26/10/2005

One of Finland’s biggest production company MRP - Matila & Röhr Productions has just agreed to sell 20% of its capital stock to Scandinavian giant Nordisk Film. Marko Röhr, founder of the company, remains majority shareholder with 56% of MRP and Ilkka Matila becomes third owner with a 24% stake.

The move is a natural step for both companies who have had a close relationship since 2002 with Nordisk handling both the distribution of all MRP’s titles in Finland and around the world through Nordisk Film International Sales. "Nordisk Film is our close partner on both the local and the international market and through this co-operation we will be able to develop MRP significantly", said Marko Röhr. "We have strengthened our opportunities on the international market. Domestic film production will still remain the basis of our production, but at the same time we will also increase our participation in international co-productions".
Michael Juncker, General Manager of Film Distribution at Nordisk Film added: "Local films are getting more and more important, making local foot hold crucial. Nordisk Film owns film production companies in the other Nordic countries. The partnership with MRP is the optimum way to be present in Finland".

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MRP Matila Röhr is a vertically integrated company involved mostly in film and TV production with several affiliate companies: Talent House (producing emerging filmmakers), MRP Docs, Fantasiafilm. It also owns the sound company Kikeono, exhibits and distributes films through Digital Cinema Matila & Röhr and BioRex and has a stake in Finland’s leading digital post-production facility Digital Film Finland.
Ilkka Matila is the producer of Klaus Härö’s Mother of Mine, Finland’s official entry in the 2006 Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination race, and its affiliate Talent House is currently involved in the production of FC Venus with Germany’s Wüste Filmproduktion.