Based on the true story of the dramatic rise and fall of Nokia, once the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer, Walter Presents: Mobile 101 is a 1980s set drama that chronicles the hard-fought making of the Nokia 101 handset, and the company’s David vs. Goliath legal battle against its American rival – and the intimidatingly more powerful – Motorola. 

Join Walter Iuzzolino for this virtual Q&A with the cast and crew of what has been described as a “sharp, incisive, and unmissable show that’s infused with nostalgia and vintage pop culture.” (Variety). Lead actor Sampo Sarkola (Bordertown, Shadow Lines), Writer and Director Maarit Lalli (Almost 18, The Sixth Time), and Executive Producer Minna Haapkylä (The Interrogation, Armi elää!) all join for the discussion. 

Following the session, audiences will get a sneak peek at the series itself, ahead of its release on Channel 4 and All4 on Sunday 21 May.

Panel: 
Sampo Sarkola, Lead Actor
Minna Haapkylä, Executive Producer & Head of Scripted Content, Rabbit Films
Maarit Lalli, Writer & Director

Chair:
Walter Iuzzolino, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Walter Presents

Producer: Damien Ashton-Wellman 

Press Enquiries: Miriam Agiru (miriam@globalseriesnetwork.com)

About the Show:
Told through the perspectives of Nokia’s lawyers, engineers, and executive management, Mobile 101 is a thrilling drama series about the close calls and uncertain first steps of a small Finnish rubber and manufacturing company determined to become a global titan of the mobile phone industry. 

In 1988, Katarina (Satu Tuuli Karhu) and Aki (Emil Kihlström), idealistic and ambitious young lawyers, are thrust into the midst of an international court case, when the US giant Motorola sues for patent infringements. At the same time, feeling frustrated over company bureaucracy, an introverted yet highly talented engineer, Risto (Aku Sipola) sets out to design a better and smaller mobile phone, the “101”, doing so partly in secret, and using his and his wife’s home as financial collateral. Above all of this, the company’s CFO Jorma Ollila (Sarkola) must navigate a shareholder coup within Nokia’s board following the suicide of its CEO. 

These three stories come together to tell the story of a company that changed the world forever.