At its latest edition, which takes place parallel to the Helsinki Intl. Film Festival — Love & Anarchy, the Finnish Film Affair will again host its well-received Nordic Flair training program, an initiative designed to offer career development for film professionals from across the Nordic region.
After a 2022 edition that focused on sales agents, distributors, buyers and broadcast commissioners, this year’s event will host actors working in one or more of the Nordic countries. Maria Pirkkalainen-Barber, head of Finnish Film Affair and Nordic Flair, says the goal in Helsinki is to offer a launching pad for rising talents looking to take the next step in their careers.
“The opportunities for actors to develop their own chances for an international breakthrough can be challenging, and access to agents and casting directors is competitive. Not to mention how the pandemic years made it more difficult for actors to build international networks,” Pirkkalainen-Barber says. “This year’s cohort is generally very experienced with a great amount of potential, and many already have international experience too. However, they haven’t had their big international break yet. The aim is to provide more tools, networks and visibility to help them take their careers on a successful international track.”
The three-day workshop, which takes place Sept. 20 – 22, will include sessions designed to help the actors hone their resumes and all-important self-tapes, as well as opportunities for international networking with leading casting directors and agents. All the selected participants can also attend the Finnish Film Affair’s wider program of industry events, which this year includes 460 participants from 26 countries.
Twenty actors from the Nordic region have been selected to participate in the Nordic Flair workshop, along with an additional 10 participants from Finland who can attend the training program as observers. The participants include Chike Ohanwe, who won a Finnish National Film Award for his performance in Miia Tervo’s “Aurora,” as well as Saara Kotkaniemi (“Power of Love”), Adam Daho (“Comedy Queen”), Aamu Milonoff (“Girl Picture”) and Dakota Trancher Williams (“Django”). The full list of attendees is below.
Nordic Flair last hosted a workshop for actors in 2019, and Pirkkalainen-Barber said there have been steady calls for an encore ever since. Among the casting directors from the Nordic countries attending this year’s edition are Tusse Lande (“The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window,” the Millennium Trilogy, “Skyfall”), Ellen Sofie Michelsen (“Exit,” “Beforeigners”) and Jantsu Puumalainen (“Dual,” “Estonia”), who is also leading the self-tape workshop. Also attending for the first time are two casting directors from the U.K., Nicci Topping (“Peacemaker”) and Heather Basten (A24’s “Dreaming Whilst Black”).
A veteran of the Finnish industry whose recent credits include “What Remains,” director Ran Huang’s Locarno premiere starring Stellan and Gustaf Skarsgård and Andrea Riseborough, and Beta Film’s blockbuster maritime disaster series “Estonia,” Puumalainen acknowledges that it’s often difficult for Finnish and other Nordic actors to stand out because of the size of their respective industries.
That, however, is changing more and more, thanks in no small part to global streaming platforms that have brought local films and series — such as the wildly popular Nordic Noir genre — into households around the world. “We have amazing actors all over Nordics with great language skills too. Streaming platforms have made it easier to produce more content for a wider audience,” Puumalainen says. “And it has already happened that Nordic actors are playing leads and important parts on international fields. In a few years it will be the new normal.”
She adds that the coming years should see even more breakout talent from the region, following in the footsteps of Scandi stars such as the Skarsgårds, Alicia Vikander (“Tomb Raider”) and “Game of Thrones” veteran Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
For tomorrow’s stars, she says, that journey can begin in Helsinki. “I think Nordic Flair is a huge step to support actors and our profession, too. We’ll hear about these actors in global markets soon.”
Here’s the complete list of participants and observers:
Participants
Aamu Milonoff, Finland
Adam Daho, Sweden
Andrea Björkholm, Sweden
Anna Böhm, Finland
Anna Tempte, Denmark
Chike Ohanwe, Finland
Christoffer Willen, Sweden
Dakota Trancher Williams, Sweden
Elias Salonen, Finland
Marketta Tikkanen, Finland
Oksana Lommi, Finland
Pravendra Singh, Finland
Pyry Kähkönen, Finland
Rebekka Baer, Sweden
Saana Koivisto, Finland
Saara Kotkaniemi, Finland
Sannah Nedergård, Finland
Vilma Kinnunen, Finland
Vincent Willestrand, Finland
Wilhelm Enckell, Finland
Observers
Eeva Putro, Finland
Juha-Pekka Mikkola, Finland
Karoliina Blackburn, Finland
Kreeta Salminen, Finland
Maija Paunio, Finland
Milka Ahlroth, Finland
Nicola Perot, Finland
Santeri Helinheimo, Finland
Sonja Kuittinen, Finland
Yolanda Correa Brown, Finland
