Ten projects have been selected for the second edition of Seriesmakers, Series Mania’s development lab for feature film directors sidestepping into series production.
The lab is run in collaboration with Beta, and this year features projects helmed by directors including Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters, and Kevin Macdonald, best known for The Mauritanian.
Ben Hania’s project is titled Freedom Academy and is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha. The synopsis reads: In the competitive world of television, a cunning producer and his optimistic wife battle for control of a daring reality TV show set in a high-security prison, hoping to capture the intense competition among incarcerated radicals all while the jury grapples with their divergent opinions on prisoners’ rehabilitation.
Macdonald’s series is titled George Blake and is produced by Femke Wolting. Synopsis reads: What makes a person turn against everything they ever stood for?...
The lab is run in collaboration with Beta, and this year features projects helmed by directors including Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters, and Kevin Macdonald, best known for The Mauritanian.
Ben Hania’s project is titled Freedom Academy and is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha. The synopsis reads: In the competitive world of television, a cunning producer and his optimistic wife battle for control of a daring reality TV show set in a high-security prison, hoping to capture the intense competition among incarcerated radicals all while the jury grapples with their divergent opinions on prisoners’ rehabilitation.
Macdonald’s series is titled George Blake and is produced by Femke Wolting. Synopsis reads: What makes a person turn against everything they ever stood for?...
- 3/4/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Seriesmakers, a joint initiative of Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, and European film-tv powerhouse Beta Group, has revealed the 10 top-notch project lineup of the second edition of its novel and high-powered mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut.
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
- 3/4/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Welcome to Kino Laika: Aki Kaurismäki and Mika Lätti’s cinema in Karkkila, an hour away from Helsinki. A place where love for movies – and dogs – meets ghosts of cinema’s past.
“One time, I had a 35mm copy of the Lumière brothers’ film ‘Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat.’ I lent it to some cinema and it never came back. And now, I have forgotten which cinema it was,” recalls Kaurismäki, who, like Lätti, has been a resident of Karkkila, a modest town of 9,000, for decades now.
“I have lived here for 38 years and I like it a lot, but we never had a cinema here before. To see movies, local people had to travel to the next town or even Helsinki. Not anymore. It’s wonderful to offer them this chance,” he adds.
“Karkkila has been a good place for us both and we wanted to give something back to this town.
“One time, I had a 35mm copy of the Lumière brothers’ film ‘Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat.’ I lent it to some cinema and it never came back. And now, I have forgotten which cinema it was,” recalls Kaurismäki, who, like Lätti, has been a resident of Karkkila, a modest town of 9,000, for decades now.
“I have lived here for 38 years and I like it a lot, but we never had a cinema here before. To see movies, local people had to travel to the next town or even Helsinki. Not anymore. It’s wonderful to offer them this chance,” he adds.
“Karkkila has been a good place for us both and we wanted to give something back to this town.
- 9/20/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Twenty emerging producers from across Europe have been selected to take part in European Film Promotion’s promotion and networking platform Producers on the Move before and during the Cannes Film Festival.
The producers who were selected for the program from nominations submitted by Efp’s member organizations are Gentian Koçi (Albania), David Bohun (Austria), Julie Esparbes (Belgium), Vanya Rainova (Bulgaria), Miljenka Čogelja (Croatia), Stelana Kliris (Cyprus), Alice Tabery (Czech Republic), Emile Hertling Péronard (Denmark), Emilia Haukka (Finland), Silvana Santamaria (Germany), Vicky Miha (Greece), Júlia Berkes (Hungary), Kathryn Kennedy (Ireland), Valon Bajgora (Kosovo), Dominiks Jarmakovičs (Latvia), Erik Glijnis (The Netherlands), Elisa Fernanda Pirir (Norway), Radu Stancu (Romania), Juraj Krasnohorský (Slovak Republic), and Julia Gebauer (Sweden).
They will take part in a tailor-made program to foster international co-productions, increase the exchange of experiences, and help create new professional networks. The pre-festival online program, which started yesterday and runs until May 4, includes 1:1 speed meetings,...
