Need to know: After meeting in film school, Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff and Vesa Virtanen founded Helsinki-based Bufo in 2007; now Jaari and Lwoff co-own the independent company. Their first big break was working on the late Finnish director Jorn Donner’s The Interrogation in 2010, followed by Pirjo Honkasalo’s Concrete Night in 2013. Highlights since then include Aki Kaurismaki’s The Other Side Of Hope (2017) and Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife, which played in Critics’ Week at Cannes last year. They also co-produced Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents (Cannes 2021) and Tarik Saleh’s Boy From Heaven, which premieres this year in Cannes’ Competition. Production is just one of their passions: they also run a sound company, a camera rental firm and distributor B-Plan Distribution, as well as the B-Smokery BBQ restaurant and B-Side Bar downstairs from the production offices in Helsinki.
Key personnel: Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff and Pilvi Waltzer, producers.
Incoming: Dystopian drama Memory Of Water, based on Emmi Itaranta’s novel and directed by Saara Saarela, will premiere in autumn 2022. Bufo also has new films in development with Ayderus Ahmed, Honkasalo and Ilja Rautsi.
Mark Lwoff says: “We are all part of the global world, and understanding each other is vital. We believe that cinematic stories unite us, and if you tell the right one it will effect change for the better… We go with our gut, regardless of genre. We hop on board with newcomers and established directors if the project feels right.” sales arm based in Paris.
Contact: mark@bufo.fi
No comments yet