) and her dream to win the Winter Olympics in ski jumping. Seppo (Timo Torikka) a former pro ski jumper, sees the potential in her and becomes her coach.

Commenting on the AMC Iberia pre-buy and Critical Point’s international appeal, Kivinen said: “This is a unique mini-series with a critically-important topic, saying that anything is possible, no matter where you come from. It’s also set in the spectacular setting of ski jumping in the picturesque Northern part of the Nordics."

El Ramly who makes her series debut with Critical Point, says she was “immediately attracted to the main character Hodan, a young, talented ski jumper with a clear desire and an ambitious goal in life, who lacks a rational plan on how to fulfil her dream or how to cope with life's challenging upheavals and changes. Also the fact that she is a Finn with a Somali background is something I could relate to, being half Finnish and half Egyptian,” El Ramly added.

Discussing her visual style, the director said she worked closely with DoP Päivi Kettunen “to create a world built on colours, light and finding interesting shots to emphasise the similarities and differences between the characters.”

“Also, I wanted to use long shots with two or more characters instead of the usual single shot following the change of dialogue, to keep up the tension and life of the scene. And last but not least, we wanted to show ski jumping from a different perspective than what we usually see on TV and sports shows-the fierceness, the harshness, the wildness. Ski jumping is a tough sport and you have to be quite the daredevil to practise it!” she underscored.

Critical Point was co-financed by YLE, the Finnish Film Foundation, Business Oulu, Ylitornio, and Naturpolis. The premiere on the Finnish pubcaster is set for early 2024.

Meanwhile the quirky spy comedy Stop Nyqvist (Pysäyttäkää Nyqvist) which was shortlisted for the Rose d’or Awards 2022, is on its way to conquer US audiences via Kino Lorber. This is the second major deal concluded with a foreign buyer after SBS Australia which launched it last July on its streaming service.

At home the controversial political satire became a test case for Yle which decided to postpone its premiere date due to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, as explained by Yle Drama producer Pekka Ruohoranta. “Yle was worried that the show would increase fear among the spectators. The outbreak of the war was a new and terrifying situation. Plus the series predicted many phenomena very precisely. Luckily Yle trusted Finnish viewers and their ability to differentiate reality from satirical fiction, and the premiere was eventually delayed by only a month.”

Stop Nyqvist was eventually watched by an average 300 000 viewers on linear TV, plus 200,000 in AMR across all episodes when shown on the platform Yle Areena.