About Us

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. Netflix and Amazon Prime have released Snapper Films’ feature films in the U.S. and YLE, Nelonen, MTV3 and Elisa Viihde in Finland.

One of their recent international productions is the mystery drama series VALHALLA PROJECT (Operaatio Valhalla), directed by Juha Wuolijoki. In the series, a renowned climate scientist joins an international expedition to Finnish Lapland in search of access to a parallel world, which could hold the key to managing the climate crisis. Simultaneously, the scientist delves into the secrets of his own past and encounters the legacy of his father, who disappeared 30 years ago. The Elisa Viihde original series features several domestic and international stars, including Sara Soulié, Iben Dorner, and Alistair Brammer.

Filmed in Los Angeles in 2023, KING OF LOS ANGELES (Los Angelesin kuningas) is a comedy series about hockey player Eero Lahti (Mikko Leppilampi), whose professional career in the United States is interrupted after a knockout on the ice, causing his star status to decline inevitably. The series, which premiered on the Finnish streaming service Ruutu+ by Nelonen, also stars Antti Luusuaniemi and Kari Ketonen.

VINSKI AND THE INVISIBILITY POWDER (Vinski ja näkymättömyyspulveri), directed by Juha Wuolijoki was released in December 2021. The family feature is based on a beloved children’s novel Koko kaupungin Vinski (1954) by the well-known author Simo Puupponen aka Aapeli. Vinski and the Invisibility Powder became a theatrical box office hit in Finland with over 100 000 admissions. The film also received 5 Jussi Award Nominations in 2022, including the best film of the year. World sales are held by Attraction Media. The film is produced by Snapper Films and distributed by Nelonen Media in Finland.

One of the latest international 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. The film won 2 Jussi Awards.

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 (The Batman, Barton Fink) and Noah Emmerich (The Americans, The Truman Show). 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.