Icon takes UK rights to Rare Exports from Kinology

Icon bought the Finland-Norway-France-Sweden co-production from Grégoire Melin’s Paris-based sales company Kinology at Cannes.

Finnish director Jalmari Helander based his first feature on his previous shorts Rare Export Inc and Rare Exports Inc-Safety Instructions, which have been YouTube hits.

The story, set in Lapland’s Korvatunturi Mountains, is about a research team hunting down Santa Clauses.

Producers are Petri Jokiranta (Cinet), Knut Skoglund (Pomor Film), Francois-Xavier Frantz (Love Streams) and Anna Bjork (Davaj Film).

Finnish actor Tommi Korpela stars alongside Per Christian Ellefsen and Jorma Tommila.

Icon’s VP of Distribution & Publicity Zak Brilliant told Screen: “We acquired the film after seeing footage at Cannes. It looked fantastic fun and original for the market. We were drawn by the pedigree of the director and his online short films.”