Last week’s TV Drama Vision industry event in Göteborg saw Finland’s leading TV drama commissioners give a snapshot of their upcoming strategies: the session, named ‘Focus on Finland’, was aimed at increasing awareness, funding, sales and distribution of Finnish content. Among the partners joining forces to boost drama projects: Audiovisual Producers Finland (APFI), Yle, the Finnish Film Foundation, Elisa Viihde and Film in Finland. Among the upcoming Yle original series are Dance Brothers (Endemol Shine Finland), a co-production with Netflix, and Helsinki Syndrome (Fisher King) a contemporary thriller created by Bordertown’s Mikko Oikkonen. MTV’s Helsinki Crimes (ITV Studios) investigates a wave of murders in Helsinki, whereas Elisa Viihde Viaplay’s The Man Who Died (ReelMedia) is a black comedy based on a bestselling novel by Antti Tuomainen. The next promotional stints for Focus on Finland’s next drama contentwill be at the Berlinale Series Market and Series Mania Forum: in association with Yle, the Finnish Film Foundation and AVEK, it will also highlight Finnish documentary films.
