Mentors are Claire Willats, former Netflix commissioner, and genre expert Todd Brown, former XYZ Films head of acquisitions Home to some of the Nordics’ hottest genre talents making waves at top international festivals – Hanna Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi whose respective “Nightborn” and “Red Snow” were snagged by Shudder – Helsinki will no doubt vibrate this week to the beat of some of the most jaw-dropping and entertaining genre projects taking part in the inaugural Nordic Genre Lab. Film Festival’s industry confab Finnish Film Affair, running Sept 23-25. Between Thursday and Friday, the Nordic Genre Lab titles will be pitched live to 500-plus delegates, attend workshops and receive mentorship from Two Magpies Entertainment’s Claire Willats, former Netflix commissioner, and genre expert Todd Brown, former XYZ Films head of acquisitions.
Under their former Netflix and XYZ gigs, the two senior industry executives collaborated on the original Norwegian version of “The Trip,” starring Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie, and the acquisition of the Netflix hit “The Platform.” Through her London-based banner Two Magpies Entertainment, Willats is attached to Norwegian “Troll” helmer Roar Uthaug’s upcoming supernatural horror “Amara.” As for Toronto-based Brown, his next ambitious genre bet is Johnnie To’s “Two Gun Cohen,” which is in early development. When approached by head of program Laura Laaksonen to join her in the intensive training venture Nordic Genre Lab, the two international power players signed up, eager to contribute to strengthening the Nordic genre ecosystem and boost the career of emerging genre talent. You continue to not only see a high volume of projects at global festivals but also see those perform commercially.” However, he argued, “There still isn’t much in the way of institutional knowledge of genre within funding bodies or a way for these creators to really connect, support and learn from one another in the way they can within the arthouse world.” Which is why he’s hoping with his Nordic Genre Lab colleagues “to help fill that gap.” Willats, co-founder of the event with Laaksonen, added: “I think there is a huge appetite for Nordic genre in the global market.
If you look at streamers like Netflix, “Troll” is still the number one film not in the English language. We are hoping the lab can help draw more focus on the wealth of talent in the Nordics, and we hope to repeat this next year and include Sámi, Icelandic and Greenlandic projects, which are unfortunately not represented this year,” she stated. Together with Norwegian producer Einar Loftesnes (“The Tunnel,” “Kraken”), Willats and Brown selected the eight titles out of 29 submissions, based on the originality of the project, quality of the team, the writing and stage of development.
The finalists represent “an extraordinary range of genre filmmaking, from folk horror rooted in Faroese landscape to dystopian survival thriller in Norway and from animated psychological horror to dark political satire from Finland and more,” said Willats. Among the participants, Jón Hammer (“Trom”), producer of Gudmund Helmsdal’s “Whistler,” said, “We set out to make the first Faroese horror feature, and the first in what we hope will become a series of Faroese genre films, so the opportunity to develop ‘Whistler’ further with the guidance and expertise of such strong mentors is incredibly exciting for us.” Pauliina Piipponen of Finland’s Making Movies, producer of “Alma,” helmed by Pete Riski (“Icebreaker,” ”Dark Floors”) said, “Taking part in the Nordic Genre Lab comes at a very good moment for the project as we’re now moving further into the creative development and the international financing and production strategy.” Juha Fiilin (“Joy Eternal”), director and producer of the Finnish anime horror “Echo Chamber,” hopes to build on the program to strengthen his film’s market potential, ink Nordic distribution and global sales. People are ready for high-quality character work in genre films,” he added.
Nordic Genre Lab is backed by Nordisk Kulturfond, the Finnish Film Foundation and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Full rundown of the Nordic Genre Lab Projects:“Alma” (Pete Riski, Finland)Produced by Academy-Award shortlisted and Golden Globe nomination Making Movies (“The Fencer,” “My Sailor, My Love”), the ambitious €4 million ($4.5 million) project is penned by genre wiz Ilja Rautsi (“Red Snow,” “Nightborn,” “Hatching”). Set between two-timelines World War II Finland.
We follow Alma (16), who gains telekinetic powers to save her father from the retreating Nazi army in Lapland. Then in the present day, the same character -aged 96- meets her granddaughter for the first time, and they must escape Alma’s past sins, exploring the cost of gaining power. First pitched at Cartoon Next 2025.“Echo Chamber” combines tone and artistic sensibilities of prestige drama with the anime-inspired spectacle of chilling body horror, viscerally rendered as only hand-drawn animation can deliver it,” sa
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