City Helsinki Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Sales agency The Match Factory is launching the trailer (below) of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in Competition. This gentle tragicomedy is the fourth part of Kaurismäki’s working-class quartet, following “Shadows in Paradise,” “Ariel” and “The Match Factory Girl,” which The Match Factory, the company, is named after. The film tells the story of two lonely people (played by Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen) who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night. They then try to re-find each other: the first, only, and ultimate love of their lives. Their path toward this goal is clouded by the man’s alcoholism, lost phone numbers, not knowing each other’s names or addresses, and life’s tendency to place obstacles in the way of those seeking their happiness.

Horace Andy, Balming Tiger, DOMi & JD Beck, Meshell Ndegeocello and more set set to perform at the Finnish festival’s “unique landmark”.The Helsinki-based festival will take place between August 11-13 this year, with headliners including Blur, Wizkid, Lorde and Christine & The Queens joining the likes of FKA twigs, Caroline Polachek, Suede and Devo.Other acts added to the Balloon 360° stage, which promises a “versatile group of exciting musicians”, include Jake Xerxes Fussell, Nala Sinephro, Olli Ahvenlahti, Sonia and more.The stage will also host performances from Esa’s Afro-Synth Band, assembled by DJ and producer Esa Williams, along with Finnish artists Tuomo Prättälä and Markus Nordenstreng’s Tuomo & Markus featuring trumpeter Verneri Pohjola.The previously announced Eddie Palmieri has also now withdrawn from the festival due to health reasons.A post shared by Flow Festival Helsinki (@flowfestivalhelsinki)The festival also recently announced the huge line-up for its 2023 electronic program.Tickets for Flow Festival 2023 are on sale now – you can purchase yours here and check out the full line-up on the website.The festival returned last year for the first time since before the COVID pandemic, with acts including Fontaines D.C., Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Gorillaz performing on stage at the historical Suvilahti, a former power plant area in the city.Praising its climate-conscious ethic in a review of the 2019 festival, NME wrote: “Here are a list of things that you can do at Flow Festival: eat Michelin Starred hotdogs, watch some of the biggest artists on the planet and then save it as well, all at the same time.

Johnny Marr has announced a series of headline shows, set to take place across the UK later this year.Announced today (April 25), the new tour will feature eight stops at venues across the UK and work around the numerous festival appearances the former Smiths guitarist is already set to play.The tour spans throughout summer 2023, and will kick off with a performance at the Picturedrome in Holmfirth on July 17. From there, Marr will embark on shows in Lincoln, Northampton and Tunbridge Wells for the remainder of the month, before playing four more gigs in August.These will feature sets in Wrexham, Frome and Plymouth, before ending with a show at the Empire in Middlesbrough on August 25.

Reliance Industries’ Indian content arm Jio Studios is teaming with Indian filmmaker Nagraj Manjule to make a Marathi-language film about India’s first Olympic medallist, freestyle wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav (a.k.a. Khashaba). 

ALMA has released a heartwarming video for her new single ‘Tell Mama’ from her upcoming album ‘Time Machine’.Alma-Sofia Miettinen, also known as ALMA, shared that the single was inspired by being on a plane from LA to Helsinki after “COVID forced her to come back home”.“When COVID happened, I really realised that throughout my career I’ve been living for others,” she said. “I’ve been trying to make people around me happy and proud but not myself.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief C More has commissioned a second, six-episode season of ITV Studios Finland’s glossy detective drama “Helsinki Crimes” (aka “Harjunpää”). The first season of Helsinki Crimes became one of C More’s most-watched crime series to date. After its launch on Netflix last year, in regions across CEE, Benelux, Austria and the Nordics, the series was one of the top ten most-watched series, and the third most-watched in Finland.  In the new season, Chief Constable Timo Harjunpää, portrayed by Olli Rahkonen, and his murder team investigate bloody clashes between street gangs, love scams and a wave of burglaries.

Ranvir Singh has debuted a stunning new look, as she fills in for Lorraine Kelly on her morning show, Lorraine.The TV presenter, 45, showed off her new hairstyle as she spoke to Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway, with the host gushing over the stylish new look. Changing up her hair, Ranvir opted for a full fringe and some fashionable beach-style waves.

