Known as ‘the First Lady of Sci-Fi, Hurd is one of the most successful producers in Hollywood. After starting as an assistant to B-movie master Roger Corman in the 1970s, she went on to produced more than 50 films and TV dramas such as the Academy award-winners The Abyss and The Ghost and the Darkness, the series The Walking Dead and documentary Mankiller. She runs the US company Valhalla Entertainment. 

Hurd will give an inspirational masterclass to the creators of 12 international genre projects in advanced financing & development stage, selected for the Helsinki Forum. 

Among the 12 projects which will take part in a ‘Proof of Concept Presentation” and one-to-one meetings with industry leaders, are six Scandinavian productions and co-productions. 
Two of them, the Finnish dystopian drama Memory of Water and horror film Birds of a Feather were supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s Nordic Genre Boost initiative. 

The Helsinki Forum will also introduce two new awards:

• the Warner Music Supervision Award, which will provide music supervision service to one project, plus access to a Warner artist to write and record an original soundtrack,  
• the PostControl VFX Frontières Award, offering VFX and grading services to one project, courtesy of Helsinki’s PostControl.

Other events include a round table on Arctic filmmaking and co-production hosted by the Finnish Film Foundation, presented by Telefilm Canada, the International Sámi Film Institute and the Finnish Lapland Film Commission. 



The Frontières Finance & Packaging Forum is organised in collaboration with Nordic Genre Boost/Nordic Factory, with support among others from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. 



Full list of Scandinavian productions and co-productions to be pitched:

• Arctic Chills (Canada/Greenland/Norway/Finland/Sweden/Russia). 
  Directed/written by Jerri Thrasher, Ashley Savard, Vivi Nilsen, Elin Marakat, Sinituuli Kalttopää, Sara M. Oskal, Sardana Savvin.
  Producers: International Sámi Film Institute, Liisa Holmberg, Jason Ryle.
• Birds of a Feather Pahanhautoja) (Finland/Sweden/Norway/Latvia). 
  Director: Hanna Bergholm. 
  Writer: Ilja Rautsi. 
  Producers: Mika Ritalahti (Silva Mysterium Oy), Nima Yousefi (Hob Ab), Egil Ødegår (Evil Doghouse Productions AS)
• Breeder (Denmark) 
  Director: Jens Dahl.
  Writer: Sissel Dalshaard Thomsen. 
  Producers: Amalie Lyngbo Quist & Maria Møller Christoffersen (Beo Starling).
• Don’t Come After Me (Ireland/Finland/Sweden)
  Director: AJ Annila. 
  Writers: David Turpin, Antti Karumo. 
  Producers: Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde (Tailored Films), Gudrun Giddings (G4C).
• Memory of Water (Veden vartija) (Finland/Germany/Norway). 
  Director: Saara Saarela. 
  Writer: Ilja Rautsi, based on a novel by Emmi Itäranta. 
  Producers: Mark Lwoff & Misha Jaari (Bufo), Reinhard Brundigk & Nina Frese (Pandora Film), Maria Ekerhovd (Mer Film).
• Layers of Lies (Finland/Iran). 
  Director: Ramin Sohrab. 
  Writers: Ramin Sohrab, Amirhossein Makouei, Sami Laulajainen. 
  Producers: Eamin Sohrab, Mohsen Sarafi