A groundbreaking documentary series named “Untold Arctic Wars”, produced by the award-winning Finnish NTRNZ media ltd, has obtained a significant global distribution agreement with TVF International, the UK’s largest independent distributor. In addition, the TV rights have already been sold to all Nordic countries except Iceland.
The six-part documentary series opens up the least known events of World War II, the battles in the Arctic, to the international public for the first time.
The documentary series sheds light on the importance of the northern region in the Second World War and unveils several events previously hidden from the general public. The viewers can expect significant discoveries from Arctic battlefields and archives.
The international significance of events in the Arctic is much greater than previously understood. The political games related to natural resources in the region played a major role in the Second World War. The accuracy and meaning of these events often get blurred behind national war traumas and experiences.
Teemu Hostikka, producer and screenwriter
Diving in arctic. Photo: Patrik Grönqvist
Untold Arctic Wars’ script team includes prominent military history experts Mika Kulju and Lars Gyllenhaal. In addition, the series features experts from universities and museums from various countries and fields of science. The show follows as Kulju and Gyllenhaal dive deep into archives and disembark to the remote locations to study the impact the Arctic wars had on the course of the Second World War.
Arctic natural resources, climate change and modern Arctic rivalry are solid reasons to learn about the wars that have been fought in the Arctic. But I also think watching this series is a way to experience some very remote and beautiful places on planet earth.
Lars Gyllenhaal
Production is ongoing despite the Covid-19 pandemic
Filming of the series has started as planned in the summer of 2020, and has taken place in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. In addition to Scandinavia and Russia, the series will also be filmed in Central Europe and North America. To date, the filming teams have toured to follow the field studies of several professionals who are actively mapping war events.
Of course, we had to balance between the constraints in different countries and keep up with the constantly changing situation. Fortunately, we got all the filming organized as planned. The majority of the filming in summer and autumn took place in very remote Arctic landscapes, where close contacts are minimal.
Anna-Reeta Eksymä, second producer and screenwriter
Mika Hirvonen filming WWII remains. Photo: Eemeli Hepola
New historical discoveries
Already at this stage, it is clear some of the findings made in the series will be globally newsworthy, and some will serve as a starting point for future research. Many tragic events in the northern regions are still unexplained or are generally only known at a surface level.
This is an important series both for the Finnish people and Yleisradio/YLE. A well-made and comprehensive series about the events north of the Arctic Circle is significant content-wise alone. In addition, this is an extensive international project with several partners and investors who now trust the Finnish expertise in producing non-fiction content as well.
Ari Ylä-Anttila, commissioner, YLE
Untouched remains in remote arctic locations. Photo: Eemeli Hepola
Untold Arctic Wars seeks to answer the question of the root causes of war: Why were battles fought in the Arctic, and what were the previously unknown effects of these events to the course of World War II?
NTRNZ media Oy is a creative house focused on content production, whose values are based on the pure nature of the north. NTRNZ media is best known for the three Golden Venla award-winning Eränkävijät TV series, as well as its international version Love of the Wild.
