'Halima' Wins; First Finnish Pic by Black Female Filmmaker — SkimNews
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- "Halima" by debut director Naima Mohamud became the first Finnish feature directed by a Black woman to win Best Fiction at the Finnish Film Affair — a comedy about a 10-year-old Somali girl in 1998 Finland, produced by It's Alive Films with Ireland's Vico Films co-producing, and set for fall 2027 delivery after previously winning Best Pitch at Haugesund New Nordic Films 2024.
- "11 Hours" by Emilie Beck (known for Netflix's "Royalteen") won the €3,000 Best Nordic Film Award from the Amos Anderson Fund for a Norwegian suspense drama inspired by a real 11-hour armed hostage standoff at a daycare; the A-list cast includes Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, with a Scanbox domestic release set for September 2027.
- "Sauna Diplomacy" by Teenu Niukkanen won the inaugural €2,500 Best Genre Project sponsored by Post Control Helsinki & Angel Films — the only comedy in the eight-project Nordic Genre Lab — set in 1970 during Finland's Cold War "Finlandization" era when a civil servant hosts a Soviet diplomat at his lakeside cottage, pre-bought by Nordisk Film for the Nordics with production targeted for 2028.
- "Darkness Counts" by Anna Antsalo took the €3,000 AVEK Best Documentary Award; the jury praised the project for turning "the greatest enemy of filmmaking — darkness — into a visually captivating element."
- Additional industry awards went to "Body in the Closet" (Midpoint Series Consulting Award), "Big Deal" — a Norwegian-Finnish-Estonian courtroom drama with SF Studios boarding (Midpoint Feature Consulting Award), "Babyface" (inaugural Marché du Film Producers Network Award), and "Linden Lane 6" by Josefina Rautiainen (Göteborg Film Festival Award).
Why it matters: Mohamud's milestone — a Black female-directed Finnish feature at the top of the pack — puts a 1998-set Somali-Finnish coming-of-age story into international co-production with Vico Films already attached. The confab's broader haul — Nordisk Film's pre-buy on Cold War comedy "Sauna Diplomacy," SF Studios backing the Norwegian-Finnish-Estonian "Big Deal" — shows Helsinki delivering concrete cross-border financing, not just prestige.
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