Finnish production company also teamed up with Norway's Rein Film on ‘Silent Herd.’ Finnish production company Whatever Pictures has signed a new global sales deal with ORF-Enterprise, part of Austrian braodcaster ORF, which has acquired international distribution rights to the comedy drama “Crème de la Crème.” Commissioned domestically by Finnish broadcaster YLE, the show is written and directed by showrunner Jukka Vidgrén, Topi Koljonen, Henna Rinnekangas, Juuso Laatio and Anna Heinämaa. Vidgrén and Antti Kaarlela produce. It follows Joonas, a young farmer, who lives on his childhood dairy farm and takes pride in the rural lifestyle.
He enjoys the work, but the farm is on the brink of collapse, with no clear future in sight. That is until he sets up a booming sperm bank business with the help of his friends. Armin Luttenberger, Head of Content Sales International at ORF-Enterprise, noted that it is the “Finnish identity” of the show that makes it distinctive.
It feels very local without being culturally closed, which is often a strong combination for international audiences,” he said. It’s not exactly what most viewers would expect from the Nordics. Nordic drama is still often associated internationally with crime, darker tones and a certain visual restraint.
It is still unmistakably Nordic in its setting and sensibility, but it shows a different, more humorous side of the region.” That doesn’t mean that crime doesn’t pay anymore. At Mipcom, Whatever Pictures presented “Three Fires,” a border thriller set in North Karelia, and “Ice House,” an international assassin thriller co-written by Marteinn Thorisson and Puranen. The company is also joining forces with Norway’s Rein Film on the new scripted crime series “Silent Herd,” currently in development.
Set in a contemporary Sápmi community – during the polar night – it shows an investigator who is forced to return to the village they fled in their youth after a traumatic childhood marked by bullying and exclusion. The landscape, the darkness, the family histories, the silence of the community and the pressure of unresolved trauma are all part of the storytelling.” Rein Films’ Mathis Ståhle Mathisen explained that the collaboration felt “very natural” – for several reasons. According to Kaarlela, the Sápmi world, its language, land, family, reindeer herding, sense of belonging and silence are all integral to the story.
We are not looking at the Sámi community from the outside. Key creatives on the project, including Ken Are Bongo and Jens Martin Mienna, are Sámi themselves, and we are developing the series closely with them. As with ‘A Midnight Sun Affair,’ we carefully follow Sámi guidelines and cultural protocols.” Fittingly for a crime thriller, the series explores “darker human territory: violence, shame, revenge and power within a small community.” But these are not presented as “Sámi traits,” he emphasized.
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