04/09/2007

Yesterday, in a historical move, all Finnish producers have shown a united front during a press conference in Helsinki, appealing for a general strike to protest against the lack of government support to film production and promises not held. All films in production will be completed, but no new film will go into production.

From Aki Kaurismäki to Markus Selin (Solar Films), producer of top grosser local films, some 30 film producers have signed a letter denouncing the level of public support allocated for next year (€13.5m a year) exactly the same as in 2007, although an 8% increase in funds had been promised for 2008.

Irina Krohn, head of the Finnish Film Foundation said: We’ve had promises about budget increases for the last decade. In the 90s, admissions were down on domestic films (3.7% in 1996). So the government said that if producers could help raise the market share for local films, they would be allocated more funding. Finnish films now have a 23% market share. But the government hasn’t kept its promise. “

The frustration from the film sector also comes from the fact that compared to other Nordic countries Finland is the ‘poor’ cousin with half the level of support to film production. Krohn said that next Thursday, as film industry representatives will meet the Minister of Culture Stefan Wallin for a round table, she would remind him about the harsh economic realities within the film branch.

“Last year, three production companies went bankrupt and we are afraid more independent producers could follow that road” warned filmmaker and producer Claes Olsson (Kinoproduction) whose latest film Colorado Avenue is hitting the local screens on Friday.

However Krohn remains optimistic, stressing that although the government has already submitted its budget proposal for 2008, it can still decide on an extra budget allocation in the spring if the Parliament agrees to it. “The crucial questions will be to fix a timetable and to determine the extra sums to allocate”, she said.