Blur, Wizkid, Lorde and Christine & The Queens joining the likes of FKA twigs, Caroline Polachek, Suede and Devo.On the line-up for the festival’s dance stage, named the Resident Advisor Front Yard, are Eris Drew b2b Octo Octa, Folamour, Jyoty, Kerri Chandler, Chaos In The CBD and more.See the full line-up below.Flow brings a group of club music's hottest stars to the festival in cooperation with the world's leading electronic music online media @residentadvisor. Flow's RA Front Yard will feature Eris Drew & Octo Octa, Kerri Chandler, Folamour, Jyoty and more! https://t.co/BRo9IS0BVJ pic.twitter.com/qPZrPheyLj— Flow Festival (@flowfestival) March 30, 2023Tickets for Flow Festival 2023 are on sale now – you can purchase yours here.The festival made its return last year for the first time since before the COVID pandemic, with acts including Fontaines D.C., Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Gorillaz gracing its stage at the historical Suvilahti, a former power plant area in the city.Praising its climate-conscious ethic in a review of the 2019 festival, NME wrote: “Here are a list of things that you can do at Flow Festival: eat Michelin Starred hotdogs, watch some of the biggest artists on the planet and then save it as well, all at the same time.

Good Morning Britain’s co-host Ranvir Singh has revealed that the real reason she quit her political role on the show was due to exhaustion. Ranvir had quit her political editor position at the end of 2021 due to it being such an “intense time in politics”, before being promoted to the position of main regular co-host. She said: “I was at the White House, in Brussels every week for Brexit, there was the Jeremy Corbyn thing with Momentum.Trump was tweeting every day, I was in Helsinki one day, I’d be in Austria the next day.

Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus says he has submitted a unique bid to buy half of Manchester United and says he will allow fans to buy the other half.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent LILLE, France —  “Yours, Margot,” from  “Compartment No 6’s” Juho Kuosmanen, Guatemalan Cannes Camera d’Or winner César Díaz (“Our Mothers”) and Brazil’s Beatriz Seigner (“Los Silencios”) have won the three prizes on offer at the first edition of Seriesmakers. A mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut, after an inaugural edition delivering one of the most talent-packed project lineups at any festival, film or TV, in 2023, Seriesmakers backers Beta Group and Series Mania opened on Wednesday a call for admissions for a second edition.   Though all three series range hugely in setting and creators, all three see their protagonists go back to a recent past to explore events that have impacted their family (“Yours, Margot”), their modern-day country (“The Invisible Ink”), or traumas in the present (“Amigas”). 

Marta Balaga Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen, behind “Compartment No. 6” and “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki”– both awarded in Cannes – will now turn his attention to new series “Yours, Margot,.”  The upcoming series is one of the 10 projects chosen for Series Mania and Beta Group’s Seriesmakers. Based on Meri Valkama’s novel, “Compartment” will be produced, just like his previous films, by Helsinki-based Aamu Film Company, with “Compartment” scribes Andri Feldmanis and Livia Ulman also on board. This time Kuosmanen dissects the experiences of Vilja, who spent her childhood in East Berlin, following her foreign correspondent father. After his death, she finds old letters to “Erich,” all from mysterious “Margot.” Now, as an adult, she decides to return to Berlin and track her down. 

Ricky Gervais has shared what’s included on his “luxurious” backstage rider.The comedian, who is midway through his Armageddon stand-up tour, posted a picture on Twitter showing the items on his rider request list.“When you are an international comedy mega-star, it is inevitable that your backstage rider is ridiculously luxurious,” Gervais wrote. “Sometimes your demands are a test to see if you are still important to the promoter.

Emiliano De Pablos Spanish TV production house Mediacrest is joining forces with Helsinki-based outfit ReelMedia and Finnish public broadcaster YLE to develop climate change thriller series project “17kHz.” The co-production model resulting from the “17kHz” development deal will be one focus at the showcase “Spanish Fiction Contents: New Releases & Financial Opportunities,” which takes place Feb. 20 at Berlin’s European Film Market. Organized by ICEX Spain Trade & Investment, the meeting’s panelists will include Mediacrest‘s executives Gustavo Ferrada and Winnie Baert.

Lise Pedersen Following in the footsteps of its Nordic neighbors, Finland is fast becoming a destination of choice for foreign co-productions, not least thanks to its up-front cash-back tax incentive introduced in 2017. Despite a slight drop in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, figures show a 40%-plus growth of the audiovisual industry in the past five years, distributed evenly between co-production and service production. In addition to the national rebate of 25%, productions can get up to 40% incentive money thanks to top-ups from regional film commissions. Other support mechanisms include public broadcaster YLE and the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture (AVEK), as well as a growing number of private investors such as VOD platform Elisa Viihde and Aurora Studios,  which   are   working actively on getting Finnish content out to the world.

Naman Ramachandran MetFilm Distribution has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to Vinay Shukla’s documentary “While We Watched.” Produced by the U.K.’s Lono Studio and BritDoc Films, the documentary is a newsroom drama intimately chronicling the working days of Indian broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation. Kumar, a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, was a senior journalist at Indian news platform NDTV, who resigned after billionaire Gautam Adani took over the company. “While We Watched” debuted at Toronto in 2022 where it won the Amplify Voices award, followed by Busan, where it won the Cinephile award. Most recently, the film won the international competition at Helsinki’s DocPoint Festival.

The Göteborg Film Festival has unveiled the 53 Nordic Films that will take part in the latest edition of the Nordic Film Market, running February 2 – 5. Scroll down for the list.

A trio of teens navigates relationships in contemporary Helsinki in Girl Picture, Finland’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar. Directed by Alli Haapasalo (Love and Fury), it’s an engaging portrait of young women that’s as refreshing as it is entertaining. To call this a “Finnish Booksmart” would be doing its originality a disservice, but there are coincidental similarities as a quick-witted lesbian and her straight girl friend try to help each other with their love lives over a series of parties and amusing encounters. 

Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen, who won the Cannes Grand Prize for Compartment No. 6 in 2021, will be guest of honor at the fifth Talent Village of France’s Les Arcs Film Festival, running December 10-17 in the French Alps.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent It’s pitch dark and stormy and Pelle Heikkilä, one of Finland’s biggest stars, is getting slammed by massive waves in a 10-meter-deep water tank. The shoot of “Estonia,” a Scandinavian limited series about Europe’s deadliest civil maritime disaster, is underway in Belgium at an indoor water stage. The eight-part cinematic show, which is budgeted at €15 million ($14.7 million) and is being shopped by Jan Mojto’s Beta Film (“Babylon Berlin”) at Mipcom, charts the sinking of the MS Estonia on Sept. 28, 1994, which killed over 850 people. The series is directed by Swedish director Måns Månsson (“The Real Estate,” “Chernobyl”) and Finnish director Juuso Syrjä (“Bordertown,” “Helsinki Syndrome”), who are polar opposites, one coming from festival-friendly auteur filmmaking, the other coming from high-end commercials.

Marta Balaga Fifth Season has acquired international distribution rights to Elisa Viihde original series “The Man Who Died.” The company, formerly known as Endeavor Content, is behind “The Lost Daughter” or “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” It also handles global distribution for such hit shows as “Killing Eve,” “The Morning Show” or “Normal People.”  Based on the bestselling book by Antti Tuomainen, the six-episode series is led by Jussi Vatanen, who will next be seen in Aki Kaurismäki’s upcoming feature “Dead Leaves.” Saara Kotkaniemi and Sara Soulié, his co-star in Solar Films’ drama “Forest Giant,” also star.   

Louis Tomlinson has shared a new track called ‘Out Of My System’ and announced a 2023 UK and European tour – listen to the track below and buy tickets for the tour here.‘Out Of My System’ is the latest preview of the singer’s second solo album ‘Faith In The Future’, which follows his debut full-length effort, 2020’s ‘Walls’, and will be released on November 11. You can pre-order/pre-save the record here.Tomlinson’s forthcoming album was produced by Mike Crossey, who’s previously worked with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, The 1975 and Wolf Alice.

Ed Meza @edmezavar U.S. streaming service Topic has inked an exclusive U.S. and Canadian rights deal with Germany’s Beta Film for four European crime series ahead of this year’s Mipcom TV programming mart in Cannes. Dedicated to crime and suspense, Topic, part of First Look Entertainment, picked up the third season of critically acclaimed Austrian-German series “Pagan Peak”; Finnish title “Helsinki Syndrome”; “Silent Road” from Greece; and Croatian-Ukrainian co-production “The Silence.” The agreement also includes renewals of Italian political thriller “1992” and follow-up seasons “1993” and “1994.” Described as Italy’s “House Of Cards,” the show  examines how Italian politics were shaken to the core by a major criminal investigation against widespread corruption in the 1990s.

