Malin Crépin Joins Cornelis Cast

April 22, 2010
Swedish actress Malin Crépin (photo - In Your Veins) has joined the Scandinavian cast of Cornelis, the Swedish biopic about Sweden's legendary musician and poet Coernelis Vreeswijk. Crépin plays the first wife of the late Cornelis, himself brought back to life by Norwegian rock star Hans Erik Husby (alias Hans von Hell). Danish actor David Dencik also stars. Directed by Amir Chamdin the film started shooting last week. Martina Stöhr is producing, in co-production with Peter Possne, with co-financing from Film i Väst, SVT, Warner Music, support from the Swedish Film Institute and Nordisk Film & TV. Swedish SF release date is November 12, 2010.

DR Launches ‘Depression Comedy'

April 21, 2010
Stig Thorsboe and Hanna Lundblad, the writing duo behind DR's Better Times (Krøniken) is back with Lykke (Happiness), a new TV drama described as a ‘depression comedy' about people obsessed by love and/or by their career. Denmark is known as a country where people say they are the happiest in the world, yet one in ten Danes are dependent on anti-depressives. Lykke - the name of the series and one of the lead characters - will focus on this paradox and Danish people's search for and vision of happiness. Lead cast are Mille Lehfeldt, (photo) Laus Høybye, David Dencik, and Søren Pilmark. Katrine Vogelsang produces. Broadcast on DR1 is 2011.

Kemppinen Head Of Production At Finnish Foundation

April 20, 2010
As of May 1^st 2010, Petri Kemppinen, (photo), currently Head of International Affairs and Development for the Finnish Film Foundation will change his title to Head of Production. He will continue to develop the international aspects of Finnish films for the Finnish Film Foundation and to represent the Finnish film body at Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the Council of Europe's Eurimages. Kemppinen reports to the Foundation's managing director Irina Krohn.

Three Nordic Documentaries Compete At Tribeca

April 15, 2010
Finland's Freetime Machos, Denmark's Into Eternity -both supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond- as well as Iceland's Feathered Cocaine are among 12 non-fiction films competing for Best Documentary Film and Best New Documentary Filmmaker at the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) in New York (April 21-May 2).

Mika Ronkainen's Freetime Machos will have its North American premiere and will screen as part of the new Tribeca Film Festival Virtual, an online extension of the festival offering premium passholders the opportunity to view selected films from the festival anywhere across the US from April 23-30 and to engage with filmmakers.

Michael Madsen's Into Eternity will have its international premiere, and Thorkell Hardarsson and Örn Marino Arnarson's Feathered Cocaine its world premiere.

The Swedish animation film Metropia by Tarik Saleh will screen at the festival's Showcase section.

Tears Of April Opens In Norway

April 15, 2010
Aku Louhimies' historical drama Tears of April (Käsky) is opening in Norway this Friday, released by Action Film. The Finnish film produced by Helsinki Filmi won the Eurimages award at the Seville Film Festival in Spain.

To see trailer click here.

New Head Of Communications At DR

April 15, 2010
Louise Brincker (photo) has been appointed head of communication for Danish public broadcaster DR. Brincker comes from a similar position at the Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and has worked notably on the preparation of the major Copenhagen Climate Summit last December. When she will take on her new position at DR on May 3, 2010, she will supervise 15 staff members and will report to Thomas Hertz, DR Director of the Communication and Marketing.

Over 48 Swedish Films On Show In New York

April 15, 2010
From April 16-May 4, the prestigious Film Society of Lincoln Centre in New York will host the largest ever retrospective of Swedish films in the US, with 48 Swedish films from 1913-2010.

Northern Exposures: Social Change and Sexuality in Swedish Cinema intends to give an overview both of Swedish filmmaking and of the social changes within Sweden over the last 97 years, with a particular attention on working conditions and the status of women. Swedish films that will have their US premiere as part of the festival are Daniel Alfredson's The Girl Who Played with Fire, Henrik Hellström and Fredrik Wenzel's Burrowing, and Babak Najafi's Sebbe."Swedish film has enjoyed a far reaching influence over cinema cultures across the world. With ‘Northern Exposures', we are excited to screen a wide breadth of films, while offering audiences a rare opportunity to see many seminal classics on the big screen, "said Mara Manus, Executive Director for The Film Society of Lincoln Centre. Filmmakers in attendance include Henrik Hellström, Stig Björkman, Fredrik Edfeldt and Babak Najafi. The event is organised by the Film Society of Lincoln Centre in collaboration with the Swedish Film Institute and the Swedish Institute.

