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Tag: Finnish Film Affair

  • Psychological Drama ‘Lex Julia’ Unveils International Cast, Sets Out to ‘Seduce and Disturb the Audience’ While Questioning the ‘Nordic Brand of Equality’ (EXCLUSIVE)

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    Psychological suspense drama “Lex Julia” has unveiled its international cast. 

    The film stars Sweden’s Christian Hillborg (“The Last Kingdom,” “Fleabag,” “Young Royals”) and Finland’s Jessica Grabowsky (“Tom of Finland,” “Where Once We Walked,” “Icebreaker”). Estonian actor Rea Lest, known for “The Manslayer/The Virgin/The Shadow” and Rainer Sarnet’s “November,” takes on the titular role of Julia. 

    Laura Hyppönen’s film sees a perfect island holiday spiraling out of control when Julia, a music producer in her early 30s, travels to her new friend Anna’s isolated villa. When Anna introduces her husband JP, Julia instantly recognizes him from her past. 

    “It’s a story of a rape survivor meeting her date rapist years after their previous encounter. It explores the dilemmas and differing perceptions of both the victim and the alleged perpetrator, also including the view of the third party – the wife of the alleged rapist,” explained Hyppönen. 

    Inspired by personal experience “which took years to distill into a character-driven fiction film,” the Finnish director wanted to “dig deep into the subject of acquaintance rape without moralizing or sensationalizing.” 

    Hyppönen’s second feature – following “Live East Die Young,” set in London’s East End’s party scene – was partly shot on a remote private island in the Nordic archipelago. 

    “The film is written as a slow-burning, character-driven suspense drama. The setting adds tension to the story,” she noted, commenting on the “raw, primitive quality” of the footage obtained this way. 

    “Much of my filmography has been created in a very DIY setting. This sense of restriction is quite apparent in ‘Lex Julia,’ where I chose a single location and only three actors. I love the claustrophobia this kind of limitation creates.”

    Hyppönen opened up about her leads.

    “For Julia, I wanted to find an actor that could convey strength and vulnerability while also bringing dark humor and unpredictability to the role. For Anna, I looked for someone who could play with lightness and sophistication, but also show a darker undercurrent beneath the surface.” For JP, it was all about “warmth and charm that can flip into coldness and cruelty.”

    She was also “looking for an ensemble”: “A trio that would play together, supporting and challenging each other and be willing to explore the darker aspects of the material. I feel very lucky this is exactly what I found in Rea, Jessica and Christian.”

    Produced by Merja Ritola and Essi Haukkamaa-Judge for Finland’s Greenlit Productions – also at work on “Northern Lights,” recently spotlighted at the Finnish Film Affair – “Lex Julia” is co-produced by Magdalena Zimecka and Marta Krzeptowska for Studio Produkcyjne Orka (Poland), Marianne Ostrat for Alexandra Film (Estonia) and Daniel Lägersten for GötaFilm in collaboration with Gila Bergqvist Ulfung for Breidablick (Sweden).

    From the very beginning, Hyppönen saw it as a “Nordic film for an international audience.” 

    “I started writing when I was still living in London, but I always imagined it set in the stark and primal Nordic landscape, with its specific light and a social setting that prides itself on gender equality. I wanted to question how deep this Nordic brand of equality actually goes,” she said. 

    “I love films that use genre elements to engage an audience, but do so intelligently enough to explore something real – and shine some light onto the blind spots we all have.” 

    “Film is a very powerful medium and I try to use it to move people. In the case of ‘Lex Julia,’ my goal is to both seduce and to disturb the audience out of their comfort zone.”

    While faced with cultural cuts in Finland, Hyppönen isn’t losing her faith just yet. 

    “Smaller and more experimental films have always been risky endeavors and these tend to be the first ones to be cut when the going gets tough. At the same time, it would seem like a good business idea to continue supporting projects with a riskier profile to ensure diversity and innovation in storytelling.” 

    “I believe humans have a deep, innate need to share their stories and experiences, no matter what. If public funding doesn’t support more experimental voices, these voices may be buried underground for a while, only to emerge stronger and more confrontational,” she said. 

    “Our prospects may be bleak, but I like to think restrictions and collective rage can create a momentum for change. And change is what we need.”

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    Marta Balaga

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  • Helsinki Film Festival Head Pauliina Stahlberg on Making the World ‘a Better Place Through Film’: ‘We’re on the Side of the Good Guys’

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    The Helsinki Intl. Film Festival – Love & Anarchy kicks off its 38th edition Thursday with change in the air, with long-time artistic director and festival co-founder Pekka Lanerva announcing this week that he’s stepping down from the operational side of the popular Finnish event, and incoming executive director Pauliina Ståhlberg preparing to oversee her first edition since assuming the post last fall.

