Fourth Finnish Film Affair Confab to Host U.S. Panel

Elsa Keslassy

A delegation of high-profile U.S. execs will make the trip to Helsinki at the end of the month to participate in a panel hosted during the fourth edition of the Finnish Film Affair.

Set to take place Sept 22-24 during the Helsinki International Film Festival, the Finnish Film Affair will attract a record 70 guests, including reps of sales companies, distributors and programmers from Fortissimo, Urban Distribution, Picture Tree International, Dogwoof, Trust Nordisk, Cinemavault, Nonstop Entertainment, Sundance and SXSW.

The panel, which will discuss how to develop movies for the American market, will include Ryan Wickers, EuropaCorp’s development topper for its U.S. productions; ICM agent Peter Trinh; Robert Burke, managing director of TenOne Entertainment; and Hussain Currimbhoy, Sundance’s senior programmer.

The L.A.-based producer Gudrun Giddings, who is CEO and producer at G4C Innovation, will moderate the round-table discussion.

The Finnish Film Affair will also host a work-in-progress section and will hand out an award for the best pitch.

This year’s works-in-Progress lineup including projects by Katja Gauriloff (“Canned Dreams,” Berlin 2012), Zaida Bergroth (“The Good Son,” TIFF 2011), Selma Vilhunen (“Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?”) and Elli Toivoniemi (“Do I Have to Take Care of Everything”).

Since its launch, the Finnish Film Affair has presented a number of projects that went on to earn critical acclaim, notably Pirjo Honksalo’s “Concrete Night,” which won the American Society of Cinematographers’ Spotlight award and Klaus Härö’s “The Fencer,” which reps Finland in the Oscars’ foreign-language film race. The movie is sold by the Little Film Company.

“After three successful editions, the Finnish Film Affair has clearly established itself internationally as the place to discover new local talent. Our aim is to strengthen that local talent with our panels, the Project Development Clinic and now the new award for best pitch,” said HIFF executive director Sara Norberg. “At a time when the discussion about equal funding opportunities for female directors has become a hot topic, we are especially proud to be presenting so many female-driven projects.”

The Project Development Clinic will feature 10 projects by first and second-time filmmakers.

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