Newly Appointed Finnish Film Affair Head Alisha Hasan on Her Plans to Disrupt and Grow Leading Nordic Industry Event

As the newly minted head of Finnish Film Affair, Alisha Hasan brings fresh energy and a globally minded perspective to the annual industry event, which runs parallel to the Helsinki International Film Festival.

Hasan, who assumed the post in April, joined FFA from Finnish animation house Gutsy Animations, where she was head of marketing. She previously spent six years working as a producer and marketing manager at online gaming firm Game Lounge Ltd.

With a diverse, wide-ranging and international background that includes stints in London, Malta and New York — where she interned at Kino Lorber — Hasan is looking to grow FFA beyond its Nordic roots while also maintaining its established and trusted pedigree. This year’s edition will have a strong focus on AI, gaming, transmedia and alternative film financing, arenas in which Hasan has previously excelled.

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“One main strategy was definitely to start branding Finnish Film Affair slightly differently to what everyone else in the film market space is doing. We want to be the frontrunner in starting new initiatives — some initiatives that are rare or have not been done before,” Hasan tells Variety.

“With transmedia, it’s relatively new in Scandinavia. It’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel, but it’s a start towards the direction where we want to go. My first FFA is a series of prototypes that we are continuing to develop as one would do with a product.”

As Finland’s leading film industry event and market, Finnish Film Affair gathers both international and national attendees for three days of curated sessions in a variety of formats — panels, workshops, keynotes — focusing on the most pressing topics in the industry. It also features several pitching sessions for works in development and works in progress, both from the host nation and the Nordic region.

Variety spoke to Hasan ahead of this year’s event, which runs Sept. 25 – 27 in Helsinki, to talk about changes to its 13th edition and what she has in store for the years ahead. “I’m not expecting everything to change during one year,” she admits. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Why did this feel like the right time for you to join Finnish Film Affair?

I saw so much potential, and I felt I have a lot to give with my wide-ranging experiences. With Finnish Film Affair, I’ve been to the event many times as a participant. Throughout the years, I had seen Finland and Finnish Film Affair from an international point of view, and I always saw that potential. With the way that we are launching these different initiatives, I want brave thinking to seep into the participants: that it’s okay to try this. It’s okay to say you don’t know everything, but you’re here to find out.

Along with stints at Warner Bros. Discovery and Helsinki-based production company Blind Spot Pictures, you’ve spent many years working in the gaming industry. What did that experience teach you that you can apply to what has traditionally been a film- and TV-centric event?

I would say something that has really stayed with me from that time is the interest in doing things differently, and the openness to new kinds of funding methods. I think that’s why it worked out so well for me in the gaming industry, because with transmedia, compared to the average filmmaker or producer, we’re very open to trying new things, experimenting, keeping all the doors open. We don’t have to go through the same funding cycles and the same structure that has been there for 150 years. We’re creative people. Even if Finland, we should have done this a while ago.

You’ve introduced a matchmaking session that pairs representatives from the film and gaming industries. What was the thinking behind that?

There needs to be space for trying new things. I want to bring about this attitude that it’s better to try than not do it at all. The two industries have so many similarities, but we don’t even have a common language. The gaming companies have [told me] that the only thing we need is have these spaces where we can talk and just meet each other. That’s the only way we can understand our different platforms and our different products, which will, in time, lead to co-productions and product development, IP development. At FFA, we want to have this start-up vibe — something that is very welcoming and community-oriented, even if we do want to grow.

Another new wrinkle this year is Finnish Weird. Do you want to tell me a bit about that new pitching session and what inspired it?

Finnish Weird came about from us looking at the feedback from the previous years, when so many people had asked for more pitches. At the same time, we knew that there aren’t that many avenues for up-and-coming filmmakers. Also, talking to people in the industry, I know that everyone in our industry, no matter what job they’re doing, they all have projects in their desk drawer — some creative project that might be their secret dream, the dream that they don’t even dare show anyone. It might be so weird that the budget is just unheard of in their country, or there might be some other obstacle.

We wanted to be very inclusive. We wanted to just say ‘welcome’ to the people who are maybe on the sidelines of the industry, some people who don’t just make Nordic thrillers, who don’t write crime series, just because they know channels will buy them. We knew that there are these pockets of amazing creativity. Why can’t Helsinki one day be the capital of weird projects, where we have all these amazing, unique ideas that you just cannot find anywhere else?

When you were appointed, you talked about “bringing more international connections to Finland as well as new perspectives.” How are you planning to facilitate that?

Finnish Film Affair has been very successful as what we would call a boutique event. We have this atmosphere of family — this international film family meeting. And it’s something that we want to keep. So we will grow the event, and the aim is to make it more international. Right now, we have a very good overall attendee group visiting us from the Nordics and Europe. But we do have ambitions to grow outside of Europe as well. Finnish Weird is one initiative, but we have other ideas that are also quite unique and niche. And we have some different market areas in mind which will affect that growth. We do want to make it a meeting place of film and game.

This is your first Finnish Film Affair. What do you want this event to look like moving forward?

With the times, whether it’s the cuts in public support for culture, overall government spending, I think it’s even more important to open one’s creative thinking. Whatever new initiatives we have at Finnish Film Affair, now is actually the optimal time to launch them, because people have to be more open. FFA is a safe space to talk about everything. So there’s no wrong answer, there’s no right answer to anything. Whether it’s something to do with the job market or the skills that are needed to stay competitive, whether it’s worrying about opening up those funding models: There are many taboos that aren’t really spoken about openly. The most important thing is that we have some kind of forum where we can talk about all of this without judgment. And I think that’s very, very important, especially in these challenging times.