The Finnish Film Foundation's largest grant of €700,000 was given out to Saara Cantell's romantic comedy The Only Ones (Ne Ainoat oikeat) set to start filming in the autumn for producer Jarkko Hentula (Yellow Film & TV).
Finland's major production house Solar Films received €675,000 for Marja Pyykkö's second feature Kekkonen, a comedy about the visit of the former Finnish President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen to a small town that creates chaos. Pyykkö who received a Special Mention at Nordic Talents 2008 had 136,000 domestic admissions with her feature debut Run, Sister Run. Kekkonen is set to start filming in August.
Another Solar Films production, the coming of age drama Above Dark Waters, was awarded €630,000. Actor Peter Franzén (pictured), makes his directorial debut, based on his own successful novel of the same name. Filming is scheduled to start in August.
Two Nordic co-productions received support: the Norwegian thriller Pioneer by Erik Skjoldbjær produced by Friland Produksjon with Finland's Matila Röhr Nordisk, and the Swedish family film Detective Office Lassemaja-The Seven Wonders produced by Svensk Filmindustri in co-production with Kinoproduction.
The SFI's largest production grant of SEK9 million went to the mainstream comedy Tosh in Greece directed by Hannes Holm for Eyeworks Film & TV Drama. The next biggest grant of SEK8m million went to Tre Vänner's Bamse and the City of Thieves, the first feature adaptation of the beloved comic character Bamse bear.
Anagram Production received SEK850.000 for the documentary The Sarnos-a Life in Dirty Movies focusing on the legendary sexploitation director Joe Sarno and his wife and Firma MLDB Stockholm was awarded SEK165.000 for Verdict DB 237 District Court of Pieå,the Murder of a Child.
Finally the US film Bluebird focusing on the disintegration of a poor American community seen through the prism of a family and their teenage daughter received a SEK700,000 grant. Erika Wasserman (Idyll AB) is co-producing.
For further details check: http://www.ses.fi/ and http://www.sfi.se/