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Ville Virtanen as Kari Sorjonen, in the Finnish crime series “Bordertown.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

The first two seasons of the moody Finnish police procedural, “Bordertown” were excellent, featuring one of those troubled, eccentric, brilliant police detectives that have been so popular for many years, in many countries.

Here is the link to my laudatory review of Season 2 to bring you up to speed on characters and relevant backstories for this one: www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2024/04/bordertown-season-2-review/.

Unfortunately, Season 3 doesn’t quite live up to the first two. Again it’s 10 episodes, with each featured crime covered in two or three of them, and several subplots carried over from before and recurring throughout this one. Kari’s wife dies in the first, and the way he and daughter Janina deal with their grief is the stuff of which melodramas are made for the whole season. Many clashes and moody musings...

“Mobile 101, a Nokia Story,” a series about the dramatic rise and fall of the Finnish phone company, has been acquired by Disney+ and Walter Presents in multiple territories. The series was produced by Finland’s Rabbit Films and is represented in international markets by the outfit.

The six-part series, which sheds light on how a small Finnish company specializing in rubber boots became the world’s biggest mobile manufacturer at the turn of the 21st century, has been picked by Disney+ Italy, Netherlands and Belgium. Walter Presents, meanwhile, bought it for the UK & Ireland. Ruv Iceland has also acquired season one of the series.

“Mobile 101” was originally commissioned by Finnish broadcaster MTV3 Finland and streamer CMore for Sweden, Denmark and Norway. It premiered in 2022 to both critical and commercial acclaim.

Directed and written by Maarit Lalli, the series zooms in on how Nokia switched from rubber boots to...

Almost anyone over 30 has owned a Nokia phone at some point in their lives, but not many people know that the iconic brand was created at a Finnish company formerly specializing in rubber boots.

Once the world’s biggest mobile manufacturer at the turn of the 21st century, the company was nearly wiped out of the smartphone market by Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android well before 2010, and ultimately sold its handset division to Microsoft in 2013.

When news broke of Microsoft’s takeover on TV, Finnish director Maarit Lalli’s first thought was, “There’s going to be only one [drama] on Nokia in Finland: It will either be me or someone else, and it’s most likely going to be made by a man,” she told Variety during a set visit in Helsinki.

The next morning, Lalli called Finnish TV channels and the Finish Film Foundation to check if...

A new TV series will chart the rise and fall of Finnish cell phone company Nokia.

Rabbit Films has begun production on “Mobile 1.0” (working title), a six-part scripted drama that explores the meteoric rise of Nokia to become the world’s leading manufacturer of mobile phones before a dramatic fall from grace.

The Finnish and English-language series, shot in Finland and the U.S., will launch in early 2022 on Scandinavian streamer C More, with a linear premiere to follow on MTV3. C More has also picked up the first-window VOD rights for the Nordic and Baltic regions. Rabbit Films is handling international distribution.

“Mobile 1.0” is the first account of the Finnish electronics company’s expansion from a small business into a global player in the mobile phone industry, beating huge established brands. The first season will focus on the years 1988-1990, when technology for mobile phones was in its infancy.

Netflix has acquired the Finnish movie “Bordertown – The Mural Murders,” a spinoff of the popular Nordic crime series which is now in its third season.

Produced by Matti Halonen and Johannes Lassila at Fisher King, “Bordertown – The Mural Murders” will start shooting next month and will be released theatrically in Finland by the newly-launched distribution banner Aurora Studios. Netflix has global rights to the movie outside of Finland.

The movie brings back “Bordertown”‘s key cast, Ville Virtanen, Anu Sinisalo and Sampo Sarkola. The screenplay is written by Miikko Oikkonen and Antti Pesonen, and Juuso Syrjä will direct.

The plot of the movie follows brilliant police investigator Kari Sorjonen chasing his arch enemy Lasse Maasalo. The movie is set against the backdrop of a social media voting contest in which people have voted on without whom the country would be better off. When three of the most-voted people disappear, Sorjonen...

Sidse Babett Knudsen joins cast of Finnish-Swedish-Estonian drama.

Borgen and The Duke Of Burgundy star Sidse Babett Knudsen has joined the cast of The Eternal Road (Ikitie), the Finnish-Swedish-Estonian drama directed by Aj Annila that begins shooting in Estonia today (June 20).

Ilkka Matila produces for Helsinki-based Mrp Matila Rohr Productions while co-producers are Martin Person from Sweden’s Person Anagram and Kristian Taska from Estonia’s Taska Film.

The film, which will shoot for about six weeks between now and January 2017, is based on Antti Tuuri’s bestselling book of the same name; Tuuri has written the screenplay alongside the director.

Tommi Korpela (A Man’s Job) plays Jussi Ketola, an American who returns to his Finnish homeland during the Great Depression. He is abducted by right wing thugs and flees to establish a new life in the Soviet Union where American immigrants take part in building a worker’s paradise until Stalin’s government turns against...