Production of Mannerheim film facing further troubles

On Tuesday, the Finnish Tax Administration filed a bankruptcy petition against Liberty Production, a company set up to produce the planned Mannerheim film that has been on the drawing-board for years.
     
In addition to its tax debts, the company has other recorded notices of default for more than EUR 50,000, according to Suomen Asiakastieto, a leading provider of information services for corporate and risk management, sales and marketing.
      Producer Markus Selin and director Renny Harlin’s large-scale feature film project about the life of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces during World War II and later Finland's President, has been stumbling from one problem to another.
      The makers of the movie have not managed to get together all of the planned funding of EUR 10 million.
     
Liberty Production was established for producing the Mannerheim film, and initially, it was owned by Solar Films, a company co-owned by Markus Selin and Nordisk Film.
      However, when the financial problems began in the spring of 2009, Selin bought all shares of Liberty Production in the name of Liberty Invest, a company he set up for this purpose.
      The aim of Selin was and still is to sell the shares of this investing company to some private financiers of the movie.
     
”I know nothing of any bankruptcy petition. I hope that we will be able to send a positive press release concerning the Mannerheim movie before Christmas”, Markus Selin said to Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday.
      According to the film-makers, the shooting of the Mannerheim film can begin within eight weeks after the necessary funds have been raised.
      In order that the shooting of winter scenes in North Karelia could take place during the current winter, the funding should be secured in January at the latest.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Mikko Nousiainen to play Mannerheim in upcoming film (27.11.2007)
  Money raised again for Mannerheim film (23.2.2007)
  Mannerheim film project is moving once again (26.5.2009)
  Can a movie about Mannerheim reach an audience of a million? (3.3.2009)
  Danish Nordisk Film pulls out of Mannerheim film project (24.2.2009)
  Renny Harlin´s film crew for Mannerheim biopic includes double Oscar winner (3.12.2008)

Links:
  Internet Movie Database: Mannerheim
  Solar Films press release 3.6.2009
  Suomen Asiakastieto