Finnish-Swedish filmmakers want to reach the international level

Finance is something that always interests those who work with films, notes Mikaela Westerlundthe cinema secretary at the Swedish-Finnish Film Center who arranged the grand meeting at Bio Rex in Helsinki on Tuesday.

– These days, filmmakers are working with international competition, they want to reach the Nordic countries and the world. The message during the grand meeting, Westerlund says, was that you should try to aim a little further in quality and not just produce works for a Finnish-Swedish audience.

The general meeting concluded with a discussion under the title “Domestic Financing of the Film from the Perspective of the Finnish-Swedish Producer and Film”. Among the guests invited to participate in the discussion was the director of Svenska Yle Joanna Turn MangesCEO of the Swedish Cultural Foundation Soren the little king And the Mary GestrinDirector of Communications at Föreningen Konstsamfundet.

– I think it is important to speak clearly and say that we are all responsible for the well-being and quality of Finnish-Swedish film. We need to work together so that there are opportunities to create a Finnish-Swedish film, says Westerlund.

Michaela Westerlund is the Cinema Secretary at the Swedish-Finnish Film Centre.becca monster helmet

Production companies should be taken care of

Through the common program point Leyla Litikainenproducer and owner of Helsinki-based production company Citizen Jane Productions, offers his advice and expertise under the title “ABC of co-production”. Lislot Forssmanndirector of the Scandinavian Film and Television Fund, was also present to tell how Finnish-Swedish film productions could get support from the fund.

– In order to make a movie, we need to take care of our production companies. Westerlund says that Finnish-Swedish filmmakers need to be trained, get job opportunities, and it is important that there are networks in which they find each other.

The grand meeting was first arranged in 2019 when the initiators Kulturfonden and the Art Society launched a joint application system to support film productions. Previously, filmmakers could apply for funding separately from both organizations. Over the course of Tuesday, ideas were gathered on how the new Common Application System might work.

film director Klas Olson He is the president of the Swedish-Finnish Film Center.