Christopher Vourlias The Nordic screen industries are riding a tide of recent success, from Joachim Trier’s dual Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” (Norway), and Juho Kuosmanen’s Cannes prize winner “Compartment No. 6” (Finland), to Apple TV’s hit Norwegian crime drama “Exit.” But the Nordics have a ways to go on diversity and inclusion and can do more to support emerging talents — including taking a more mindful approach toward how on-set practices can create an unhealthy work environment. Those were the key takeaways of a panel discussion on Sept. 21 at the Finnish Film Affair, the industry arm of the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy. Moderated by Finnish TV presenter Andrea Reuter, the event brought together three up-and-coming film professionals from Nordic countries to discuss the hopes and challenges for the next generation of filmmakers from the region.

Marta Balaga LevelK has boarded Icelandic thriller “Natatorium,” directed by Helena Stefánsdóttir Magneudóttir. The film started shooting on Sept. 14, and is expected to bow locally next year. Produced by Sunna Gudnadóttir for Bjarstýn Films, marking the company’s first feature film, it’s financed with the support from the Icelandic Film Center and the Finnish Film Foundation. Scanbox, Sena and RUV YLE are behind the project as well. “I am mostly interested in working on films with female directors and/or scriptwriters, [projects] with high artistic integrity and universal appeal,” says Gudnadóttir, who previously worked on “A White, White Day,” and Iceland’s Oscar submission “Beautiful Beings.” She adds that “Natatorium” has three complex female leads, and 60% of the crew is female as well.

Marta Balaga “The Woodcutter Story,” a Finnish drama with a surreal touch, has been sold to Australia (Palace Films), Baltics (Estinfilm), Sweden (Njuta), Germany (Eksystent) and France (Urban), Paris-based Totem Films shared exclusively with Variety. Directed by Mikko Myllylahti, it sees a good man who runs into bad luck: he loses his job and his wife leaves, but Pepe (Jarkko Lahti) is trying to keep his head high. Even when strange things start to happen in his sleepy village. The film, which premiered in Cannes’ Critics Week, screens Wednesday at the Helsinki Film Festival – Love & Anarchy. It will have its North American premiere at Chicago Film Festival and its U.K. premiere at the London Film Festival.

Marta Balaga LevelK continues to terrify international distributors with Finnish horror “The Knocking,” directed by Max Seeck and Joonas Pajunen. The film has now been sold to over 70 countries, Variety has learned, with the company sealing further deals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Alamode Film), Latin America (Gussi), CIS (Capella Film), France (KMBO), Indonesia (PT. Falcon) and Taiwan (AV-Jet International Media). “We have been looking at many Nordic projects, especially the Finnish ones. We definitely see a shift in not just more genre projects emerging, but also in the subjects and the creativity,” says CEO Tine Klint.

Christopher Vourlias As the Finnish Film Affair embarks on the start of its second decade, the organizers of the annual industry event, which runs parallel to the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy, can both reflect on 10 years of success and look ahead for ways to continue to serve both the Finnish and the Nordic film industries. “Finnish Film Affair started in 2012 with 240 participants. This year, for our 11th edition, we have nearly 500 delegates attending from over 20 countries, with a third of them being international guests and buyers,” Finnish Film Affair director Maria Pirkkalainen told Variety on the eve of the event, which runs from Sept. 21 – 23.

Christopher Vourlias Five years ago, the Finnish Film Affair launched the first edition of its Nordic Flair training program, an initiative designed to offer career development for film professionals from across the Nordic region that takes place parallel to the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy. This year’s event focuses on sales agents, distributors, buyers and broadcast commissioners working in one or more of the Nordic countries and is designed to offer participants the tools to innovate new sales and distribution models, scout emerging Nordic filmmaking talent and lead their professional teams through challenging times. “There are many Nordic talents working internationally behind the scenes in the business of film, and with the focus this year, we want to highlight that,” says Finnish Film Affair director Maria Pirkklainen, noting that “training opportunities have been scarce for this group in general.”