Helsinki is set to vibrate to the beat of some of the most jaw-dropping and entertaining genre projects in European cinema this week, as the Finnish capital hosts the inaugural edition of the Nordic Genre Lab. Building on the momentum of rising Nordic genre talents who have made major waves at top international festivals—such as Hanna Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi, whose respective works "Nightborn" and "Red Snow" were recently acquired by Shudder—the new initiative aims to propel a fresh wave of dark, daring storytelling onto the international market.
Running from September 23 to 25 during the Helsinki International Film Festival’s prominent industry confab, the Finnish Film Affair, the inaugural Nordic Genre Lab will spotlight eight high-end genre films currently in development. Among the handpicked projects are "Alma," a Finnish thriller penned by Rautsi; "Trespassers," a Swedish backwoods horror-thriller drawing comparisons to "Deliverance" from "Midsommar" producer Patrik Andersson; and "Whistler," which marks the historic production of the first-ever Faroese horror film.
Between Thursday and Friday, the creative teams behind these eight selected projects will pitch their films live to an audience of more than 500 industry delegates. In addition to the high-stakes pitching sessions, participants will take part in intensive workshops and receive direct mentorship from two prominent international industry heavyweights: Claire Willats, co-founder of London-based Two Magpies Entertainment and a former Netflix commissioner, and Todd Brown, a genre expert and former head of acquisitions at XYZ Films.
The collaboration between Willats and Brown brings a wealth of high-level industry experience to the lab. During their respective tenures at Netflix and XYZ Films, the two senior executives collaborated on notable international genre hits, including the original Norwegian dark comedy "The Trip," starring Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie, as well as the acquisition of the global Netflix phenomenon "The Platform."
Through her independent banner Two Magpies Entertainment, Willats is currently attached as a producer to supernatural horror film "Amara," helmed by Norwegian "Troll" director Roar Uthaug. Meanwhile, Toronto-based Brown is currently steering several ambitious international genre bets, including early development on Johnnie To’s upcoming project "Two Gun Cohen."
When approached by Laura Laaksonen, head of program for the Finnish Film Affair, to join her in creating the intensive training venture, both international power players signed on immediately. They were driven by a shared eagerness to contribute to strengthening the broader Nordic genre ecosystem and to help accelerate the careers of emerging regional creators.
"Nordic genre remains very strong, in my view," Brown told Variety. "The base of talent is deep, and the Nordics in general do a remarkable job of balancing class and critical quality with audience accessibility. You continue to not only see a high volume of projects at global festivals but also see those perform commercially."
However, Brown pointed out a persistent structural gap in the region’s film economy. "There still isn’t much in the way of institutional knowledge of genre within funding bodies or a way for these creators to really connect, support and learn from one another in the way they can within the arthouse world," he argued. That realization is precisely what drove him and his Nordic Genre Lab colleagues to help establish the program and fill that vital gap.
Willats, who co-founded the event alongside Laaksonen, echoed these sentiments regarding the massive commercial potential of the region’s dark cinema. "I think there is a huge appetite for Nordic genre in the global market," she said. "If you look at streamers like Netflix, ‘Troll’ is still the number one film not in the English language. We are hoping the lab can help draw more focus on the wealth of talent in the Nordics, and we hope to repeat this next year and include Sámi, Icelandic and Greenlandic projects, which are unfortunately not represented this year."
Alongside Willats and Brown, Norwegian producer Einar Loftesnes—known for his work on "The Tunnel" and the upcoming "Kraken"—helped select the final eight projects. The trio culled the lineup from a competitive pool of 29 submissions, evaluating titles based on creative originality, the strength of the core team, the quality of the writing, and the current stage of development.
The resulting finalists represent what Willats describes as "an extraordinary range of genre filmmaking, from folk horror rooted in Faroese landscape to dystopian survival thriller in Norway and from animated psychological horror to dark political satire from Finland and more."
For the participating filmmakers, the timing of the lab could not be better. Jón Hammer, a producer at Outlier Projects who previously worked on the acclaimed crime drama series "Trom," is representing Gudmund Helmsdal’s folk horror project "Whistler."
"We set out to make the first Faroese horror feature, and the first in what we hope will become a series of Faroese genre films, so the opportunity to develop ‘Whistler’ further with the guidance and expertise of such strong mentors is incredibly exciting for us," Hammer said.
Pauliina Piipponen of Finland’s Making Movies, who is producing the historical thriller "Alma," shared a similar perspective on the initiative’s strategic value. "Taking part in the Nordic Genre Lab comes at a very good moment for the project as we’re now moving further into the creative development and the international financing and production strategy," she noted.
Meanwhile, Juha Fiilin, who is directing and producing the Japanese anime-influenced psychological horror project "Echo Chamber" through Fiilin Good Films alongside Debbie Stepgens, hopes the program will enhance his film’s marketability, secure Nordic distribution partners, and attract global sales agents.
"Horror is a perennially attractive genre, but the recent successes of ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms’ prove a maturing of the audience. People are ready for high-quality character work in genre films," Fiilin added.
The Nordic Genre Lab has received vital financial backing and institutional support from the Nordisk Kulturfond, the Finnish Film Foundation, and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, underscoring the growing regional recognition of genre filmmaking as a cultural and economic powerhouse.