The producers who were selected for the program from nominations submitted by Efp’s member organizations are Gentian Koçi (Albania), David Bohun (Austria), Julie Esparbes (Belgium), Vanya Rainova (Bulgaria), Miljenka Čogelja (Croatia), Stelana Kliris (Cyprus), Alice Tabery (Czech Republic), Emile Hertling Péronard (Denmark), Emilia Haukka (Finland), Silvana Santamaria (Germany), Vicky Miha (Greece), Júlia Berkes (Hungary), Kathryn Kennedy (Ireland), Valon Bajgora (Kosovo), Dominiks Jarmakovičs (Latvia), Erik Glijnis (The Netherlands), Elisa Fernanda Pirir (Norway), Radu Stancu (Romania), Juraj Krasnohorský (Slovak Republic), and Julia Gebauer (Sweden).
They will take part in a tailor-made program to foster international co-productions, increase the exchange of experiences, and help create new professional networks. The pre-festival online program, which started yesterday and runs until May 4, includes 1:1 speed meetings,...
- 5/3/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Finland’s Aamu Film Company will invest in Jenni Jauri’s new production company Silmu Films, Variety has found out exclusively.
Aamu, founded in 2001 and co-owned by Jussi Rantamäki and Emilia Haukka, has become a local arthouse powerhouse thanks to its festival-friendly slate, especially Juho Kuosmanen’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki” and Golden Globe-nominated “Compartment No. 6,” awarded the Grand Prix in Cannes.
“We had a good film with decent sales and we started to think about what we should do next,” Rantamäki said. “Aamu’s brand is simple and clear: we only work with a select few directors. We don’t want to change that; we don’t want to turn into a factory where you don’t know what is happening and with whom. So first we decided not to grow, and then realized we could invest in a new company instead.”
Apart from Kuosmanen,...
Aamu, founded in 2001 and co-owned by Jussi Rantamäki and Emilia Haukka, has become a local arthouse powerhouse thanks to its festival-friendly slate, especially Juho Kuosmanen’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki” and Golden Globe-nominated “Compartment No. 6,” awarded the Grand Prix in Cannes.
“We had a good film with decent sales and we started to think about what we should do next,” Rantamäki said. “Aamu’s brand is simple and clear: we only work with a select few directors. We don’t want to change that; we don’t want to turn into a factory where you don’t know what is happening and with whom. So first we decided not to grow, and then realized we could invest in a new company instead.”
Apart from Kuosmanen,...
- 2/23/2023
- by John Hopewell and Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
“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.
“It’s a very strange film,” said Myllylahti back in May. Also opening up about a real-life encounter – and real-life woodcutter – that inspired him.
“There was something very Finnish about the way he was dealing with his ordeals: sometimes,...
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.
“It’s a very strange film,” said Myllylahti back in May. Also opening up about a real-life encounter – and real-life woodcutter – that inspired him.
“There was something very Finnish about the way he was dealing with his ordeals: sometimes,...
- 9/21/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Festival runs October 12-23.
Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Alice Diop’s Saint Omer, and Sergei Loznitsa’s The Natural History Of Destruction are among the international competitions line-up at the 58th Chicago International Film Festival next month.
This year’s competitions include 10 films receiving their North American premiere and 17 getting their US premiere as the entries vie for the festival’s Gold Hugo award in the categories of international feature, international documentary, and new directors.
The festival runs October 12-23. The full international competition line-ups are below.
Playing in International Feature Competition are: The Beasts (Sp-Fr), Rodrigo Sorogoyen, US premiere; Before,...
Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Alice Diop’s Saint Omer, and Sergei Loznitsa’s The Natural History Of Destruction are among the international competitions line-up at the 58th Chicago International Film Festival next month.
This year’s competitions include 10 films receiving their North American premiere and 17 getting their US premiere as the entries vie for the festival’s Gold Hugo award in the categories of international feature, international documentary, and new directors.
The festival runs October 12-23. The full international competition line-ups are below.
Playing in International Feature Competition are: The Beasts (Sp-Fr), Rodrigo Sorogoyen, US premiere; Before,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Finland’s leading film festival Love & Anarchy is ready to celebrate its 35th edition, free of Covid restrictions and finally able to focus on the films and the audience, says executive director Anna Möttölä in Helsinki. But it has been a bittersweet time, marked by the loss of Jean-Luc Godard and Lina Wertmüller back in December, whose 1973 film gave the event its name.
While Wertmüller will be celebrated with a screening of “Seven Beauties,” another tragedy is on the team’s mind: the sudden death of Charlbi Dean, the star of Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner – and the festival’s opening film – “Triangle of Sadness.”