    Speaking to Variety ahead of opening night, Ståhlberg says that the transition — which will see festival veteran Outi Rehn take on the role of head of programming — doesn’t represent a “big shift” from previous editions, so much as the arrival of “a new generation and a new way of collaborative working.”

    “Change is always an opportunity to do things in a different, more modern way,” she says, noting how the creation of a new four-person programming team allows for “more different voices and more different ways of seeing the world.”

    The festival opens Sept. 18 with Joachim Trier’s Cannes prizewinner “Sentimental Value” and closes Sept. 28 with Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning “It Was Just an Accident.” Highlights include Mascha Schilinski’s Cannes sensation “Sound of Falling,” Oliver Laxe’s “Sirât” — a Jury Prize winner on the Croisette — and Hafsia Herzi’s Queer Palm winner “The Little Sister.”

    Also screening will be Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” and Joshua Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic musical “The End,” starring Tilda Swinton, as well as Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason’s “The Love That Remains,” anchoring the popular Nordic Gems sidebar. 

    Alongside such festival favorites are several provocative programming strands looking to highlight hot-button issues of the day. Among them are the Fight the Power series, which showcases films of rebellion, and the Free Palestine series, which festival organizers say “shines a light on things that can no longer go unseen.” It includes Sepideh Farsi’s heartrending documentary “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,” about 25-year-old Gaza photojournalist Fatma Hassona, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, and Areeb Zuaiter’s DOC NYC prizewinner “Yalla Parkour.”

    Ståhlberg points to such programming choices as evidence of the “huge responsibility” her team feels in curating a selection of films for Helsinki audiences, and proof of how the festival — and filmmakers as a whole — “can be on the side of the good guys.”

    “We actually can make the world a better place through film, and through Love & Anarchy, by choosing what films we show at our festival to raise voices from Palestine and other [places]…to broaden people’s horizons and have other voices heard,” she says.

    Like many members of the Finnish film community, Ståhlberg has a long-running love affair with the Helsinki Intl. Film Festival, and in her first year she’s already determined to expand its reach.

    “I’ve been going to the festival since I was at [university],” she says. “The Love and Anarchy festival is the highlight of autumn in Helsinki for the 60,000 people who come and watch our screenings. I want to bring in more of the younger generation as well, and also open it up to the suburbs of Helsinki,” where many members of the city’s immigrant communities have little access to cinema.

    The goal, she says, is to make the festival “more accessible to everyone,” which is why Ståhlberg also hopes to expand the popular Pulpettikino educational program. The initiative offers free screenings to thousands of Helsinki schoolchildren during the festival each year, with Ståhlberg saying she’d like to double its scope to reach up to 20,000 children in the coming years.

    Ståhlberg, who assumed the role of executive director after serving for four years as the director of the Finnish Institute in Madrid, brings to the position a long and highly regarded career in the cultural sector. She’s served as the director of the Finnish Institute in the U.K. and Ireland and built a laudable resume as a producer and journalist, most notably at the Finnish Broadcasting Company. She is perhaps best known for producing the Nordic Noir crime series “Deadwind,” which was a global hit on Netflix. 

    She takes over at a time of growing unease in the Finnish screen industries, which have faced mounting cutbacks in recent years from the country’s rightwing government. Next week Parliament will vote on a measure to drastically reduce funding to the Finnish Film Foundation, with Ståhlberg estimating that such cuts could halve film and television production in the country. She herself plans to appear before the government to voice her support for the cultural sector.

    “We have to fight the power, which is one of our themes at Love & Anarchy,” Ståhlberg says. “Like everywhere, money to culture and to different voices is being cut. With the rise of the ultra-conservatives all across the world — or at least in Western democracies — it’s frightening, and we really have to do something about it together.”

    That spirit of collaboration remains the driving force behind Finnish Film Affair, the annual industry event running parallel to the Helsinki festival, which takes place Sept. 24 – 26. Under the stewardship of incoming industry head Lydia Taylerson, the event features a loaded line-up of talks, workshops and masterclasses, as well as a showcase presenting 45 new projects from Finland, the Nordics and further afield. Among them are works of fiction, documentary and series from both emerging and established filmmakers.

    Ståhlberg points to the event, which is one of the leading industry confabs in the Nordics, as a sign of how filmmakers from the region remain committed to collaboration — both with neighboring countries and beyond — while proving there’s strength in numbers for their small-scale industries.

    “I think co-production and co-funding are key right now for our industry,” she says. “The Nordics and the Baltics, we’re so small. We need to work together.”

    The Helsinki Intl. Film Festival – Love & Anarchy runs Sept. 18 – 28.

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