The well-known Finnish film company Matila Röhr Productions has filed for bankruptcy

Christmas week On Monday, the darkest news in the film industry was the news that the well-known Finnish production company Matila Röhr Productions filed for bankruptcy. Founded in 1990, MRP is one of the longest operating production companies in Finland.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a big surprise these days that there are bankruptcies. For so long, the situation has been challenging for many”, says the executive director of AV producers’ interest protection organization APFI ry Laura Kuulasmaa.

MRP has produced numerous successful Finnish films, such as Rukajärvi road (1999), Roll-films in the 1990s–2000s, The best of mothers (2005), Promise (2005) and Ikitie (2017). The company is also known for its very popular nature documentaries The story of the forest, The story of the lake and The story of the fell.

What might the future of the Finnish film industry be like if even such a traditional operator as MRP fails?

“Of course, every bankruptcy has a slightly different story and different reasons behind it, so you can’t directly draw conclusions.”

“This is not just Finland’s challenge.”

Kulasmaa notes that the situation in the domestic market has been difficult even after the corona pandemic for all authors of fiction, including subscribers and financiers.

“The global recession also affects international distribution and financing, so this situation in the av industry is not only a challenge for Finland.”

According to Kuulasmaa, companies that make drama series have had the most difficulties in recent years. Those who produce many different genres do best. According to him, entertainment and reality have moved forward more steadily.

However, Kuulasmaa says he is hopeful.

“The state has also planned measures for the growth strategy of the creative economy. We have to hope that they will have time to make an impact before more established players disappear from the market.”

with MRP is one of the largest film catalogs in Finland. Kuulasmaa hopes that the company has been able to secure the rights to the material it produces.

“Hopefully they have been received or can be transferred so that the films are not left unseen. Often the challenge is that if the bankruptcy estate does not allow them to be sold on, no one can show the film if their rights do not end up anywhere.”

CEO of MRP Marko Röhr still continues in the industry through the production company Reelmedia he founded in 2021. Until now, the company that mainly produced TV series (e.g. Paradise and Peacemaker) is one of the ones coming to the premiere next year Kalevala: The story of Kullervo – about the producers of the film.

Both Finnish and foreign film production companies need Kuulasmaa’s support in order to manage more and more international cooperation. It has also been done by MRP.

Filmkamari’s CEO Tero Koistinen according to MRP was one of the companies that brought film production in Finland to a professional level. By professionalism, Koistinen means that a production company is not founded just for one film, then goes bankrupt and establishes a new company again for the next film.

“It is important for domestic cinema that we have professional producers who are able to make duun in the long term. Of course, news like this is worrying,” says Koistinen.

MRP reminded in the press release sent on Monday that the vitality of Finnish cinema is largely based on the domestic audience, and stated that going to cinemas and watching domestic films is therefore central to the continuity of the industry.

According to Koistinen, Finnish cinema is currently having a good year, although it has otherwise been a slow year in cinemas.

“Domestic film will definitely exceed two million viewers this year. It is a tough number even historically, because such numbers have only been achieved in the 2010s,” says Koistinen.

Kulasmaa hopes that EU countries aim to secure their own audiovisual content the avms directive implementation in Finland would proceed as planned. The directive would oblige streaming services to invest in domestic content.

“It means that there should be investments in 2027. You would think that it would start to be visible in development at least next year, and of course also Yle’s obligation to increase external purchases.”

According to Kuulasmaa, it is about long processes.

“Both will probably slowly start to cheer up the market. I don’t think we will see a terrible bankruptcy fog.”