“It will be a memorial screening,” says artistic director Pekka Lanerva. Dean’s co-star, Zlatko Burić, is expected to attend.
Anna Möttölä, Pekka Lanerva
“All our thoughts go to her family and to the cast and crew. To have such a promising career,...
While Wertmüller will be celebrated with a screening of “Seven Beauties,” another tragedy is on the team’s mind: the sudden death of Charlbi Dean, the star of Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner – and the festival’s opening film – “Triangle of Sadness.”
“It will be a memorial screening,” says artistic director Pekka Lanerva. Dean’s co-star, Zlatko Burić, is expected to attend.
Anna Möttölä, Pekka Lanerva
“All our thoughts go to her family and to the cast and crew. To have such a promising career,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The Finnish Film Affair’s 11th edition runs September 21-23.
The Finnish Film Affair’s 11th edition (September 21-23) will showcase around 30 Nordic films in development or production and four Finnish TV series projects in early development.
Some of the projects being presented are Selma Vilhunen’s Four Little Adults, a polyamory drama now in post; Katja Gauriloff’s second fiction feature Je’vida, the first feature film in the Skolt Sámi language; Teemu Nikki’s fantasy comedy for all ages Snot And Splash; the third instalment in the Niko animations, Niko - Beyond The Northern Lights, by Kari Juusonen...
The Finnish Film Affair’s 11th edition (September 21-23) will showcase around 30 Nordic films in development or production and four Finnish TV series projects in early development.
Some of the projects being presented are Selma Vilhunen’s Four Little Adults, a polyamory drama now in post; Katja Gauriloff’s second fiction feature Je’vida, the first feature film in the Skolt Sámi language; Teemu Nikki’s fantasy comedy for all ages Snot And Splash; the third instalment in the Niko animations, Niko - Beyond The Northern Lights, by Kari Juusonen...
- 9/2/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market runs August 23-26.
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.
The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.
Scroll down for full...
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.
The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.
Scroll down for full...
- 8/12/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
The industry section of the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy takes place from September 21-23.
The Finnish Film Affair – a showcase for new film projects from Finland and the Nordics – is to branch out into TV dramas for its upcoming edition.
The 11th Finnish Film Affair will take place from September 21-23 during the 35th Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy (Hiff), and will open with the Finnish premiere of Cannes Critics’ Week title Mikko Myllylahti’s The Woodcutter Story.
This year the event’s showcase day will present a curated selection of four TV drama series from Finland.
The Finnish Film Affair – a showcase for new film projects from Finland and the Nordics – is to branch out into TV dramas for its upcoming edition.
The 11th Finnish Film Affair will take place from September 21-23 during the 35th Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy (Hiff), and will open with the Finnish premiere of Cannes Critics’ Week title Mikko Myllylahti’s The Woodcutter Story.
This year the event’s showcase day will present a curated selection of four TV drama series from Finland.
- 6/22/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Triangle of SadnessCOMPETITIONPalme d’Or: Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund) (Read our review)Grand Prix ex aequo: Close (Lukas Dhont)Grand Prix ex aequo: Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) (Read our review)Jury Prize ex aequo: The Eight Mountains (Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix Van Groeningen)Jury Prize ex aequo: Eo (Jerzy Skolimowski) (Read our review)75th Anniversary Prize: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Tori and Lokita) (Read our review)Best Director: Park Chan-wook (Decision to Leave) (Read our review)Best Actor: Song Kang-ho (Broker)Best Actress: Zahra Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider)Best Screenplay: Tarik Saleh (Boy From Heaven)The Worst OnesUN Certain REGARDGrand Prize: The Worst Ones (Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret)Ensemble Prize: Jury Prize: Joyland (Saim Sadiq)Jury Special Mention: Best Director: Alexandru Belc (Metronome)Best Performance: Vicky Krieps (Corsage) and Adam Bessa (Harka) (Read our review)Screenplay: Mediterranean Fever (Maha Haj)Coup de Coeur Award: Rodeo (Lola Quivoron)The MountainDIRECTORS' FORTNIGHTEuropa...
