Ilkka Matila Puts Finnish Crime On Screens

Priest of Evil is finally coming out after several years in the works and two directors on the job. Why did it take that long?The book ‘Priest of Evil' was the last in a series of 12 novels. The main character of Chief Superintendent Timo Harjunpää is the cornerstone of Finnish crime literature. I started to work on the project in 2002. My ambition was to make it a true genre film, a pure thriller, but the book was quite difficult to adapt. The scriptwriter Leo Viirret and I wanted to catch the spirit of the novel that is both universal and emotional, and translate it in a more dynamic and filmic way. Literary works in Finland are not very character driven; they are more philosophical and existential than Anglo Saxon or German novels. So this is often a problem when adapting a Finnish novel into a screenplay, so the starting point was very challenging. Thankfully, our budget was quite high (€1.9m), which gave us some freedom.

What makes the lead character Timo Harjunpää different from other Nordic cops?
Leo and I discussed this point at length during the development process. The fact is that Finnish culture is between Eastern and Western culture. A character like Wallander has a complicated private life but he still remains very rational. In the case of Timo Harjunpää, his daughter gets killed and it directly affects his mind and behavior. He has to come to terms with his life to be able to catch the murderer. The notions of Good and Evil are blurred. The characters - the good and bad guys - are full of emotions and act in a sort of irrational but very human way. This is the main difference. When you see the film, you realize how deeply rooted into Finnish psyche and culture it is. The film looks very good, it's violent but at the same time, it couldn't have been made anywhere else.

What kind of campaign has been put together by Nordisk Film?Nordisk Film is releasing the film on 80 screens in six different cities. The marketing campaign has been very extensive. We toured with the main actors and director in 20 different cities, doing two cities a day for two weeks and driving 4,000 km from Rovaniemi to Helsinki. The film will have its market premiere at the AFM in Los Angeles where TrustNordisk will be selling it.

You've just re-launched your new website reflecting the clear split of your business between feature film and TV content, a change in strategy operated two years ago when you joined forces with Nordisk Film. Could you tell us how both branches are operating today on a financial and artistic standpoint? Matila Röhr Nordisk Oy is our main company. MRP Matila Röhr Productions is our feature film brand and Marko Röhr and I are the main producers. Then we have the TV branch Nordisk Film TV for television programmes. Of course, the fact that Nordisk Film sold its TV activities to Banijay a year ago changed the situation quite a bit. We lost the constant flow of formats from Nordisk Film. At the same time, it gave us the opportunity to remain independent players and flexible in our content strategy. We've become a more interesting partner to national TV channels because we're not linked to any big corporations, and we've been able to catch other international formats that have become popular here. So it's been good and bad. For the time being, our TV activity is doing better than ever. Our turnover this year will be the biggest for the last five to six years. So we're  very pleased.

You still have the Nordisk Film TV name though?
Yes because when the deal that we struck with Nordisk Film two years ago, encompasses the business but also brand. So the only Nordisk Film TV in the world is actually in Helsinki, which is a bit weird. Sometimes strange things happen in life! Egmont - which owns Nordisk Film - still controls 42% of our company.

You're more oriented towards TV formats, but will you produce TV drama as well?
As our position has changed, we're looking into new types of production for television. We have some TV drama in development. It will become a cornerstone for our TV activity in the future because it's a field where we feel we are strongest because of our feature film experience. The only difficulty with TV Drama in Finland is that budgets are very low, compared to other Nordic countries.

What feature film projects are currently in pre-production and production?
Our upcoming project is a sequel to Priest of Evil, The Iron Chamber, based on Matti Yrjänä Joensuu's latest book ‘Harjunpää and the Iron Room'. It will be adapted again by Leo Viirret. Then, we have a new historical project written and directed by Klaus Härö called Never Alone. It's the story of the Jewish community in Helsinki during WWII. The story will be based on true events and will feature - among others - Abraham Stiller, one of the leading personalities of the Jewish community at the time. We're just starting on the financing.

As I'm also interested in finding new voices, I will produce a true romantic comedy to be directed by first time director Pekko Arakkinen I will also co-produce with Sweden's Fladen Film, the Swedish film Rasberry Refugees directed by Leif Lindblom.

Tell us about your distribution and exhibition activities via your company Biorex: what is your share of the local market, and strategy for the medium term?
We have been very successful in distributing films with Biorex. For instance we've done quite well with Armadillo and we will soon release Susanne Bier's In a Better World. On the cinema side, we're building a new four-screen multiplex in the city of Porvoo, about 50km south of Helsinki. It will open in a year. Now we have five multiplexes and 17 screens. Our market share is about 7%. Our goal is to grow to 20% of the market in five years. We're also gradually converting our screens into digital. Out of our 17 screens, eight are digital. So far, 60% of all screens in Finland are digital. Digital conversion is very important. It will help the distribution of our smaller films and widen the programming of films on screens.