For ’Next of Kin’ actress Sarah Boberg, Finland was a natural fit

Sarah Boberg, an accomplished actress shares her take on what it’s like to work in Finland – which even included axe throwing lessons from a Finnish woodsman.

Danish film star Sarah Boberg has an impressive international list of stage and movie credits to her name, and she’s just added one more. She was tapped to play a supporting role in the Finnish-Danish collaboration Next of Kin series by that was recently filmed in Finland. The series will be screened at Berlinale Series Market. Boberg took time to talk about her first ever chance to work in Denmark’s sister country to the East.

Asked how it was to work with Finns, Boberg couldn’t be clearer: ”Quite frankly, it’s not so different at all! Of course, it partly comes down to what production you’re working on. But I’ve been quite fortunate – I felt completely at home while we were filming Next of Kin in Finland. Not to say there weren’t slight cultural differences, but the Finnish way of working, the ways of collaborating, is something quite recognizable for me."

Next of Kin, Sarah Boberg. Photo: Anna Äärelä 

"In Denmark there is a similarly flat hierarchy in terms of how we work, even though of course there is a director who’s in charge, but you still always feel you have the possibility to discuss things – to talk about things. And it was exactly the same Finland – a sense of true collaboration, a strong sense that we were respectfully working together. And this went for the whole team."

Truly next of kin

About her feeling of pan-Nordic familiarity, Boberg explains further, “Of course, as I don’t speak any Finnish, we all spoke English on set, but as a Nordic person I found that our culture was very similar. So, while language-wise, of course Danes and Finns don’t understand each other, I actually feel closer to Finnish culture than to Swedish culture”, adding with a mischievous tone in her voice, “and I think it’s because Finns are also kind of crazy – not that the Swedes can’t be crazy as well – but the Danes and Finns have a more down-to-earth way of communicating, though maybe it’s just me. "

I felt completely at home while we were shooting Next of Kin in Finland.

"What I mean is that it can be very silent for a while, and then suddenly, all hell can break loose. In my professional experience, the Swedes can have a somewhat less flat, more hierarchical working structure. But of course this was my first experience working in Finland – though I’ve met Finns in other contexts, and they’re crazy too! For example, I could sometimes sit with my Finnish Director, Akseli Tuomivaara, very quietly, and then suddenly he would talk quite energetically for an hour, and this is a creative style that was very inspiring and surprising for me – and I like to be surprised.”

Next of Kin, Sonny Lindberg and Sarah Boberg. Photo: Kristiina Salmén

About the work culture more generally, Boberg describes it as very focused – but in a very nice way: “There was no rush, no stress. But – you worked! It was never about just hanging around. The Finnish actors I met are really good. They’re very well trained, disciplined, and hardworking – and simply quite wonderful!"

“There was no rush, no stress. But – you worked! It was never about just hanging around." 

"Of course, everything was also affected by the COVID situation, since we were shooting when the first wave was happening. But Finland seemed to handle things in a way that was quite impressive in keeping the whole team safe.”

Go ahead – axe me anything

While most of Sarah Boberg’s scenes were filmed in Helsinki (a city she grew instantly fond of), some were also shot in the beautiful Finnish countryside and the small town of Sipoo just an hour from the capital.

One delightful memory from the countryside that stands out for Boberg was when she had to learn how to throw an axe for one of her scenes: As she recalls it, “The director said it would be really great if I could learn to do this, and that he had an uncle who could come and teach me how. So he arrived – an older guy who looked exactly like what one might imagine an axe thrower to look like, with a long, grey beard, and he threw his axe with such amazing precision! He taught me the basics quite quickly, and even took time to tell me stories about living in the Finnish countryside and Finnish forest life. He was really sweet, and on the last day of the shoot he came by and gave me a gift – my own axe that he had made himself. It was really moving for me. I appreciated that people took the time for this. It really meant something to me.”