- 5/29/2022
- MUBI
Endemol Shine Finland Hires ‘The Woodcutter Story’ Line Producer Paria Eskandari
Exclusive: Endemol Shine Finland, the Banijay-owned producer behind upcoming Netflix and Yle drama Dance Brothers, has hired film producer Paria Eskandari to bolster its scripted arm. Starting in August, she will become Producer at the firm, reporting to Head of Scripted Max Malka. Eskandari joins from Aamu Film Company, where she was line producer on Cannes Critic Week title The Woodcutter Story. She has the same role on Cannes Grand Prix winner Compartment No. 6 and award-winner Any Day Now. She has also worked on young adult drama series Zone-b for Finnish public broadcaster Yle, and several docs and short films. “Paria is well-known as a dedicated filmmaker who focuses on both the story and the people,” said Malka. “She has a fantastic reputation within the film community, and her expertise will ensure we further grow our scripted slate and...
Exclusive: Endemol Shine Finland, the Banijay-owned producer behind upcoming Netflix and Yle drama Dance Brothers, has hired film producer Paria Eskandari to bolster its scripted arm. Starting in August, she will become Producer at the firm, reporting to Head of Scripted Max Malka. Eskandari joins from Aamu Film Company, where she was line producer on Cannes Critic Week title The Woodcutter Story. She has the same role on Cannes Grand Prix winner Compartment No. 6 and award-winner Any Day Now. She has also worked on young adult drama series Zone-b for Finnish public broadcaster Yle, and several docs and short films. “Paria is well-known as a dedicated filmmaker who focuses on both the story and the people,” said Malka. “She has a fantastic reputation within the film community, and her expertise will ensure we further grow our scripted slate and...
- 5/26/2022
- by Max Goldbart and Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Andres Ramirez Pulido’s “La Jauria” won the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival’s sidebar dedicated to first and second features. The Colombian film also won the Sacd prize.
The feature debut follows Eliú, a country boy who is wrongly accused of a crime and incarcerated in an experimental rehabilitation center for tough boys in the heart of the Colombian tropical forest.
Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” which stars “Normal People” actor Paul Mescal, won the French Touch Prize of the Jury. The bittersweet drama revolves around a father and daughter who spend a summer holiday in a Turkish resort.
Emmanuelle Nicot’s “Love According To Dalva,” meanwhile, won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for Zelda Samson. “Love According to Dalva” is a poignant drama about a 12-year-old girl growing up in foster care, alongside social workers and other children.
The Gan Foundation Award for Distribution went to Urban Distribution,...
The feature debut follows Eliú, a country boy who is wrongly accused of a crime and incarcerated in an experimental rehabilitation center for tough boys in the heart of the Colombian tropical forest.
Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” which stars “Normal People” actor Paul Mescal, won the French Touch Prize of the Jury. The bittersweet drama revolves around a father and daughter who spend a summer holiday in a Turkish resort.
Emmanuelle Nicot’s “Love According To Dalva,” meanwhile, won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for Zelda Samson. “Love According to Dalva” is a poignant drama about a 12-year-old girl growing up in foster care, alongside social workers and other children.
The Gan Foundation Award for Distribution went to Urban Distribution,...
- 5/25/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
UK director Charlotte Well’s buzzed-about debut Aftersun also features among the prize-winners.
Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido’s jungle-set, coming-of-age drama The Pack (La Jauria) has scooped the top €10,000 grand prix of the 61st edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.
The film revolves around a boy who is sent to an experimental juvenile correction centre in the heart of the Colombian jungle after he commits a crime.
The Colombia-France co-production is Pulido’s first feature after a number of well-travelled shorts including Damiana which premiered in Competition in Cannes in 2017 and El Edén which played in the Berlinale in 2018.
Tunisian...
Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido’s jungle-set, coming-of-age drama The Pack (La Jauria) has scooped the top €10,000 grand prix of the 61st edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.
The film revolves around a boy who is sent to an experimental juvenile correction centre in the heart of the Colombian jungle after he commits a crime.
The Colombia-France co-production is Pulido’s first feature after a number of well-travelled shorts including Damiana which premiered in Competition in Cannes in 2017 and El Edén which played in the Berlinale in 2018.
Tunisian...
- 5/25/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
UK director Charlotte Well’s buzzed-about debut Aftersun also features among the prize-winners.
Columbian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido’s jungle-set, coming-of-age drama The Pack (La Jauria) has scooped the top €10,000 grand prix of the 61st edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.
