http://snapperfilms.com/
Snapper Films is a Helsinki and Los Angeles -based production, financing and distribution company founded by Juha Wuolijoki in 1998. Snapper specializes in feature-length films and TV series and is currently developing several English-language projects as well as a slate of European Finnish-language films. Several of our projects are supported by, among others, the Finnish Film Foundation and the MEDIA programme of the European Union.
The latest Snapper Films productions include ZARRA’S LAW, a crime drama set in New York starring Tony Sirico (The Sopranos), Brendan Fehr (Roswell) and Academy Award nominated Burt Young (Rocky). The English-language feature is directed by Juha Wuolijoki and jointly produced by Snapper and Scarpe Diem Productions.
Local box office hits, family features ELLA AND FRIENDS and ELLA AND FRIENDS 2, distributed and produced by Snapper Films, opened theatrically in Finland during the holiday seasons 2012 and 2013.
The Finnish drama feature HELLA W, directed by Juha Wuolijoki, was premiered theatrically in Finland and Scandinavia in January 2011. Distributed in Scandinavia by Sandrew Metronome, the film is supported by MEDIA, the Finnish Film Foundation (full production support), Finnish national broadcaster YLE, the Nordic Film & TV Fund and several private sponsors.
Other projects include co-producing FATHER, SON & HOLY COW, starring Zbigniew Zamachowski (Three Colors: White, The Pianist), as well as executive producing LET MY PEOPLE GO!, starring Carmen Maura (Volver, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown).
Snapper’s family feature CHRISTMAS STORY was the top-grossing Finnish film of 2007 and has spread wider than any other Finnish live-action feature. The film, directed by Juha Wuolijoki, has sold to 120 countries with theatrical releases in several territories including Spain, China, Canada, Greece, Poland, Estonia, Norway and Sweden.
The English-language dub of Christmas Story, produced by Snapper Films in New York, features the voices of Golden Globe nominated John Turturro (Oh Brother Where Art Thou?, Transformers, Barton Fink) and Noah Emmerich (Pride and Glory, The Truman Show, Cop Land). Christmas Story has been released in the U.S. by Lightning Entertainment (Anchor Bay Entertainment).
Christmas Story has also been selected to several international festivals, including Film Festival Cine-Jeune de l’Aisne in France, Chicago Children’s Film Festival and Zlin – 48th International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Czech Republic. At the 10th Sarasota Film Festival, one of the top 10 U.S. festivals, Christmas Story won the Audience Award for Best in World Cinema in 2008. In Finland, the film won two Jussi Awards (Finnish Oscars).
In 2004, Snapper Films produced the Finnish-language television film GOURMET CLUB starring Emmy Award winner Michael Badalucco (The Practice, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Summer of Sam). Ben Barenholtz (Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Requiem for a Dream) of the New York-based Barenholtz Productions Inc. served as the executive producer. Gourmet Club won the Venla award for best television movie of the year, as well as the Golden Nymph award for best screenplay at the 45th Monte Carlo Television Festival and Best Foreign Film at the Long Island International Film Expo in New York.
In 1999, Snapper Films formed a partnership with Open City Films, a New York-based production company whose credits include Sundance 1999 winner THREE SEASONS(distributed by October Films and starring Harvey Keitel) and DOWN TO YOU (distributed by Miramax Films and starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Julia Stiles).
Juha Wuolijoki, CEO of Snapper Films, is a member of the Producers Guild of America and the European Film Academy. Snapper Films is represented by Beverly Hills-based Attorney Richard Genow from Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson & Binder, LLP.
