25/06/2009

Renowned Swedish actress Pernille August has been granted production support from the Finnish Film Foundation (FFF) for her directorial debut Svinalängorna, starring Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Niels Arden Oplev
interview: Søren Stærmose
film profile]). The Swedish/Danish/Finnish co-production will start filming next September.

Based on Susanna Alakoski’s August-prize winning novel, Svinalängorna centres on Leena, a 34 year-old woman of Finnish origin living in Stockholm with her husband and two daughters. When she receives a phone call informing her of her mother’s death in Ystad, her troubled past as a young girl raised by alcoholic parents comes back to haunt her.

August will adapt the novel with Lolita Ray. Finnish actors Oouti Mäenpää Black Ice [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kai Nordberg
interview: Petri Kotwica
film profile]) and Ville Virtanen (Sauna [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) will star alongside Rapace. Swedish production designer Anna Asp, who won an Oscar for Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny & Alexander and collaborated on several other Bergman films starring Pernille August, will join the crew.

Two other Finnish films received support from the FFF. First up is Dome Karukoski’s Lapland Odyssey, the director’s fourth feature and his third produced by Aleksi Bardy (Helsinki Filmi). It tells the story of a man from Lapland totally dependent on welfare, who is challenged to take his life into his hands. Shooting on the €1.7m film will start in September and domestic distribution through Sandrew Metronome is set for autumn 2010.

The sci-fi spoof comedy Iron Sky by Timo Vuorensola will be in production from January through April 2010. The €4.2m film about Nazis on the moon is produced by Finland’s Blind Spot Pictures with Germany’s 27 Film Production and the UK’s F&ME.