The film revolves around a boy who is sent to an experimental juvenile correction centre in the heart of the Colombian jungle after he commits a crime.
The Colombia-France co-production is Pulido’s first feature after a number of well-travelled shorts including Damiana which premiered in Competition in Cannes in 2017 and El Edén which played in the Berlinale in 2018.
Tunisian...
Columbian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido’s jungle-set, coming-of-age drama The Pack (La Jauria) has scooped the top €10,000 grand prix of the 61st edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.
The film revolves around a boy who is sent to an experimental juvenile correction centre in the heart of the Colombian jungle after he commits a crime.
The Colombia-France co-production is Pulido’s first feature after a number of well-travelled shorts including Damiana which premiered in Competition in Cannes in 2017 and El Edén which played in the Berlinale in 2018.
Tunisian...
- 5/25/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
As the Cannes Film Festival rolls towards its conclusion on Saturday night, sidebar Critics’ Week doled out its awards this evening with the Grand Prize going to Andres Ramirez Pulido’s La Jauria. Critics’ Week is devoted to first and second features, and this is Pulido’s debut meaning the film is also eligible for the Camera d’Or which will be announced on Saturday during the fest’s main closing ceremony.
La Jauria took two gongs tonight in Critics’ Week, also scoring the Sacd Prize. The story centers on Eliú, a country boy, who is incarcerated́ in an experimental minors’ center in the heart of the Colombian tropical forest, for a crime he committed with his friend El Mono. Every day, the teenagers perform strenuous manual labor and intense group therapy. One day, El Mono is transferred to the same center and brings with him a past that Eliú is trying to escape.
La Jauria took two gongs tonight in Critics’ Week, also scoring the Sacd Prize. The story centers on Eliú, a country boy, who is incarcerated́ in an experimental minors’ center in the heart of the Colombian tropical forest, for a crime he committed with his friend El Mono. Every day, the teenagers perform strenuous manual labor and intense group therapy. One day, El Mono is transferred to the same center and brings with him a past that Eliú is trying to escape.
- 5/25/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The prize is connected to the parallel section’s Next Step programme helping directors move from shorts to features.
Lithuanian director Vytautas Katkus has won the fourth Cannes Critics’ Week €5,000 Next Step prize for upcoming feature The Visitor.
It follows a young man as he tries to make a new life for himself in a foreign land where he does not speak the language or know anyone.
The prize was launched in 2019 as an extension of Critics’ Week’s Next Step initiative.
The programme, which is in its eighth edition, is aimed at supporting filmmakers who have debuted shorts in...
Lithuanian director Vytautas Katkus has won the fourth Cannes Critics’ Week €5,000 Next Step prize for upcoming feature The Visitor.
It follows a young man as he tries to make a new life for himself in a foreign land where he does not speak the language or know anyone.
The prize was launched in 2019 as an extension of Critics’ Week’s Next Step initiative.
The programme, which is in its eighth edition, is aimed at supporting filmmakers who have debuted shorts in...
- 5/23/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
During the winter in a small town in northern Finland, you might find yourself making plans to ask questions about human existence on a Saturday night. Or perhaps you’ll stay up in bed, giggling while reading a book by Sigmund Freud. Such is the surreal world of “The Woodcutter Story,” and right in the middle of it is Pepe (Jarkko Lahti), a man so relentlessly bright-sided that his constant, glass-is-half-full view of life can drive his friends and co-workers to anger.
Continue reading ‘The Woodcutter Story’ Review: A Surreal & Strange Story About The Nature Of Existence [Cannes] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘The Woodcutter Story’ Review: A Surreal & Strange Story About The Nature Of Existence [Cannes] at The Playlist.
- 5/21/2022
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
There is a sort of checklist for Finnish films — and I say this with love — that includes snowy exteriors, bleakly austere interiors, ice fishing and someone getting murdered with an axe. The Woodcutter Story ticks every box, plus a few more. Characters who barely speak, for example — and who may, indeed, have nothing to say. When they do, there is a jolting humor that may not be humor at all: their deadpan delivery gives nothing away. This is the Finnish way.
Director/writer Mikko Myllylahti — a poet who also penned the script for Juho Kuosmanen’s The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki, which won a major prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 — sets his Cannes Critics’ Week title in an unnamed village in the far north of Finland clustered around a timber mill. Myllylahti’s hero Pepe is a timber worker, played by the same actor...
