News
“Feet Up” is competing in two competitions at Oulu International Children's and Youth Film Festival: the national competition and the ECFA short film competition. The festival is the biggest film festival in Finland in terms of attendance, and takes place between November 15th and 23rd in the city of Oulu.
Short Film “Feet Up” will have it's Baltic and Estonian premiere at PÖFF Shorts, part of the Black Nights Film Festival, which takes place between November 11th and 19th in Tallin. “Feet Up” stars Emilia Heiskanen, Aatos Höglund, Pamela Tola and Kirilas Glušajevas, and is co-produced with Lithuanian production company Feel Reel.
Feature film “Home”, written by Empire Pictures’ Annalisa Schmuckli and director-writer Pierre-Louis Umdenstock, has received a scriptwriting grant from the Finnish Film Foundation.
Short Film “Feet Up” will be seen at Nordisk Panorama's Young Nordic Competition and at the International Short Film Competition of Schlingel. Nordisk Panorama will take place in Malmö, Sweden between September 18th and 23rd, and Schlingel International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience in Chemnitz, Germany between September 27th and October 4th.
“Feet Up”, a short film written and produced by Empire Pictures’ Saana Räntilä and Annalisa Schmuckli has been awarded a special mention of the jury at the 48th Drama International Short Film Festival. The Jury states: "For showing us the two opposite worlds of children and parents, trying to find ways to coexist. When things turn upside down, ‘no’ turns into acceptance and understanding."
Short film “Feet Up” will have it's international premiere at the Oscar qualifying short film festival Drama ISFF, in Greece. The film will be seen in the festival's Kiddo competition. The festival will take place between September 8th and 14th, 2025 in the city of Drama.
Blue Sea Film Festival has included short film “Feet Up” in its Baltic Herring competition. The festival features films from countries around the Baltic Sea, and will take place in Rauma, Finland between August 21st and 24th, 2025.
Short film “Feet Up” written and produced by Empire Pictures’ Saana Räntilä and Annalisa Schmuckli has been selected to the national competition at Tampere Film Festival, the biggest short film festival in the nordic countries. The festival will take place between March 5th and 9th, 2025 in Tampere, Finland.
Short animation film ”The Egg Timer”, written and directed by Empire Pictures’ Annalisa Schmuckli, has received development support from AVEK.
Short animation film for adults ”Mummitus”, written by Empire Pictures’ Saana Räntilä, has received a scriptwriting grant from the Finnish Film Foundation. The project has earlier received also a grant from TEME.
Short film “Feet Up”, written and produced by Empire Pictures’ Saana Räntilä and Annalisa Schmuckli is now available on Yle Areena in Finland. The film can be seen HERE.
“Feet Up” will be also screened on Finnish channel Yle Teema on November 7th 2024.
Short film ”Feet Up” finishes shooting with a wonderful Finnish-Lithuanian crew in Vilnius, Lithuania. ”Feet Up” stars Emilia Heiskanen, Aatos Höglund, Pamela Tola and Kirilas Glušajevas, and is co-produced with Lithuanian production company Feel Reel. The film will be released on Yle Areena in Finland in October 2024.
Short film ”The Rooster” (”Le Coq”) is visiting Finland for sound mixing. French director Pierre-Louis Umdenstock is excited to work in Finland and together with sound designer Ville Katajala. ”The Rooster” stars French talents Moussa Sylla, Selina Laurenn and Denis Jansolin, and the crew consists of international artists from all over the world. The film will have it's premiere in 2024.
In the spring of 2023, the New Children's Short Film project called for short films targeted for 10–12 year olds. The project started from the joint desire of domestic film financiers of Finland to create new domestic content for young audiences, with a goal to find bold and new, ambitious and curious films based on original scripts. “Feet Up”, written and produced by Empire Pictures’s Saana Räntilä and Annalisa Schmuckli, was selected as one of the three films to go into production. The film will be shot in the spring of 2024.
https://www.ses.fi/ajankohtaista/kolme-elokuvaa-valittu-uutta-lasten-lyhytelokuvaa-hankkeeseen/
On the “Night of Arts 2023”, Helsinki’s central square Kansalaistori was filled with people when the “Final Scenes of Disaster Movies” opened the renowned Helsinki Festival. Three short films were shown to public on a large screen, accompanied by live music performed by the band Cleaning Women. The “Final Scenes of Disaster Movies” is created by artist-duo Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary as artists and are known for their inclusive film projects. The line production and VFX-services for the films were provided by Empire Pictures.
https://helsinkifestival.fi/taiteidenyo/en/event/final-scenes-of-disaster-movies/
Empire Pictures’ series for children "Les Copains" ("Kaverit" / "Kompisarna" / "Xarite Yii") has been granted development funding by Konstsamfundet in collaboration with Svenska Kulturfonden, The Church Media Fund KMS, The Finnish Film Foundation and La Direction de la Cinématographie Sénégal. The series, which mixes animation and live action footage is created and directed by Antonia Ringbom and El Hadji Bamba Sène. The series is a co-production with Senegalese RIACFilms.
The development of "Les Copains" ("Kaverit" / "Kompisarna" / "Xarite Yii") has been launched at the embassy of Finland in Dakar, as directors Antonia Ringbom and El Hadji Bamba Sène, producers Saana Räntilä from Empire Pictures and Alioune Sène from RIACFilms as well as many members of the Finnish-Senegalese team behind the series meet with ambassador Anu Saxén and the head of La Direction de la Cinématographie Germain Coly. The event was organized at the embassy during the Finnish teams' visit to Dakar.
Short animation film for adults ”The Egg Timer”, written by Empire Pictures’ Annalisa Schmuckli, has received a scriptwriting grant from the Finnish Film Foundation.
Short film ”The Rooster” (”Le Coq”), directed by Pierre-Louis Umdenstock, finishes shooting in Paris and the munincipality of Villemomble. ”The Rooster” stars French talents Moussa Sylla, Selina Laurenn and Denis Jansolin, and the crew consists of incredible artists from all over the world. The post-production of the film will start in autumn 2022, and the film will have it's premiere in 2023.
”The Longest Day” (”Päivä ilman yötä”), directed by Jonas Selberg Augustsén and co-produced by Empire Pictures, has been selected to the 37th edition of Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä, Lapland. The Festival takes place June 15th–19th, 2022.
Feature film ”1000”, written by Empire Pictures’ Annalisa Schmuckli, has received a scriptwriting grant from The Cultural Committee of the City of Espoo. The project has previously also received screen writing grants from The Finnish Film Foundation and TAIKE - Art Promotion Center Finland.
Short animation film “The Egg Timer”, written and directed by Empire Pictures’ Annalisa Schmuckli, has received support from The Finnish Cultural Foundation - South Savo Regional Fund. The film’s development and screenwriting has earlier been supported also by AVEK and The Finnish Film Foundation.