Ville Virtanen toplines Klaus Härö’s WW2 drama Never Alone

Härö’s passion project is written by the Golden Globe-nominated director with long-time writing partner Jimmy Karlsson, credited for most of the director’s films, such as the multi-awarded Mother of Mine and recent English-language Sailor My Love. The script is inspired by true events and the biography ‘Uncle Stiller’ by Rony Smolar.

The story is set mostly on the eve of WW2, when Finland started taking in refugees from Germany and Austria. The central character is the unsung hero Abraham Stiller, an elderly Jewish man who tries to prevent the Finnish government from handing over Jewish refugees to the Gestapo and to Auschwitz concentration camp.

Producer Ilkka Matila who has been working with Häro for nearly 15 years on the project, said the story which traces a dark chapter in Finnish history, will be brought for the first time to the screens.

“At the time, the head of Valpo-the Finnish State Police [Arno Anthoni] who was responsible for the deportation of the eight Jewish refugees was put on trial but never found guilty. It’s only when a young researcher found the files at the national archives in 1980 and wrote a book, that the shameful case was brought to public knowledge and became a big scandal,” Matila explains.

“My connection to the story is that my mum owned a bookshop back then. When the book came out, it was the talk of the day and I’ve been fascinated by the subject since then,” he told us.
In the film, the story starts in 1972, when a young journalist investigating the deportation case interviews Abraham Stiller and a survivor.

The cast consists of Ville Virtanen (Bordertown, Bad Family) as Abraham Stiller and Nina Hukkinen (Transport) as his wife. Hannu-Pekka Björkman (M/A Romantic, The Eternal Road) plays Prime Minister Väinö Tanner, Carl-Kristian Rundman (Easy Living) the Minister of the Interior, Kari Hietalahti (Roba) is Arno Anthoni, and Satu Tuuli Karhu (The Man Who Died, Happier Times, Grump) is a journalist.

International actors include Estonia’s star Rain Tolk (Tenet), Ruben Tolk, Austria’s Rony Herman (Das Boot) and Naemi Latzer.

Filming of the €4.6m drama between Estonia and Finland will continue another five weeks, with a premiere set for the fall 2024 via Nordisk Film.

The film is being produced by MRP Matila Röhr Productions in co-production with Estonia’s Taska Film, Sweden’s HOBAB, Austria’s Samsara Filmproduktion and Germany’s Penned Pictures, with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, The Finnish Film Foundation, MTV3, CMore, Konstsamfundet, The Church Media Foundation, the Swedish Film Institute, SVT, the Austrian Film Institute, ORF, the Estonian Film Institute, Estonia’s production incentives and Estonia’s Cultural Endowment.

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