Director/writer Mikko Myllylahti — a poet who also penned the script for Juho Kuosmanen’s The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki, which won a major prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 — sets his Cannes Critics’ Week title in an unnamed village in the far north of Finland clustered around a timber mill. Myllylahti’s hero Pepe is a timber worker, played by the same actor...
- 5/19/2022
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
One Flew Over the Cuckold’s Nest: Myllylahti Contends Hope Floats in Black Comedy
By their nature, fables provide fanciful cinematic avenues of metaphorical expression as they’re prone to subtexts and extoll wisdom, often a significant moral of the story like a resolute cherry on top. Mikko Myllaylahti, best known as the screenwriter of 2016’s The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki (read review), cuts his directorial teeth with a darkly absurd debut, The Woodcutter Story. Bizarre and bleak as it circuitously ruins the life of his indefatigably resilient protagonist, Myllaylahti stuffs his film with allegorical tics and tones, raking coals of comedy through tragically exaggerated circumstances.…...
By their nature, fables provide fanciful cinematic avenues of metaphorical expression as they’re prone to subtexts and extoll wisdom, often a significant moral of the story like a resolute cherry on top. Mikko Myllaylahti, best known as the screenwriter of 2016’s The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki (read review), cuts his directorial teeth with a darkly absurd debut, The Woodcutter Story. Bizarre and bleak as it circuitously ruins the life of his indefatigably resilient protagonist, Myllaylahti stuffs his film with allegorical tics and tones, raking coals of comedy through tragically exaggerated circumstances.…...
- 5/19/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Finland’s Mikko Myllylahti returns to Cannes’ Critics Week with his feature debut as a director “The Woodcutter Story.” His short “Tiger” premiered in the same section in 2018, while “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki,” which he co-wrote with Juho Kuosmanen, won Un Certain Regard back in 2016.
“It’s a very strange film,” he tells Variety about his dark fairytale about the ever-optimistic Pepe, whose world – confined to a small, snowbound town – is slowly crumbling around him. Admitting that after “Olli Mäki,” based on a true story of a boxer preparing for his big break in the 1960s, he needed to “get away from reality.”
“I was fascinated by old tales and in Finland, they can be quite cruel,” he says. But the film was also inspired by a real-life encounter with a woodcutter from the north, not far away from his hometown of Tornio, whose calm...
“It’s a very strange film,” he tells Variety about his dark fairytale about the ever-optimistic Pepe, whose world – confined to a small, snowbound town – is slowly crumbling around him. Admitting that after “Olli Mäki,” based on a true story of a boxer preparing for his big break in the 1960s, he needed to “get away from reality.”
“I was fascinated by old tales and in Finland, they can be quite cruel,” he says. But the film was also inspired by a real-life encounter with a woodcutter from the north, not far away from his hometown of Tornio, whose calm...
- 5/18/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Rays of promotional sunshine will highlight 46 European finished and unfinished films at this year’s Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival (17–28 May 2022).
‘Triangle of Sadness’ by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, France, Germany, UK/ Coproduction Office)
21 international sales agents are drawing on Film Sales Support (Fss) - totalling €78,000 - to bolster and innovate promotion and marketing campaigns of brand-new films to trigger sales to countries outside of Europe at one of the most prestigious markets of the year. Overseas buyers on-site and off-site will have the fortune to catch sight of a number of new films from Europe premiering at the Croisette.
Amongst the many to be discovered at the Marché are Competition titles, Pacifiction by Albert Serra (Spain, Portugal, Germany/Films Boutique,France), Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, France, Germany, UK/Coproduction Office), Boy from Heaven by Tarik Saleh (Sweden, France, Finland, Denmark/Memento International), Un Certain Regard titles, Metronom by Alexandru Belc (Romania, France/Pyramide International) and Rodeo by Lola Quivoron (France/Les Films du Losange) as well as films in Directors’ Fortnight, Will-o'-the-wisp by Joao Pedro Rodrigues (Portugal, France/ Films Boutique,Germany) and The Super 8 Years by Annie Ernaux & David Ernaux-Briot (France/Totem Films).
