The Flying Reindeer ?Niko' who seduced three million cinemagoers worldwide in 2009-2010 will be back for new adventures in Niko-Family Affairs. The animation project will reunite much the same creative and production team as the first film, such as co-directors Kari Juusonen and Jørgen Lerdam. The ?7.3m film received the largest grant (?800,000) from the Finnish Film Foundation's latest round of production support.
Niko-Family Affairs-is based again on an original script by Hannu Tuomainen and Marteinn Thorisson. Tuomainen (Cinemaker) will produce with Petteri Pasanen (Anima Vitae), in co-production with Denmark's A Films, Ireland's Magma Film, Germany's Ulysses Filmproduktion. The project in development was presented this week at Cartoon Movie in Lyon, France. TV co-financiers include YLE and TV2 Denmark. Filming will start this summer. Nordisk Film will release it domestically in October 2012.
Five other films received a total of €2.93m from the Finnish Film Foundation. Rat King, the third film by Petri Kotwica (Black Ice) will start shooting this spring for Making Movies. The thriller with horror elements already received development backing from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Life for Sale is a drama-thriller based on the upcoming eponymous novel by Marko Leino. Aleksi Mäkelä, one of Finland's most popular directors (Bad Boys) is directing for long- time collaborator Markus Selin (Solar Films). Co-financing comes from MTV3 and Nordisk Film. Mari Rantasila's family film Rick Rapper and the Cool Wendy is the sequel to Rick Rapper & the Bicycle Thief, the second biggest hit of 2010 in Finland. Kinotar is producing the €1.5m film, with co-financing from YLE. Nordisk Film will release it in February 2012. Perifery is the new film by JP Siili (Ganes). Set in Southern Ostrobothnia in the 19th century, it's the story of two brothers who fight over a woman and a house. The €1.6m film is produced by Yellow Film & TV with co-financing from YLE.
Karzan Kader, winner of the 2010 Nordic Talents Award, received support for his feature debut Bekas, produced by Sweden's Sonet Film in co-production with Finland's Helsinki Film. Filming of the €1.7m drama will start this month in the Kurdish part of Northern Iraq. The project received support from Eurimages and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. SF will handle distribution in Sweden and Finland.