Sofi Oksanen Wins Nordic Council Literary Prize

April 7, 2010
After winning the Finlandia Award 2008, Sofi Oksanen's (photo) bestselling novel Puhdistus (Purge) was just awarded the prestigious Nordic Council Literature Prize 2010. The novel is a chilling drama of two generations of women, set in wartime 1940's Estonia during the Soviet occupation and in the 1990s. Rights for the novel were sold to 30 territories and Solar Films is currently developing a film version of the novel. The Nordic Council Literature Prize worth DKK350,000 (around €47,000) will be presented to Oksanen on November 2nd during the Nordic Council Session in Reykjavik, at the same time as the Nordic Council's other major awards for film music, nature and environment.

Maipo Produces Gardell's Doomsday Comedy

April 7, 2010
The Norwegian production outfit Maipo Film has just received NOK12.3m in production support from the Norwegian Film Institute for Mennersker i solen, an open air chamber comedy about the end of the world, written with vitriolic humour by Sweden's established writer/stand up comedian Jonas Gardell from his own play of the same name. The first feature film for theatre and TV director Per-Olav Sørensen is produced by Maipo's general manager Synnøve Hørsdal and Cornelia Boysen who joined Maipo from Nordisk Film early January. Cinematographer Jon Christian Rosenlund (The Bothersome Man) is attached to the project. Filming of the NOK 22m project is scheduled to start on August 9.

Good Start In 2010 For Finnish Admissions

April 7, 2010
Local market share in Finland reached a record 29.5% during the first three months of 2010 thanks to the Nordisk Film releases Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief and Backwood Philosopher. According to the Finnish Film Foundation, Mari Rantasila's family franchise film Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief (Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras) produced by Kinotar has sold over 264,000 tickets after seven weekends on screens, while Kari Väänänen's Backwood Philosopher (Havukka-ahon ajattelija), produced by MRP Matila Röhr Production has locked in 193 602 admissions since early January and over 200,000 since its December opening.

UK Producers Get Share Of UK Film Council Recoupment

April 7, 2010
As part of the UK Film Council's revised strategy for its activities over the next three-years, UK producers have been offered a share in the UK Film Council's equity recoupment corridor. The UK Film Council invests as an equity investor in local productions and has a £15m annual budget for its new Film Fund. Up till now, the Film Council's stake in films was directly reinvested in its overall budget. From now on, it will automatically go back into the Fund and UK producers will get a share of the recoupment monies from all feature film investments in which they are involved, following State Aid approval of the measure by the European Commission. "The business model for film needs to change, and this is a step in the right direction", said John McVay, head of the UK Film Producers Association PACT.

Father Jacob in Paris - 3 Finnish Films On Parisians Screens

April 7, 2010
Klaus Härö's Letters to Father Jacob will be introduced to Parisian film lovers this Sunday as part of a mini-festival of Finnish films at the French arthouse cinema Le Reflet Medicis from April 9-11. Co-organised by the Finnish Film Foundation and the Finnish Embassy in Paris, the event is held for the second year in a row. Härö's film recently won three awards at the Nordic Film Festival in Rouen, France. Other recent Finnish films that will be introduced by their respective directors include Saara Cantell's Heartbeats and Saara Saarela's directorial debut Twisted Roots.

SFI Support To Staho And Roinkainen

April 7, 2010
The Swedish Film Institute has just awarded production support to two minority Swedish co-productions: the Danish film Ja! by Simon Staho (photo) and the Finnish documentary Finsk blod, Svenskt hjärta (Finnish Blood, Swedish Heart) by Mika Roinkainen, two projects supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Ja! is co-scripted by Staho with Swedish writer Peter Birro. The youth drama is produced by Zentropa in co-production with Sweden's Anagram Production. The SFI granted SEK1 million to the project. Finsk blod, Svenskt hjärta is a musical documentary that shows the quintessential role of music in preserving cultural identity. The Klaffi film co-produced with Sweden's Hysteria Film was granted SEK 250,000 form the SFI.

Simon & The Oaks Starts Filming

March 22, 2010
Göta Film's major European co-production Simon & the Oaks based on Marianne Fredriksson's best-selling novel has started filming in Sweden. The film directed by Lisa Ohlin will be shot between Göteborg, Trollhättan, Orust, Uddevalla, Berlin and Hamburg. The story centres on a young boy as he grows up during the Second World War. Bill Skarsgård and Helen Sjöholm are in the lead roles.

The film is a co-production with Norway's Filmkameratene, Denmark's Asta Film, Holland's Flinck Film and Germany's Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv with support among others, from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. The Swedish premiere is scheduled for spring 2011.

Moomins With Voices From Skarsgård Father And Son

March 22, 2010
Stellan Skarsgård and his son Alexander will lend their voices for Moominpapa and Moomintroll while Peter Stormare will voice the character Snufkin in the Finnish 3D animation film Moomins and the Comet Chase. The feature film in digital stereoscopic 3D tells the story of Moomintroll and his fellow Moomins as they face the threat of a comet that is predicted to destroy the village. Björk has written the original music. The film was produced by Filmkonpaniet with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. It will be ready for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. NonStop Sales is handling world sales.