Niko is produced by Finland's Anima Vitae and Cinemaker, in co-production with Denmark's A Film, Germany's Ulysses GmbH and Ireland's Magma Films. Twenty two financiers in total were involved in the project, including the Finnish Film Foundation, Hamburg Film Fund, the Danish Film Institute, the Irish Film Board, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Eurimages, as well as broadcasters YLE, TV2 Denmark and ZDF.
The deal was finalized by the German sales company after last November's American Film Market, based on the quality script and a five+ minute sales promo. "Everybody was pleasantly surprised when they saw the teaser," stressed producer Hannu Tuomainen (Cinemaker). "The film has a €6.1m budget but the look of a much bigger budget film thanks to the Finnish animation studios Anima Vitae that are truly technically advanced."
Based on an original story by Tuomainen, ‘Niko' is the story of a young reindeer and his quest to find his absent father whom he believes to be a member of Santa's ‘Flying Forces' the elite reindeers pulling Santa's sleigh. "Niko's father is like a famous rock star, always on tour," says Tuomainen. "He is raised by his mother and a ‘step father', a flying Squirrel called Julius who has nothing heroic but loves the boy. The film is a classic fairy tale with a modern twist, dealing with single parenthood."
The animation work on the film will be finished in January. Final mix will start in May and the first print will be available in June 2008. The Finnish premiere through Nordisk Film is set for October 10, 2008. "Nordisk Film will coordinate the release in all Nordic countries, which is almost as rare as a US deal for a Finnish film," stressed Tuomainen. Other territories that have acquired the film include Germany (Universum) and Spain (Filmax).
At the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival, Telepool will organise a marketing presentation for all the distributors.