Golden Globe-nominated Klaus Härö (“The Fencer”) and twice Sundance-selected Tonislav Hristov (“The Good Postman,” “The Magic Life of V”) are readying their next pics with regular production partners Kaarle Aho and Kai Nordberg of Helsinki-based Making Movies.
While his latest WWII drama “Never Alone” is booked for a theatrical run in multiple territories including the U.S. via Menemsha Films, Härö, one of Finland’s most prominent helmers will start lensing his next bet, “Blue Baby,” in September.
Aho has revealed to Variety the A-list Finnish cast led by Oona Airola (“The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki”), Laura Birn (“The Crow,” “Purge”) and Jussi Vatanen (“Fallen Leaves,” “The Man Who Died”).
Penned by Jimmy Karlsson and Kirsi Vikman, most recently credited for Härö’s English-lingo “My Sailor, My Love” which played in U.S. theaters via Music Box, the €2.9 million ($3.3 million) character-driven “Blue Baby” is set in modern-day Helsinki.
The story turns on two women, Inka (played by Birn), a specialist nurse in the intensive care unit of a children’s hospital, and Leni (Airola) who’s given birth to a baby with a severe heart condition. Their fates intertwine when nurses threaten to strike in the middle of healthcare crisis.
“It’s a deeply human drama, unfolding over one week. We’ll have two layers: the beautiful friendship between the two women, and the nurses’ strike with a ticking clock, as it threatens to endanger the life of the little boy with a heart failure,” said Härö whose idea to spotlight Finland’s healthcare system under pressure came up before COVID. “I’m touched by the fact that nurses who care for us, are often pushed to the edge. The question is if we don’t care about them, how can they care about us?”
Making Movies’ fourth feature with Härö after the Oscar-short-listed “The Fencer,” Toronto entries “One Last Deal” and “Sailor, My Love” is co-produced by Lithuania’s Filmas and Bulgaria’s Soul Food, with support from the Finnish Film Foundation, pubcaster Yle, B-Plan Distribution, Finland’s Church Media Fund, Konstsamfundet, Lithuanian tax incentives, the Lithuanian Film Centre, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and EU Creative Media.
Haugesund Pitch
Making Movies’ second major project, “Quiet Lake,” lined up for a 2026 start of principal photography, will be pitched at the Nordic Co-Production Market in Haugesund Aug. 20.
Sharing his time between Finland and his native Bulgaria, Hristov was Sundance nominated for both his documentaries “The Good Postman” and “The Magic Live of V” (2019) as well as his fiction debut “The Good Driver” (2022). A triple winner at the Bulgarian film awards, it was sold to HBO.
Hristov’s sophomore fiction work “Quiet Lake,” penned by Jenni Jauri and Aho, is set in a remote resort in Kilpisjärvi, in Finnish Lapland. The main character Virpi, a middle-aged boat driver “needs to clear her reputation and resolve her past and prevent mess-ups by tracking down a missing Japanese tourist she’s accused of having robbed,” the logline runs.
“Kaarle Aho brought me the story really early on,” said Hristov about his eighth collaboration with the producer-writer. “It was a first draft written by Jenni. Right away, I felt drawn to it. It touched on themes I keep coming back to in my work: people on the outside looking in, trying to find where they belong, often in small, tight-knit communities.”
“I’ve always been interested in those kinds of characters, the ones who feel invisible, whom the world has sort of forgotten. Even in its rough form, the story had something emotionally honest about it. It felt like there was a lot of heart in it, and I saw the potential to tell something small but meaningful, in a very human way. That’s what really hooked me,” he underscored.
Expanding on his vision, Hristov said he will use his trademark hybrid filmmaking style, “because I feel there’s still a lot to discover and develop with that approach. As with ”The Good Driver,” the helmer intends to use two separate crews, “one working in a traditional fiction setup, and the other operating more like a documentary team, smaller, more flexible, able to react quickly to what’s unfolding in the moment. That way, I can blend scripted scenes with real environments, real people, and unscripted interactions,” he said. “It creates a texture that I find really compelling, where you’re not always sure what’s real and what’s written, but it all feels emotionally true. That’s something I’m excited to push even further with this project.”
The €2.1 million ($2.4 million) project has received development support from the Finnish Film Foundation and production support from the Bulgaria National Film Centre and is being staged for the moment, as a co-production between Making Movies, Hristov’s Soul Food in Bulgaria and Sweden’s Cinenic. “We’re keen to find a Norwegian co-producer and to shoot in northern Norway,” said Aho who will be looking for partners in Haugesund.
New Nordic Films runs Aug. 19-22.
