Finland’s Aurora Studios is expanding its Finnish Impact Film Fund to also invest in international co-productions, at the same time the fund grows from €5.5m to €13.5m after a new round of financing.
Petri Kemppinen, CEO of Aurora Studios, explains: “We are primarily interested in Nordic and European producers and their projects, which offer opportunities for co-productions and the participation of Finnish talent. The fund is able to make investments in individual projects from €100,000 up to €1.2m.” The fund is open to investing in English language projects in the right circumstances, the company said.
During the past two years, the fund has made 16 investments in Finnish films such as The Bubble directed by Aleksi Salmenperä and produced by Rabbit Films; friendship drama-comedy The Worst Idea Ever, directed by Pamela Tola and produced by Helsinki-filmi; on the series side, investments include Mobile 101 directed by Maarit Lalli and co-produced by Rabbit Films and Aurora Studios; The Invincibles, directed by Matti Kinnunen and produced by Moskito; and the ferry disaster series Estonia, directed by Miikko Oikkonen and produced by Fisher King.
Investors include the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, Foreningen Konstsamfundet, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, AB Kelonia Oy, Saastamoinen Foundation, as well as Aurora Studios owners Otava Oy, Ari Tolppanen’s family office Aristo-Invest Oy and Ari Lahti’s family office Baie Capital Oy.
”The fund’s growth will start a new phase in Aurora Studios’ journey to becoming a major player in the Nordic audiovisual industry. We will also be making some new recruitments in the near future to complement the Aurora Studios operational and creative teams,” said Ari Tolppanen, chairman of the board of Aurora Studios (which currently has about 25 employees).
Aurora Studios develops, produces and distributes film and TV drama in the Nordics and beyond; its group of companies also include producers Helsinki-filmi, animation studio Anima Vitae and distributor Cinemanse.
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