This newsletter shares the good news of the Finnish films and TV series once a month. The content is intended to be an interesting news roundup both for separate newsletter subscribers and for media representatives interested in films and TV series.
February 2026 brought significant international visibility to Finnish films and TV series. DocPoint awarded the best Finnish documentaries of the year, the TV series Hildur attracted more than one million viewers in Finland, and composer Panu Aaltio won the HARPA Nordic Film Music Award. Finnish films were showcased at Berlin’s European Film Market, featured at several international festivals including Thessaloniki and CPH:DOX, and Kalevala: The Story of Kullervo was sold to Spain. In addition, Aalto University launched a major research project examining how success in the film and audiovisual sector can be managed.
1. Short news about Finnish films and TV series in February 2026
The best Finnish documentary films of the year were awarded at the DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival. The National Competition was won by Karin Pennanen’s film Days of Wonder (Päivien lumo. The National Short Film Competition was won by Jani Peltonen’s film Equal Dust (Elämä ja yö).
The TV series Hildur, based on Satu Rämö’s hugely popular crime novel, reached 1.1 million viewers in Finland during its first week of broadcast. The series’ first episode averaged 674,000 viewers, and episodes released on the local Ruutu+ streaming service were started more than half a million times.
Finnish composer Panu Aaltio has won the prestigious HARPA Nordic Film Music Award for his score for the film Little Siberia (Pikku Siperia). The film is directed by Dome Karukoski and is the first Finnish Netflix original feature film.
Berlin’s European Film Market hosted a dedicated spotlight on the Nordics. Two movies from Finland were presented: Blue Baby (Hetki ennen valoa) is directed by Klaus Härö, produced by Making Movies and starring Laura Birn, Oona Airola and Jussi Vatanen. Second movie Halima is directed by Naima Mohamud and produced by It’s Alive Films, No-Office Films and Vico Films.
Marty Supreme (Unelmoi isosti) is a sports dramedy starring Timothée Chalamet. A film financed by the Finnish-led film and TV investor IPR.VC received nine Academy Award nominations and has already grossed $147 million worldwide.
Tampere Film Festival in Finland is going on this week. It is one of Europe’s most significant short film festivals, bringing together thousands of film lovers and industry professionals in Tampere every year. At the heart of the program are the competition screenings in the festival’s prestigious International, National and to genre film dedicated Generation XYZ competitions.
According to information from the Nordic Film & TV Fund, during the Berlin International Film Festival Kalevala: The Story of Kullervo was sold to Spain, where it will be distributed by Twelve Oaks Pictures.
Power Couple, produced by Roope Lehtinen & Mikko Pöllä for Fire Monkey Ltd., has been selected to the prestige Series Mania Forum Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. Series Mania Forum has become the unmissable international marketplace for TV series.
2. A research project at Aalto University focuses on managing success in the film and audiovisual industry.
Aalto University’s Department of Film is leading a €1.6 million Co-Innovation research project, SmartSuccessAV, funded by Business Finland. The project aims to gain new research-based knowledge on how success in the Film and AV industry is managed and how decision-making is structured as production, financing, and distribution structures change. The three-year SmartSuccessAV research project (2026–2029) brings together the academic research expertise and the ambition of the companies involved to renew, grow and strengthen their competitive position in the industry.
3. Four Finnish films selected for the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival
Four Finnish films are taking part in the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival this week. Two Finnish documentaries have been selected for the International Competition. Soap Fever (Kaunarikuume), directed by Inka Achté, explores recession-era Finland in the 1990s and the country’s obsession with the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. The film is produced by napafilms. The Beauty of Errors (Kappale kauneinta Suomea), directed by Jukka Kärkkäinen, tells the story of Tero and his son Henri, focusing on family dependencies and how they change. The film is produced by Mouka Filmi.
In the Newcomers Competition, aimed at new filmmakers, two minority co-productions have been selected. The Smuggler, directed by Sylvelin Måkestad, is a Swedish–Norwegian–Finnish production with Mouka Filmi as the Finnish co-producer. In Cod We Trust (Turskakylä), directed by Guro Saniola Bjerk, is a Norwegian–Finnish film set in Båtsfjord, one of the northernmost fishing villages in the world. The Finnish co-producer is Wacky Tie Films.
4. Seven films supported by the Finnish Film Foundation selected for CPH:DOX festival’s competition sections
The Danish CPH:DOX has grown into one of Europe’s most significant documentary film festivals. The March edition will feature seven Finnish productions: Arctic Circle of Lust (Pohjoinen intohimo), The Secret Reading Club of Kabul, Almost Forever, Amongst the Birds, Homesick, Let Our Mountains Live and In Full Agreement (Korvia huumaava hiljaisuus).
5. The first Transmedia Game Jam bridges animation and games
The world’s first Transmedia Game Jam culminated in a showcase event in Helsinki, marking an important first step toward cross-industry collaboration. The participating teams presented playable prototypes to publishers, investors, and industry professionals. The teams demonstrated the potential of existing animation IPs to expand from linear storytelling into interactive formats.