65 WILDING FILMS is an international film production company jointly managed by producer Alex Thiele and writer/director Miikka Leskinen. It was founded in 2009 and has bases in London, UK and Tampere, Finland.
65 WILDING FILMS produces films in a variety of genres by exciting new voices for the international marketplace.
Alex is founder and producer at 65 Wilding Films. Producing credits include Break My Fall (2011) by BAFTA-nominee Kanchi Wichmann, selling worldwide via sales outfit Reel Suspects, award-winning comedy The Book of Gabrielle (2017), theatrically released by Peccadillo Pictures, and most recently, the documentary A Deal With The Universe, sold by Altitude Films and released into UK cinemas in April 2019.
Alex is developing a slate of feature projects with diverse and exciting talent, including Hannah Patterson’s BFI-backed Claude, winner of 2017 Athena List, and Redmond Entwistle’s Success in Circuit selected for 2018 Torino Film Lab.
Alex is an alumna of the EAVE European Producers Workshop and Creative England’s Creative Producer Initiative. In 2014, she was selected for Guiding Lights, the UK industry’s flagship mentoring scheme, and was mentored by Dan Films’ Julie Baines.
Alex’s role as a producer is complemented by her previous work as a production manager in factual TV, extensive experience working for film festivals (BFI London Film Festival, BFI Flare, Berlinale, Britspotting) and managing film events and 3 years as project manager of Guiding Lights.
Miikka is an award-winning filmmaker and film editor based in London and represented by United Agents.
He graduated from the National Film and Television School (UK) in 2007 and his directorial debut short film Firewood premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008. It was nominated for a Crystal Bear. He also took part in the Berlinale Talent Campus the same year. Miikka’s second directorial short film Small-Time Revolutionary was completed in 2010. Following a successful festival run of over 30 film festivals, the film was broadcast in Finland by the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation (YLE) in 2011. It was also released in cinemas and on DVD in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Miikka’s third short film All In Good Time was completed in autumn 2011. His latest short film The Witching Hour (Juhannusyö) received its national premiere at the 27th Helsinki International Film Festival, international premiere at the 38th Grenoble Short Film Festival, won a Rising Star Award at the Canada International Film Festival and was broadcast by the Finnish national broadcaster Yle in 2018. He is currently working on his debut feature Dear Darkness.
Apart from directing Miikka works as a film editor. His projects have won over 100 international prizes and been selected into the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and Edinburgh Film Festival. Of these, Virunga won a Primetime Emmy and was nominated for an Oscar and a Bafta in 2015. The documentary was executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and distributed internationally by Netflix. Miikka’s other editing credits include Dylan Howitt’s critically acclaimed feature-length docu-thriller Out of Thin Air for Netflix, BBC and RUV and a 4-part award-winning docu-crime series The Talwars: Behind Closed Doors for HBO.
Visit Miikka’s personal work Website.
