The 6th Helsinki film mini-market closed yesterday in an upbeat mood as industry attendees praised the wide variety of quality projects pitched and good networking opportunities.
After a smashing opening with Jukka Kärkkäinen and J-P Passi’s documentary Punk Voyage attended by the four members of the punk group Pertti Kurikan nimipäivät, Finnish Film Affair’s main attraction, the pitch day closed on Wednesday with the popular Pitch awards ceremony, dinner and sauna.
Selma Vilhunen’s Stupid Young Heart was handed out the €3,000 award from a jury comprising Jenny Cooney, member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Zsuzsi Bankuti of The Match Factory and Marge Liiske of Baltic Event/Tallin Film Festival. The jury said in its statement: “We felt the coming of age story stood out on many levels. The subject matter felt edgy and relevant and focuses on exploring all sides of the dilemma of making right choices in this complex contemporary world, personally and morally. Even though it’s in the early stages of filming, the footage looked great and the presentation and talent behind the project made us confident the film could reach international attention and would benefit from this prize."
Currently filming in Helsinki, Vilhunen’s second coming of age drama after her acclaimed Little Wing (Nordic Council Film Prize nominee) was pitched by Tuffi Films’ producers Venla Hellstedt and Elli Toivoniemi.
Other works in progress that caught industry delegates’ attention were Heikki Kujanpää’s Laugh or Die (picked up by Media Luna), Reetta Huhtanen’s documentary The Mercurius of Molenbeek (Cat & Docs sales), Simo Halinen’s East of Sweden (Yellow Affair) and The Violin Player by Paavo Westerberg, previously pitched in Haugesund.
Projects in post-production that impressed for their strong production value were the sci-fi action adventure Iron Sky:The Coming Race and psychological thriller The Guardian Angel, starring Pilou Asbæk, first recipient of the Nordic Flair Prize.
Among the most buzzed about titles in development pitched in Helsinki were Klaus Härö’s Dark Christ produced by Making Movies, Anna-Karin Grönroos’ documentary Conductivity produced by Tuffi Films, Kaisa el Ramly’s Scenes from a Dying Town produced by Zodiak Finland, Mari Mantela’s sci-fi/western Theia produced by MADE, and Teemu Nikki’s Nimby produced by It’s Alive Films.
Sacha Wieser, CEO of Eastwest Film Distribution and sales agent of the work in progress Pony and Pigeonboy, said he was impressed by the pitches and overall ‘dramatic improvement’ in Finnish film compared to 5-7 years ago.
Michael da Silva, Director of Acquisitions at Toronto-based The Annex Entertainment who handles the Finnish kids movies Jill & Joy 2 & 3, concurred with Wieser: “Finnish film has a high production value and a wide range of auteur films with international potential.”
Indie Sales’ Acquisition and Sales executive Simon Gabriele who was attending Finnish Film Affair for the first time said: “It’s a great market, very tightly run and practical. There was a good array of projects and a handful of quality arthouse films.”
Another first-time attendee Johanna Mayer-Lhomme, Head of Acquisitions at French distribution company Pretty Pictures, said she enjoyed meeting top industry people in a relaxed atmosphere and started discussing 2-3 Finnish titles in development. Pretty Pictures will soon release in French cinemas the Swedish film Borg vs McEnroe.
The Finnish Film Affair is the sidebar industry event to the 30th Helsinki International Film Festival that closes on Sunday.
Here is the full detail of the works in progress pitched in Helsinki: