21/05/2014 - CANNES 2014: The Finnish drama Heart of a Lion by Dome Karukoski seduces a dozen territories

Heart of a Lion by Dome Karukoski

Dome Karukoski’s Heart of a Lion [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the story of a neo-Nazi who falls in love with the mother of a black child, continues to seduce world buyers. A dozen new territories have picked up the film sold by Scandinavian sales outfit The Yellow Affair.

The companies are I-On for German-speaking territories; Ripley’s Film for Italy; Jupiter Communications for France, Benelux and Dom Tom; Legendmain Filmes for Portugal and Angola; and Rija Films for Latvia. Previous territories that had acquired the film at the last European Film Market in Berlin comprise the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe), Hungary (Vertigo), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Russia (Starlet), and Estonia (EstinFilm). “Dome is a name that sells, and people follow him closely,” said Yellow Affair’s CEO, Miira Paasilinna, sitting at the Scandinavian Terrace at Cannes. 

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Another hot Finnish director was also on the company’s Cannes line-up: Mika Kaurismäki, with his English-language film The Girl King [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Malin Buska as Queen Kristina of Sweden. “People are surprised to see Mika directing a period piece. We had many distributors who came to watch the promo at our stand, but most want to wait. This reflects the market at Cannes, which was quite conservative,” noted Paasilinna. “Distributors don’t want to take any risks.”