Copenhagen-based sales outfit LevelK has acquired world sales rights to the Finnish period drama “Tell Everyone,” directed by Alli Haapasalo (“Girl Picture”), which will be presented on Thursday at Finnish Film Affair, the annual industry event running parallel to the Helsinki Intl. Film Festival – Love & Anarchy.
“Tell Everyone” is set at the turn of the 20th century, exploring themes of rebellion, belonging and freedom through the eyes of women confined to Seili, a remote sanatorium island for those deemed “troublesome.”
The film follows Amanda Aaltonen, a fiercely independent young woman with a spirit of anarchy and adventure. In 1898 she arrives at Seili island, claiming she has flown in from Paris by hot-air balloon. Determined to escape, Amanda begins plotting her way out, only to discover true friendship, forbidden love and the painful price of belonging. As betrayal and madness loom, Amanda is forced to confront her deepest fears and make an ultimate choice between freedom and acceptance.
“Tell Everyone” is directed by Alli Haapsalo and produced by Teea Hyytiä for Helsinki-filmi. The film is written by Katja Kallio and backed by the Finnish Film Foundation, YLE, SF Studios, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Finnish Film Impact Fund (FIFF), West Finland Film Commission (WFFC) and the Church Media Foundation.
The cast includes Marketta Tikkanen (“Dual,” “The Unknown Soldier”), Jakob Öhrman (“Rebecka Martinsson,” “Rörelser”), Krista Kosonen (“Helene,” “Tove,” “Ronja Röverdotter”) and Alma Pöysti (“Four Little Adults,” “Fallen Leaves”).
Haapasalo previously directed the festival hit “Girl Picture,” which was also repped internationally by LevelK. The film screened at more than 50 festivals including Berlin, Toronto and Sundance, where it won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Variety’s Jessica Kiang described the “up-tempo light drama” as “a refreshing spin on a familiar genre, as it presents an attractively bouncy, perhaps even aspirational portrait of not-terribly-painful Gen-Z growing pains.”
Finnish Film Affair runs Sept. 24 – 26 in Helsinki.
