Former BBC correspondent Naima Mohamud’s sincere and warm comedy “Halima”, about a 10-year-old Somali girl trying to adapt to Finland in 1998, won the first prize in the Best Editing category at the Finland Film Affair in Helsinki on Thursday evening.
The award was handed out by the jury, which included US producer and executive Jodi Hildebrand (formerly of Condé Nast and Marvel Studios), the British Film Institute’s Phoebe Hall and FEST-New Directors festival director Fernando Vasquez, who said: “The director’s energetic and original voice shined on stage and promises a compelling lead performance. This is a ’90s snapshot of a Finland we haven’t seen on screen before. A fresh Finnish voice.”
“11 Hours”
Courtesy of Fenomen
Produced by It’s Alive Films (“Euthanasia,” “The Man Who Didn’t Want to See the Titanic,” “100 Liters of Gold”), Finland’s regular provider of artistically bold and original scripted content, Mohamud’s feature debut marks a milestone as the first Finnish feature film directed by a black woman. “But it’s also the first movie that Teemo didn’t direct. [Nikki]Co-owner of the company,” said It’s Alive co-founder and producer Jani Pösö in his speech, reminding more than 500 delegates that their film “tackles deadly serious topics in an entertaining way.”
“It’s the same here and we had to make this movie,” added Pösö, whose production for Finland’s No-Office Films is in partnership with Ireland’s Vico Films.
“This story was inspired by my family and my experience growing up in Finland, where no one saw black people!” Dublin and Helsinki-based Mohamud, who studied filmmaking at London Metropolitan University and USC (University of Southern California) in Los Angeles, said: The feature film, which won the Best Presentation award at Haugesund New Nordic Films in 2024, is currently in post-production for a release in autumn 2027.
At Thursday’s awards ceremony, which closed the showcase day of the Helsinki Film Festival’s industry gathering Finland Film Affair, the jury also awarded the €3,000 ($3,400) Best Scandinavian Film Award from the Amos Anderson Fund to the Norwegian thriller drama “11 Hours,” from Emilie Beck, known for Netflix’s “Royalteen” and TV2 Norway’s hit “Escaping Bolivia.”
Inspired by true events, the photograph depicts the traumatic 11 hours that nursery manager Sara, her staff and her 11 children had to endure when they were taken hostage by a gunman.
“This shot had us all instantly leaning forward in our seats,” the jury said. “Using the format of a pulled-from-the-headlines hostage thriller to illuminate a complex and layered social story, this film is one we can’t wait to see more of.”
Produced by Fenomen Studios and Maha Film and featuring an A-list Norwegian cast including Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (“La Palma,” “Detective Hole”), Jan Gunnar Røise (Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Sex”), Oddgeir Thune (“Loveable,” “Home for Christmas”) and Sofia Tjelta (“Delete Me”), the feature film arrives in September 2027 via Scanbox It will be released domestically.
In other main categories, the new €2,500 ($2,800) Best Genre Project sponsored by Post Control Helsinki & Angel Films was crowned the only comedy among eight projects competing in the high-profile inaugural Scandinavian Genre Lab, with Teenu Niukkanen’s “Sauna Diplomacy”
“We believe the project clearly stands out,” said judges Noëmie Devide (Goodfellas), Sydney Brumfield (Searchlight) and screenwriter Espen Auka, who thought the concept was “very original, entertaining and commercially viable.”
Set in the summer of 1970, the story revolves around Heikki, a hard-working civil servant who decides to host a high-ranking Soviet diplomat at his family’s lakeside cottage. But a seemingly harmless weekend turns into a game of manipulation and power.
Niukkanen (“Damn Rabbits,” “Money Shot”), a self-proclaimed “done in bad taste, made in good taste” content creator, quipped: “During Finninization, when Finland was a pre-western democracy during the Cold War, it goes as long as the Soviet Union tells us what to do!”
Oskari Huttu, who produces with John Lundsten for Tack Films, said: “I recommend reading Teemu’s script! It’s wickedly funny; topical, loud, thrillingly violent, but still a much-needed guide on how to stand up to bullies.” The project in development has been pre-purchased for the Nordics by Nordisk Film, and production is scheduled to begin in 2028.
The 3,000 Euro AVEK Best Documentary Award, presented by IDFA’s Isabel Arrate Fernandez, director Einari Paakkanen and Estonian Film Institute’s documentary expert Filipp Kruusvall, was awarded to Anna Antsalo (“Walk the Tideline”) for her film “Darkness Counts”, produced by Venla Hellstedt.
The jury said, “The best documentary project award is given to the project that transforms darkness, the biggest enemy of filmmaking, into a visually fascinating element.”
An additional four industry awards were handed out on Thursday, reflecting Finnish Film Affair’s ever-expanding collaborations with key European markets to facilitate networking and business opportunities for Finnish and Scandinavian professionals.
- In the tightly contested TV series competition, the six-episode comedy thriller “Body in the Closet”, directed by Elin Grönblom from “Bloodsuckers”, won the Midpoint TV Series Consultancy Award. Produced by Mia Oikanen for Warner Bros International Television Production Finland, the series tells the story of a shy theater prop master who accidentally turns into a murderer while trying to please everyone around him, especially his narcissistic mother. “Yes, there are murders, but no one cares about the murderer or the murdered; they only care about themselves!” said MFA graduate Grönblom in his entertaining speech.
- Midpoint Institute also awarded the Feature Consultancy Award for Oda Kruse to “Big Deal,” an in-development courtroom drama directed by Hedda Mjøn in which the lives of four characters are irrevocably changed by a single trial. SF Studios Norway, Finland and Estonia participated in the co-production.
- Marché du Film’s first Producers Network Award went to Aleksi Delikouras’ (“Nerd:DragonSlayer666”) Finnish development project “Babyface.” In this project, a 13-year-old boy befriends the eccentric professional wrestler Killer Joe. In his speech, Delikouras said, “I want to present a different image of masculinity and show that fragility is not a weakness.”
- Finally, It’s Alive Films’ psycho-horror film “Linden Lane 6” by rising talent Josefina Rautiainen received the Gothenburg Film Festival Award. The story focuses on a novelist who moves into a building where strangely only women (13 women) live. The project under development is produced by Anita Hyppönen, who was awarded the Connecting Cottbus Producer Exchange award.
Commenting on the industry event overall, Searchlight’s Sydney Brumfield, who was in Helsinki on a Nordic Genre Lab mission, said the Finnish Film Affair organizers “did an excellent job selecting the projects because the quality was fantastic.”
His views were shared by Tonje Hardersen, president of the Norwegian International Film Festival. The experienced Norwegian manager, who also includes Emilie Beck’s “11 Hours” in his list of best projects, said, “It was a very strong year and many projects stood out.”