The 12th edition of Finland’s international industry destination Finnish Film Affair came to an end on Friday. Organised in the heart of Helsinki, the international event was attended by over 500 guests from 26 countries and 3 continents.
The winner of the event’s Best Fiction Project Award was The Missile. Currently in post-production, the drama-comedy presents a story set in Lapland, 1984, where a village’s every-day life gets turned around by an investigation of a missile incident.
The project is directed by Miia Tervo (Film student 2003-2007) of Aurora (2019) and produced by Kaisla Viitala and Daniel Kuitunen of Elokuvayhtiö Komeetta, with Stellar Film co-producing.
The jury noted that the project had stayed in their minds already from the development stage: “The director’s personal voice can be heard in the timeless but also topical northern comedy, with plenty of local character and international potential”.
SHOWTIME IN HELSINKI WINS BEST DOCUMENTARY
Finnish Film Affair’s Best Documentary Project Award went to Showtime in Helsinki, produced by Polygraf. The documentary follows the events of July 1975, when 35 world leaders gathered in Helsinki for the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which gave way to starting the Cold War ending.
The film is directed by Arthur Franck and produced by Oskar Forstén (Media Production student 2005-2009).
“The project sheds light to an interesting and pivotal event in political history, and addresses alarming issues with genuine humour. The jurors were impressed by the commitment and passion of the team and how the artistic vision skilfully presents to a modern audience”, noted the jury, which consisted of Oleksandra Kravchenko, Producer at Moon Man, Mita Suri, Film Programmer Producer at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director at Women Make Movies.