SXSW 2022 and Nordic Oscar Week are the Finnish highlights in North America this month
Nordic Oscar Week includes several Finnish speakers from gaming and film industry.
South by Southwest (SXSW) and Nordic Oscar Weekend (NOW) will feature many Finnish activities during the coming weeks – highlighting the fresh wind blowing from the Finnish audiovisual industry as the new generation of filmmakers and productions spread the word to new markets.
The North American market is one of the most attractive to any filmmaker within the industry. Lately, there are great examples of success cases from Finland, such as Girl Picture and Hatching, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In February, we saw the US premiere of Supercool, an action comedy and Finnish-American co-production directed by Teppo Airaksinen and produced by Yellow Film & TV.
Interestingly, Finland can also open doors for international productions aiming at the European market. Last week, an American indie film Dual (Karen Gillan, Aaron Paul, Beulah Koale) had its European premiere at the Tampere Film Festival. Dual is directed by Riley Stearns and produced by XYZ Films, which is aiming to shoot more films in Finland and leverage Finnish film service and production knowhow also in the future.
SXSW Premiere: The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic
This week Finland has a strong presence at SXSW, one of the most influential entertainment showcases in the US. Finnish film The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, winner of the audience award at the Venice Film Festival last year, will have its North American premiere at SXSW. The film features a highly acclaimed performance from the blind, wheelchair-using actor Petri Poikolainen in his feature film debut. The film is produced by Jani Pösö for It’s Alive Films, and the international sales are handled by Intramovies. Last year’s festival program included Fucking with Nobody (2020) by Hannaleena Hauru.
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic main character is played by Petri Poikolainen
As a cherry on the cake, an SXSW event, “From Buzz to Reality – Metaverse Now and Tomorrow” took place this week, demoing Finnish solutions during the day and followed by Music Finland’s event at night. Metaverse is currently on everyone’s lips, and Finland has the experts to help companies and organisations across a wide range of industries, from virtual training to gaming, to building new worlds and immersive experiences, as well as leveraging XR to enhance industry-level applications in traditional industries such as marine and construction. Over 30 Finnish companies are participating in this year’s SXSW.
Nordic Creative Industry meets Hollywood at Nordic Oscar Week
Nordic Oscar Week will take the spotlight on March 23-27 in Los Angeles, US, sharing the latest news on TV/Film, Music, and the gaming industry in a creative conference filled with inspiring speakers, networking and workshops, rounded off with the annual Nordic Oscar Celebration.
The Finnish experts participating in the Music and Film/TV seminar are a producer Leila Lyytikäinen, whose most recent film Girl Picture won the Audience award at Sundance 2022, and entrepreneur Mikko Kodisoja, CEO and Owner of Fireframe. The gaming seminar also features two Finns: Supercell’s CEO and Co-Founder Ilkka Paananen and Tomi Kovanen, who is the COO and Co-Founder of GEEX SPAC and managing director of Immortals Gaming Club.
