Helsinki-based sales outfit The Yellow Affair, behind Hulu’s transgender TV drama “Rūrangi,” has boarded the Finnish pic “The Grump: In Search of an Escort.”
The third installment in “The Grump” series about the stubborn elderly Finnish farmer, the pic is produced by Markus Selin, Jukka Hele and Hanna Virolainen for Finnish production powerhouse Solar Films, in co-production with Raoul Reinert for Germany’s Aspekt Telefilm.
This time around, on the pretext of finding a replacement for his beloved vintage Escort car, the Grump heads off to Germany where his estranged elder brother Tarmo is based. Forced to spend time together, the siblings end up healing decades of old wounds.
In the main roles are Heikki Kinnunen, cast as the-not-so-happy old man in the second film “Happier Times Grump,” as well as Aake Kalliala.
The pic, about reconciliation and forgiveness, was co-financed by the Finnish Film Foundation, Telia Group’s commercial channel MTV3 and platform C More. Lensing has started this month in Finland and will move to Hamburg, Germany in September. The local premiere handled by Nordisk Film is planned for 2022.
Aki Kaurismäki’s elder brother Mika Kaurismäki has more than 40 films and documentaries to his credit including Lübeck fest winner “Master Cheng.”
The two first Grump movies –“The Grump” (2014) and “Happier Times, Grump” (2018) – were major B.O. hits in Finland, selling respectively over 500,000 and 340,000 tickets.
The Yellow Affair has kick-started negotiations with buyers at this week’s New Nordic Films confab in Haugesund, Norway, wrapping Aug. 27.
The company’s slate takes in Karlovy Vary East of the West’s competition entry “Otar’s Death” by Georgian helmer Ioseb “Soso” Bliadze, Swedish gangster thriller “Geared Up,” toplining Ola Rapace, and upcoming New Zealand drama “Punch” starring Tim Roth.