Reindeer Mafia, Are We Still Us lead Finnish Golden Venla TV nominations

The Lapland-set darkly humorous crime show Reindeer Mafia (Poromafia) about family, power struggles and snowmobiles has also Mika Kurvinen vying for best writer/director, Aake Kalliala for main actor, while Swedish star Mikael Persbrandt and Kaija Pakarinen share a nomination as supporting actors.

The eight-part series had a phenomenal launch on C More earlier this year, making history as the streamer’s biggest ever Original series in Finland and third best title in Sweden, according to producer Liisa Penttilä-Asikainen. It started playing on MTV3 Finland late October and also aired in Denmark and Norway. Dynamic Television handles global distribution. To see the trailer: CLICK HERE.

The nominees behind the Elisa Viihde Original Are We Still Us (Eroja & Sovintoja) include Paula Mononen who shares the writing credit with producer Kaarlo Aho, co-directors Ulla Heikkilä and Jan Forsström, actors Pirjo Lonka in the title role and Tommi Korpela & Rea Mauranen in supporting roles.

The closing episode of the eight-part drama about a psychologist mediating custody issues between divorced parents premiered November 27 on Ruutu+.

The third most nominated series with 4 Golden Venla accolades is the crime drama Siege 55 (Piiritys), produced by Mediawan Finland, running for best drama, director (Petri Kotwica), screenplay (Hannu Kontturi and Antti Pesonen) and lead actor (Elias Salonen). The true crime hostage drama collected solid viewing figures when it premiered earlier this year on Nelonen and its streamer Ruutu+.

Another drama based on true events - Estonia produced by Fisher King for MTV and TV4 collected three nominations for best drama, screenplay (Miikko Oikkonen, Sanna Reinumägi, Olli Suitiala & Tuomas Hakola) and director (Måns Månsson & Juuso Syrjä). The event drama sold by Beta Film had its Scandinavian premiere in October.

Meanwhile Yellow Film & TV boasts the most series nominations across drama and comedy genres.

Its Elisa Viihde Original drama Forgive (Kaikki anteeksi) which premiered on Ruutu+ earlier this month, is vying for best drama and best director (Antti Heikki Pesonen), while its hit comedies Sunday Lunch (Sunnuntailounas) season 4 ordered by C More/MTV and Duke of the Suburbs (Sipoon herttua) season 3 produced for Elisa Viihde Viaplay, have two nods each including best comedy of the year.

The Golden Venla awards will be handed out in Helsinki January 26, 2024.

For the full list of nominations, CLICK HERE.