‘We Need to Dare to Make Change’: New Nordic Narratives Lab Looks to Rewrite Script for Finnish Drama

The Finnish Film Affair, a showcase for new films from the host country and the Nordics, will for the first time feature TV dramas at this year’s event, which runs parallel to the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy (HIFF).

Alongside the 26 feature film and documentary projects being presented to industry guests during an onstage event on Sept. 22 will be a curated selection of four TV drama series from Finland. “This is something that both the local industry and our international guests have frequently requested from us,” said Maria Pirkkalainen, director of Finnish Film Affair.

“We already piloted highlighting a few selected Finnish TV series in 2019 to great feedback and feel like now is the right time to continue this, especially with a record number of international guests joining us here in Helsinki.”

The four selected projects are in the early development stage, each with the backing of a Finnish broadcaster already secured. Ahead of the showcase, the shows’ creators are taking part in a workshop with New Nordic Narratives, a holistic lab focused on sustainability and inclusion.

According to the lab’s creators, scriptwriter Valeria Richter and producer Helene Granqvist, the goal of New Nordic Narratives is to build on the traditional model of a project development lab by helping to redefine the role of filmmakers and series creators as “change agents” whose impact can go far beyond the screen.

In particular, that means putting an emphasis during the development stage on sustainable production practices and on finding ways to make those productions more inclusive. It also means taking steps to engage the audience on a deeper level — to understand “story structures and how they relate to the widening audience groups that are out there, and how we are talking to them,” according to Granqvist.

“We’re not only doing this because we think it’s super important,” she added. “We also think it’s something that really connects us, filmmakers, to the audience and to the surrounding world.”

The creative teams have already had two virtual meetings with Richter and Granqvist, both veteran pitching and script coaches, and will meet twice more in Helsinki before taking the stage on Sept. 22.

The goal of bringing them together, said the lab’s creators, is to create a “safe space” for conversations that don’t always find a place at industry events. “When we have this room with four projects and their filmmakers, and we facilitate the space to discuss this, a lot of things happen in that room,” said Granqvist.

Things have never looked healthier for the booming Finnish TV business. According to the Audiovisual Producers Finland (APFI), more than 30 Finnish series will be released this year, a 20% uptick from 2018. That’s partly a reflection of global trends, as competition among domestic and international streaming platforms continues to drive demand for new content. The introduction of a 25% cash rebate in 2017, too, has brought foreign investment into the industry, raising production budgets and spurring a surge in new shows.

That rapid growth, coupled with wider societal shifts, convinced Richter and Granqvist that now is the time for the Finnish industry to rethink the entire ecosystem of how shows are developed, produced, distributed and marketed — an ecosystem, they say, that’s based on “outdated models.” “Part of that is also to question the things that we take for granted,” said Richter.

“We need to dare to try things to make change,” said Granqvist. She admits, however, that the questions being asked of filmmakers — as well as average global citizens in their everyday lives — are “confusing as hell.”

In order to confront the mounting challenges presented not only by climate change, but by ongoing efforts to create more equitable societies, she asked if there’s a way to “stay in this confusion, but also decide to be conscious” of how we respond to it.

“That became something very important for us — not being afraid of topics that confuse us, and [for which] we don’t have answers,” she said. “It’s big, alarming questions. But what if we dare to let them be present in the room, and decide together to be conscious and…[ask] what can we do? Is there any space for action? What kind of stories do we want to tell?”

“Our starting point for New Nordic Narratives is the holy grail of artistic freedom,” added Richter. “But it’s about getting these different gazes and tools that we can look from more angles at our projects.”

New Nordic Narratives has already run two successful labs: one alongside the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia last November, and a second during New Nordic Films, one of the leading events for Scandinavian cinema, which took place in Haugesund, Norway, in August. Part of the aim, said the organizers, is to take the conversation beyond just the filmmakers who participate in the lab and to include key industry decision-makers.

“We network with all the main industry events in the Nordics,” said Granqvist. “We have these melting pots where the industry meets, and to have this topic on the agenda, to make it normal to talk about these things, is part of our strategy.”

The response, she added, has been overwhelmingly positive. “We do believe that we are onto something that is really lacking in our industry.”

The Finnish Film Affair takes place Sept. 21 – 23.

Here are the four projects selected for New Nordic Narratives at this year’s Finnish Film Affair: