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ITV Studios Finland has begun production on a local adaptation of “Cold Feet,” the beloved British comedy-drama series that ran for five seasons between 1997 and 2003 before launching a hit reboot 13 years later.

Produced for MTV and set to premiere in 2026, the 8 x 42” series (“Rimakauhua ja rakkautta” in Finnish) is written by Marika Kuortti (“Roomies”) and directed by Ville Jankeri (“Forest Giant”). Cast includes Minka Kuustonen, Saga Sarkola, Linda Wiklund, Joonas Nordman, Aku Sipola and Nicklas Pohjola. The executive producers are Maria Kangas and Pete Paavolainen for ITV Studios Finland.

“Cold Feet” will follow the lives of three couples in their thirties who are struggling to put their wild youths behind them in the face of middle age, a journey that none will get through easily. Riding the highs and lows as they fight, flirt, struggle with self-esteem, forge lasting friendships and enjoy newfound feelings of happiness, the couples will try...

Sf Studios has boarded “Evil,” an original series adapted from Jan Guillou’s classic bestseller by the same name, which will be directed by “The Last Kingdom” helmer Erik Leijonborg and Daniel Di Grado (“Alena”).

Penned by Fredrik T Olsson, the six-episode series is being produced by Tobias Åström at Sf Studios and will launch on the Scandinavian streamer C More and Swedish broadcaster TV4, which are also co-producing. The series starts shooting this week in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The novel was previously adapted into a 2003 film directed by Mikael Håfström. Gustaf Skarsgård who starred in the movie will also star in the series in a different role.

“Evil” will revolve around a troubled young man, Erik, who gets expelled from his school in Stockholm due to his violent behavior. He gets transferred to the boarding school Stjernsberg, where the violence is worse than at home. While there, he engages in...

The dystopian drama is based on Emmi Itäranta’s 2014 novel of the same name. Finnish director Saara Saarela is currently working on a new project, a dystopian drama entitled Memory of Water based on Emmi Itäranta’s 2014 novel of the same name. The Helsinki-born helmer kicked off her career in film in the late 1990s and her latest feature was Finnish-Swedish drama Twisted Roots (2009), starring Milka Ahlroth in the lead role. Saarela’s new project, penned by Ilja Rautsi, focuses on a young woman who finds the courage to start a battle over fresh water in the Scandinavian Union, a land dried up by environmental disasters and controlled by a harsh military government. The main cast includes actors Saga Sarkola (Maria’s Paradise), Mimosa Willamo (Aurora), Pekka Strang (Dogs Don’t Wear Pants), and Lauri Tilkanen (Ladies of Steel). The film entered production at the end of July since filming was delayed.

At twelve years old, Maria Åkerblom heard the voice of an angel. It came in a dream and she spoke its words to those around her as though in a trance. She became a traveling sensation as soon as the pious caught on, going city to city to tell God-fearing Finnish people that salvation was real. Eventually she grew into an adult with a flock of believers in tow—each devout “child” selling his/her possessions to donate their earnings to the cause. The sect became more and more insulated until abuse ran rampant and crimes led back to their door. And through it all she held tightly to her truth with many never wavering in their fealty. Their purpose relied on Maria’s sanity, so to them she was.

While director Zaida Bergroth’s Maria’s Paradise is quick to admit the events created by screenwriters Jan Forsström and Anna Viitala aren’t “real,...

LevelK has picked up Zaida Bergroth’s “Maria’s Paradise,” ahead of its screening at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films and at Toronto’s World Contemporary Cinema section.

Bergroth is an habitué of the Toronto International Film Festival and a favored Finnish director for programmer Steve Gravestock who has praised in the past her “sensitivity and intelligence,” displayed in her previous films “Last Cowboy Standing” and Toronto picks “The Good Son” and “Miami.”

Her latest feature “Maria’s Paradise” is set in the 1920s in Finland and is based on a true story. We follow charismatic cult leader Maria Åkerblom as she leads her group of devout followers to a remote house in Helsinki.

Among them is the adoring teenager and orphan Salome. Maria is sentenced to prison, accused of violent crimes, but manages to escape and re-joins her devotees. Meanwhile, Salome has befriended a street girl, Malin, and is...