On 13 and 14 August 2015, the Window to Europe Film Festival in Vyborg and Kotka hosted an event dedicated to Russian-Finnish collaboration in the film industry.

Over the course of two days, filmmakers discussed legislation affecting the Russian and Finnish film markets, as well as technical and creative opportunities offered by the film industry. Attendees also examined the finer points of working as a producer on international projects.

The Finnish Film Foundation’s Head of Feature Film Promotion Jaana Puskala and Ilkka Matila of Matila Rohr Productions spoke about Finland’s film industry and available state support.

The Russian film market was represented by NevaFilm Managing Director Oleg Berezin and Senior NevaFilm Research Analyst Xenia Leontyeva, along with Leonid Demchenko, who oversees state support of Russian documentary and animated productions at the Ministry of Culture’s Cinema Department and serves as Russian representative at the Eurimages European Cinema Support Fund.

Producer Andrey Deryabin outlined the international guidelines for working with screenplays, while his colleague, director Lauri Törhönen, spoke about working on the Russian-Finnish co-production The Border (Raja 1918).

Last but not least, CTB Film Company producer and head of the company’s Point of View Project Development Fund Natalia Drozd offered advice to producers searching for co-production opportunities.