For the first time, Fss will also be awarded to a Ukrainian film in solidarity with the country. Indie Sales is the happy recpient for its film Pamfir by Ukrainian director, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, a multi-coproduction between the Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, Chile and Luxembourg. By a lucky twist, 3 of Efp’s Producers on the Move and their films will benefit from the support indirectly: Sick of Myself by Kristoffer Borgli (producer Andrea Berentsen Ottmar from Norway/Memento International), The Woodcutter Story by Mikko Myllylahti (producer Derk-Jan Warrink from the Netherlands) and Tel Aviv Beirut by Michale Boganim (producer Janine Teerling from Cyprus/Wt Films).
13 European films in the companies’ line-ups are yet unfinished but ready to be announced and promoted.
**Click here for the full list**
Thanks to Swiss Films, 4 films from Switzerland will similarly receive Fss for the promotion in Cannes: Men Caves by Céline Pernet (Lightdox), Continental Drift by Lionel Baier (Switzerland, France/ Les Films du Losange), 99 Moons by Jan Gassmann (m-appeal world sales) and The Black Spider by Markus Fischer (Switzerland, Hungary/The Playmaker Munich).
Fss is supported by Creative Europe Media and part of Efp’s (European Film Promotion) many activities for the promotion of European films and talent around the world.
get in touch with °efp
Efp European Film Promotion
info@efp-online.com
www.efp-online.com
Efp (European Film Promotion) is an international network of film promotion institutes from 37 countries from throughout Europe, each representing their national films and talent abroad. Under the Efp flag, these organisations team up to jointly promote the diversity and spirit of European films and talent at key film festivals and markets, in particular outside of Europe.
‘Triangle of Sadness’ by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, France, Germany, UK/ Coproduction Office)
21 international sales agents are drawing on Film Sales Support (Fss) - totalling €78,000 - to bolster and innovate promotion and marketing campaigns of brand-new films to trigger sales to countries outside of Europe at one of the most prestigious markets of the year. Overseas buyers on-site and off-site will have the fortune to catch sight of a number of new films from Europe premiering at the Croisette.
Amongst the many to be discovered at the Marché are Competition titles, Pacifiction by Albert Serra (Spain, Portugal, Germany/Films Boutique,France), Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, France, Germany, UK/Coproduction Office), Boy from Heaven by Tarik Saleh (Sweden, France, Finland, Denmark/Memento International), Un Certain Regard titles, Metronom by Alexandru Belc (Romania, France/Pyramide International) and Rodeo by Lola Quivoron (France/Les Films du Losange) as well as films in Directors’ Fortnight, Will-o'-the-wisp by Joao Pedro Rodrigues (Portugal, France/ Films Boutique,Germany) and The Super 8 Years by Annie Ernaux & David Ernaux-Briot (France/Totem Films).
For the first time, Fss will also be awarded to a Ukrainian film in solidarity with the country. Indie Sales is the happy recpient for its film Pamfir by Ukrainian director, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, a multi-coproduction between the Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, Chile and Luxembourg. By a lucky twist, 3 of Efp’s Producers on the Move and their films will benefit from the support indirectly: Sick of Myself by Kristoffer Borgli (producer Andrea Berentsen Ottmar from Norway/Memento International), The Woodcutter Story by Mikko Myllylahti (producer Derk-Jan Warrink from the Netherlands) and Tel Aviv Beirut by Michale Boganim (producer Janine Teerling from Cyprus/Wt Films).
13 European films in the companies’ line-ups are yet unfinished but ready to be announced and promoted.
**Click here for the full list**
Thanks to Swiss Films, 4 films from Switzerland will similarly receive Fss for the promotion in Cannes: Men Caves by Céline Pernet (Lightdox), Continental Drift by Lionel Baier (Switzerland, France/ Les Films du Losange), 99 Moons by Jan Gassmann (m-appeal world sales) and The Black Spider by Markus Fischer (Switzerland, Hungary/The Playmaker Munich).
Fss is supported by Creative Europe Media and part of Efp’s (European Film Promotion) many activities for the promotion of European films and talent around the world.
get in touch with °efp
Efp European Film Promotion
info@efp-online.com
www.efp-online.com
Efp (European Film Promotion) is an international network of film promotion institutes from 37 countries from throughout Europe, each representing their national films and talent abroad. Under the Efp flag, these organisations team up to jointly promote the diversity and spirit of European films and talent at key film festivals and markets, in particular outside of Europe.
- 5/18/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
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