Jon Blåhed’s historical drama-thriller Raptures scooping the Big Screen Award in Rotterdam

It’s a wrap for the 2025 edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), one of the first key events in the festival calendar, along with Göteborg and Sundance. The Dutch gathering ran from 30 January to 9 February and saw the triumph of Igor Bezinović’s Croatian-Slovenian-Italian hybrid documentary Fiume o morte!, which received the prestigious Tiger Award and the FIPRESCI Prize.

This year, the Nordics scooped the festival’s second-biggest accolade. The Big Screen Award, worth €15,000, went to Jon Blåhed’s Swedish-Finnish co-production Raptures (Rörelser). The jury, consisting of Bero Beyer, Dewi Reijs, Jia Zhao, Sara Rajaei, and Digna Sinke, commended the pic’s layered exploration of morality, resilience, and dogma, brought to life through a complex lead performance and striking cinematography. An additional €15,000 was offered to the Dutch distributor acquiring the film.

This historical drama-thriller is based on true events that unfolded in the 1930s, and is inspired by the so-called “Korpela Movement”, a controversial religious sect that first emerged in Northern Sweden and was known for its apocalyptic beliefs and unorthodox rituals. Starring Jessica Grabowsky, Jakob Öhrman, Elina Knihtilä, and Golden Globe nominee Alma Pöysti.

Raptures is produced by Iris Film AB in co-production with Rabbit Films, Filmpool Nord, and SVT, in association with LjudBang and Yle, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, the Finnish Film Foundation, and Business Finland. Picture Tree International is in charge of its world sales, excluding the five Nordic countries.

Moreover, a production with Nordic involvement, The Visual Feminist Manifesto by Farida Baqi, snagged the Youth Jury Award. Co-produced by Swedish producers with Syrian, Lebanese, German, and Dutch partners, the jurors described it as “a daring portrait of what it means to be a woman in today’s world”, which is “cut out for evoking empathy and understanding among male viewers and everyone in the world”.

Meanwhile, IFFR screened a number of other films produced or co-produced by the Nordics, including Pirjo Honkasalo’s Big Screen entry Orenda (Finland/Estonia/Sweden). Also screened at Göteborg, the drama, penned by Pirkko Saisio (who also stars in one of the two leading roles alongside Alma Pöysti), follows two strong-willed women who meet and confront their guilt-ridden memories amidst the magical landscapes of an archipelago.

The veteran helmer’s latest endeavour is produced by Finnish studio Bufo and co-produced by Estonia’s Allfilm and Sweden’s Plattform Produktion. The Yellow Affair nabbed its international rights.

The Harbour and Limelight strands hosted most of the other titles with Nordic involvement. Among these, it’s worthwhile mentioning Sami van Ingen’s intimate essay Cast of Shadows (Finland), Christopher Petit and Emma Matthews’“heart-breaking yet hopeful” account of epilepsy D for Distance (Finland), Mox Mäkelä and Mikael Fortelius’ absurdist piece From Behind the Teeth (Hampaiden takaa, Finland), Steffen Haars’ dark comedy Get Away (Finland/UK), Erik Poppe’s period drama Quisling – The Final Days (Quislings siste dager, Norway), Tommy Wirkola and Rasmus A. Sivertsen’s animated hit Spermageddon (Norway), Mouly Sourya’s period thriller This City is a Battlefield (Perang Kota, Indonesia/Singapore/Netherlands/France/Norway/Philippines/Cambodia), *Jeppe Rønde’*s rural Denmark-set Acts of Love (Kærlighedens Gerninger, Denmark), Bergur Bernburg’s docudrama Storm Alert (Veðurskeytin, Iceland), Deniz Eroglu’s three-episode feature The Shipwrecked Triptych (Germany/Denmark/Netherlands), and Leonardo van Dijl’s Cannes-bound Julie Keeps Quiet (Julie zwijgt, Belgium/Sweden).

In parallel, IFFR hosted CineMart (2-5 February), the event’s co-production market, wherein a line-up of projects in development was presented to international industry representatives. Registered attendees included reps from Nordic key players such as TrustNordisk, Angel Films, Paloma Productions, Good Hand Production, the Finnish Film Foundation, True Content, the Norwegian Film Institute, Nordisk Film Production, the Swedish Film Institute, and Film i Väst.

This year’s edition of the Darkroom sidebar, a platform dedicated to showcasing recently or nearly completed films and immersive media projects seeking completion or gap funding, sales agents, and festivals, saw the participation of Nordic project Julia Thelin’s The Art Patron (Mecenaten).

Now at the rough cut stage, the feature zooms in on Anna, who works as a cleaner. One night, however, she pretends to be a successful art patron to lure two young art students to her employer’s empty house. The lie spirals into more lies, forcing Anna to navigate the escalating consequences.

“I wrote the story about Anna as a way to process the feeling of being invisible. The anger and frustration that I felt became the foundation of this story; the story of a protagonist who is fed up with being treated badly and, instead of admitting to her position of disadvantage, tries something new,” says Thelin in her director’s notes.

Before embarking on the making of The Art Patron, the Stockholm-based writer-director studied film at Fridhems Folkhögskola and scriptwriting at Broby Grafiska. Since 2015, she has collaborated with Grand Slam Film, directing acclaimed shorts such as Push It (2017), Tweener (Brottas, 2018), and Sorry Not Sorry (2019).

Budgeted at €1.14 million, the drama is produced by Eliza Jones and Markus Waltå for Sweden’s Grand Slam Film and co-produced by Denmark’s Hyæne Film, with backing from the Swedish Film Institute, SVT, Film på Gotland, Film Stockholm, and Ljud & Bildmedia.

Previously, Grand Slam Film staged Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure, selected for Cannes in 2020 and Sundance in 2021. The firm’s latest films include the features Locals (Stammisar, 2022) and One Day All This Will Be Yours (En dag kommer allt det här bli ditt, 2023). At CineMart, the creative team sought international sales and festival premieres.