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Finland’s Elisa Viihde brings 1980s banking drama to Cannes, seeks distributor

The Invincibles

MIPCOM: Finnish streamer Elisa Viihde Viaplay is here in Cannes looking for a distribution partner for its latest drama production, which explores the banking crisis that hit Finland at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s.

Eight-part series The Invincibles is in production and is set to be released on the streamer in autumn 2023, and the Elisa Viihde content team is at Mipcom seeking a distribution partner to take the show out internationally.

The Invincibles is a political thriller set in the banking world of the early 1990s. It is directed by Matti Kinnunen (Cargo) and produced by Moskito Television for Elisa Viihde. Matti Kinnunen has co-written the series with Mikko Reitala (Laugh or Die).

The show will be shot during autumn and winter 2021/22 in Helsinki, Finland, and Tallinn, Estonia. It is produced in collaboration with Aurora Studios, the Finnish Impact Film Fund, Nelonen Media, the Finnish Film Foundation, the Estonian Film Foundation and Estonia’s Stellar Films.

“Elisa Viihde is one of the most important commissioners and financiers of Finnish drama. We have commissioned 25 original series – that’s approximately 35 seasons launched in five years – and we have sold them to 50 countries,” said Ani Korpela, chief content officer at Elisa Viihde, which is a partnership with Nordic streamer Viaplay.

“Our aim is to continue to tell meaningful stories, and The Invincibles is no different. It is set to uncover the dark era of the Finnish banking crisis that had a long-lasting impact on Finland. We’re looking forward to the interest this series will generate from buyers at Mipcom.”

Moskito Television head of drama Mari Kinnunen said of The Invicibles: “The depression in the 1990s was an experience that transformed the psyche of the entire nation. The era also shares similarities with the current Covid crisis. And as with all major crises, the illusion of a controlled reality comes crumbling down.”

Korpela said the streamer’s strategy was to partner with a variety of distributors to take its shows out internationally. The company has distribution agreements in place with the likes of Red Arrow Studios International, APC Studios, A+E Networks and LS Distribution.

This week in Cannes, Federation Entertainment has been launching another of Elisa Viihde Viaplay’s series, comedy-drama Mister8, about an engineer who falls in love with a woman who literally has a different man for every day of the week.

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