‘Halima,’ First Finnish Pic Ever by Black Female Filmmaker, Bags Fiction Project Prize, ‘Sauna Diplomacy’ Named Best Genre Project at Finnish Film Affair

Former BBC journalist Naima Mohamud’s heartfelt and warm comedy “Halima,” about a 10-year-old Somali girl trying to fit in Finland in 1998 took home Helsinki’s Finnish Film Affair’s top prize for Best Fiction on Thursday evening.

The award was handed out by the jury, including U.S. producer and executive Jodi Hildebrand (formerly at Condé Nast and Marvel Studios), the British Film Institute’s Phoebe Hall and FEST-New Directors festival director Fernando Vasquez, who said: “The director’s energetic and authentic voice shone through in the pitch and translates into what promises to be a compelling lead performance. This is a 90s tinged snapshot of a Finland we haven’t seen on screen before, by a fresh Finnish voice.”

Produced by It’s Alive Films (“Euthanizer,” “The Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic,” “100 Litres of Gold”), Finland’s regular provider of artistically daring and original scripted content, Mohamud’s debut feature marks a milestone as the very first Finnish feature film directed by a black woman. “But it’s also the first film not directed by Teemo [Nikki], co-owner of the company,” said It’s Alive’s co-founder and producer Jani Pösö at his pitch, while reminding the 500-plus delegates that their films are “entertaining takes on deadly serious subjects.”

“This is the same here, and we simply had to make this movie,” added Pösö, who produces with Finland’s No-Office Films, in co-production with Ireland’s Vico Films.

“This story was inspired by my family, and my experience of growing up in Finland, where no one had seen black people!” said Dublin and Helsinki-based Mohamud, who studied filmmaking at London Metropolitan University and USC (University of Southern California) in Los Angeles. The feature, which won Best Pitch at the Haugesund New Nordic Films in 2024, is now in post-production with a delivery set for the fall 2027.

At Thursday’s awards ceremony, which closed the showcase day at Helsinki Film Festival’s industry confab Finnish Film Affair, the jury also handed out the €3,000 ($3,400) Best Nordic Film Award from the Amos Anderson Fund to the Norwegian suspense drama “11 Hours” by Emilie Beck, best-known for Netflix’s “Royalteen” and TV2 Norway’s hit “Escaping Bolivia.”

Inspired by true events, the pic chronicles the traumatic 11 hours that daycare director Sara, her employees and 11 children had to endure when an armed man took them hostage.

“This pitch made us all immediately lean forward in our seats,” said the jury. “Using the form of a ripped-from-the-headlines hostage thriller to illuminate a complex and layered social story, it’s a film we can’t wait to see more of.”

Toplining an A-list Norwegian cast including Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (“La Palma,” “Detective Hole”), Jan Gunnar Røise (Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Sex”), Oddgeir Thune (“Loveable,” “Home for Christmas”) and Sofia Tjelta (“Delete Me”), the feature, produced by Fenomen Studios and Maha Film, will be released domestically in September 2027 via Scanbox.

In other main categories, the new €2,500 ($2,800) Best Genre Project, sponsored by Post Control Helsinki & Angel Films, crowned Teenu Niukkanen’s “Sauna Diplomacy,” the only comedy among eight projects that competed in the high-profile inaugural Nordic Genre Lab.

“We believe that the project was a clear stand out,” said jury members Noëmie Devide (Goodfellas), Sydney Brumfield (Searchlight) and screenwriter Espen Auka, who felt the concept was “very original, fun and commercially viable.”

Set in the summer of 1970, the story turns on the diligent civil servant Heikki who decides to host a high-ranking Soviet diplomat at his family’s lakeside cottage. But the seemingly harmless weekend turns into a game of manipulation, and power games.

“It’s set during Finlandization, when Finland during the Cold War was a pre-western democracy, as long as the Soviet Union would tell us what to do!,” quipped Niukkanen (“Fucking Bunnies,” “Money Shot”), a self-proclaimed creator of content with “bad taste, done with good taste.”

“I recommend reading Teemu’s script! It’s fuckingly funny – topical, rowdy, thrillingly violent, yet a much-needed guide on how to stand up against tyrants,” said Oskari Huttu, who produces with John Lundsten for Tack Films. The project in development has been pre-bought by Nordisk Film for the Nordics, with production set to kickstart in 2028.

Elsewhere, the €3,000 AVEK Best Documentary Award handed out by IDFA’s Isabel Arrate Fernandez, director Einari Paakkanen and the Estonian Film Institute’s doc specialist Filipp Kruusvall, went to Anna Antsalo (“Walk the Tideline”) for her film “Darkness Counts,” produced by Venla Hellstedt.

“The award for best documentary project goes to a project that turns the greatest enemy of filmmaking – darkness – into a visually captivating element,” said the jury.

Reflecting the Finnish Film Affair’s ever-expanding collaborations with key European markets to facilitate networking and business opportunities for Finnish and Nordic professionals, an extra four industry awards were given out on Thursday.

Commenting on the overall industry event, Searchlight’s Sydney Brumfield, who was in Helsinki for her Nordic Genre Lab duty, said Finnish Film Affair organizers “did an excellent job in selecting the projects because the quality was amazing.”

Her views were shared by Tonje Hardersen, head of the Norwegian Int’l Film Festival. “It’s been a very strong year and many projects stood out,” said the seasoned Norwegian executive, who had Emilie Beck’s “11 Hours” in her list of top projects.