Full Rundown of the Nordic Genre Lab Projects
"Alma" (Pete Riski, Finland)
Produced by the Academy Award-shortlisted and Golden Globe-nominated production company Making Movies—whose previous credits include "The Fencer" and "My Sailor, My Love"—this ambitious €4 million ($4.5 million) project is penned by prolific genre writer Ilja Rautsi, whose credits include "Red Snow," "Nightborn," and "Hatching." Set across two timelines in World War II Finland, the story follows 16-year-old Alma, who gains telekinetic powers to save her father from the retreating Nazi army in Lapland. In the present day, the same character, now 96 years old, meets her granddaughter for the first time, and the two must escape the lingering weight of Alma’s past sins while exploring the true personal cost of wielding power. "Alma" deals with war and its consequences through three generations of women, combining a historical setting with themes of trauma, power, and responsibility that feel particularly relevant today, according to producer Pauliina Piipponen, who is producing alongside Kai Nordberg and Kaarle Aho.
"Echo Chamber" (Juha Fiilin, Finland)
Described as an anime psychological horror feature penned by Adam Cullen, the project was first pitched earlier this year at Cartoon Next 2025. "Echo Chamber" combines the tone and artistic sensibilities of prestige drama with the anime-inspired spectacle of chilling body horror, viscerally rendered through hand-drawn animation. Fiilin, producing via Fiilin Good Films with Debbie Stepgens, explains that the film is a mature, thoughtful horror story where a curse forces together two sisters estranged by their grief. The supernatural affliction inadvertently provides the circumstances and opportunities for them to learn what it is like to grieve together, discovering that grief can be bittersweet and healing rather than purely bitter.
"Linden Lane 6" (Josefina Rautiainen, Finland)
Coming from the prolific Helsinki-based banner It’s Alive Films—the company behind Academy Award submissions such as "Euthanizer" and "The Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic," as well as the local box-office hit "100 Litres of Gold"—this provocative project explores contemporary social power dynamics. Producer Anita Hyppönen describes it as a timely and provocative genre film that reverses traditional gender roles to explore sexual harassment, manipulation, and abuse from an opposing perspective. By shifting familiar dynamics, the film aims to demonstrate that abuse is frequently less about physical desire and much more fundamentally about power and control.
"Long Way Home" (Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, Norway)
Produced by Njål Lambrechts for Truewest, this character-driven dystopian road movie unfolds after a catastrophic electromagnetic pulse wipes out all electricity across Western Norway. The narrative follows 22-year-old Tea and her neighbor Herman as they embark on a dangerous, grueling journey through a frozen and increasingly lawless landscape to reach her childhood home, forcing them to confront both the external societal chaos around them and the internal darkness within themselves. Rasmussen notes that at its core, the project functions as a coming-of-age story where the physical journey home mirrors an inner transition from dependency to independence, while the collapsing society faces its own ultimate test of trust, solidarity, and community.
"Sauna Diplomacy" (Teemu Niukkanen, Finland)
This dark comedy serves as the narrative feature debut for director Teemu Niukkanen, whose previous short film "Fucking Bunnies" was selected for the Sundance Film Festival, and whose television series "Money Shot" won top honors at Canneseries. The film is produced by John Lundsten of Tack Films, who previously produced the Palme d’Or-nominated short film "The Ceiling." Set in 1970 during the height of the Cold War policy of Finlandization, the dark comedy follows a Finnish diplomat who is ordered to host a high-ranking Soviet official at his summer cottage for the weekend. What begins as a routine, awkward diplomatic retreat rapidly descends into a chaotic spiral of humiliation, manipulation, and psychological power games.
"The Evil Eye" (Kristian Lidegaard, Denmark)
Penned by Kristian Lidegaard and Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen, this online found-footage horror film is produced by Manna Film, the Danish banner behind acclaimed titles like "Kalak" and "The Quiet Migration." The story follows Oliver, a main character who acts as both the narrative villain and the literal creator of the footage the audience is watching. Obsessed with Lucas, a successful young swimmer who bullied him during childhood, Oliver secretly films and infiltrates his victim’s life, sharing increasingly disturbing records on a closed online forum until the boundary between observer and destroyer vanishes completely. Producer Maria Møller Kjeldgaard emphasizes that the project—told entirely through iPhones, POV glasses, surveillance cameras, screen recordings, social media, and dark web forums—feels contemporary, borderless, and disturbingly real in an era of rampant online abuse and violent digital communities.
"Trespassers" (Johannes Persson, Sweden)
Hailing from director Johannes Persson, who previously directed the horror feature "Feed" starring Molly Nutley and Sofia Kappel, this backwoods horror-thriller is written by Melina Maraki. The project is produced by "Midsommar" producer Patrik Andersson alongside Mylla Films co-founder Jakob Abrahamsson. The plot follows four young people from a failed anti-establishment movement who travel deep into the vast, unforgiving wilderness of Northern Sweden to reconnect with nature. However, after a river rafting accident leaves them stranded, they quickly discover that they are neither alone nor welcome on land controlled by a secluded community that has isolated itself from modern society for centuries with its own terrifying belief system.
"Whistler" (Gudmund Helmsdal, Faroe Islands)
Produced by Jón Hammer of Outlier Projects—formerly associated with Zentropa—this survival folk horror project stems from director Gudmund Helmsdal, whose acclaimed short film "Brother Troll" screened at 160 international festivals and won best short at the Arizona International Film Festival. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the bird cliffs and grazing lands of the Faroe Islands, the story follows four marine biologists racing to catch the last ferry after their guide suffers a fatal climbing accident. Stranded, they find themselves hunted across forbidden grazing terrain by a reclusive local farmer who uses a haunting bone whistle to command a terrifying pack of grotesque, half-human creatures.
