Finland's Film Tampere appoints first head of games to "connect film and games creators"

The film commission for the Tampere city region in Finland has appointed its first head of games.

Arto Kayhko - a "mobile games and digital-services veteran" - will promote the region's "fast-growing gaming industry on the international stage" as part of Film Tampere.

Kayhko will also be charged in fostering closer links with Finland's gaming community and other digital content-creation industries.

The Tampere region's first film/games collaboration is described as a cinematic action game project named Alma, co-developed by Dreamloop Games and Making Movies. It's an adaptation of an upcoming movie of the same name, which is set in Finland during the Second World War and centres on a teenage girl who acquires superpowers and uses them to save her father from the front line. Eighty years later, however, Alma "must pay the price."

"We are immensely proud to have persuaded one of the finest minds in Finland’s games industry to join our mission to create an integrated future for Tampere’s content creation industries," said Film Tampere lead, Fanny Heinonen.

"Arto brings with him a rare combination of experience spanning games, digital, international and finance, not to mention his talent for relationship-building between shareholders and creatives. As we work to bring our region’s creative communities together, these are exactly the skills we need to fuse and build solid partnerships and structures.

"With Arto’s help, we’re a giant step nearer to fulfilling our mission of transforming Tampere into a world-class creative hub."