email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

INDUSTRY Finland

The Finnish Film Affair gets under way

by 

- Love & Anarchy’s industry section is raring to go with its sixth programme, in which 22 out of 50 titles have been made by women

The Finnish Film Affair gets under way
The Punk Voyage by J-P Passi and Jukka Kärkkäinen

Organised for the sixth time during the Helsinki International Film Festival: Love & Anarchy, the Finnish Film Affair (19-21 September) will present 28 new features, two new TV series and 20 projects in development or production to participating sales agents, distributors, buyers and TV programmers from all over the world. 

“We have been thrilled to observe the growing awareness of the filmmaking talent coming out of Finland, and the increasing emergence of Finnish directors in the international arena,” said the festival’s CEO, Anna Möttölä, who was also excited about the record number of films in the showcase – 22 out of 50 – made by women.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Finnish directors J-P Passi and Jukka Kärkkäinen’s feature-length documentary The Punk Voyage, about legendary Finnish punk-rock band PKN-Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, will open the industry side of the festival; PKN retired in 2016 after seven years, having played 300 gigs in 16 countries and represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Punk Voyage shared last year’s Best Pitch Award with Finnish director Dome Karukoski’s biopic of Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, aka Tom of Finland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dome Karukoski
film profile
]
, which is Finland’s candidate for the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign-language Film. Another project from last year is Finnish director Teemu Nikki’s Euthanizer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teemu Nikki
film profile
]
, which has just been screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Both The Punk Voyage and Tom of Finland will screen in the programme alongside Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile
]
, which won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and is about to receive the international critics’ FIPRESCI Grand Prix for Best Film of the Year at the 22 September opening of the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Other highly anticipated titles include Finnish director Timo Vuorensola’s Iron Sky: The Coming Race, the sequel to his 2012 cult hit, and Finnish directors Jakub Wrónsky and Ira Karpelan’s fully animated Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, the latest adventure based on Finnish-Swedish author-artist Tove Jansson’s children’s books. 

Oscar-nominated Finnish director Selma Vilhunen will unspool her latest documentary, Hobbyhorse Revolution [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, as well as presenting her work in progress Stupid Young Heart [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, while Kaisa El Ramly will pitch her upcoming Scenes from a Dying Town.

The Finnish Film Affair is organised in conjunction with Audiovisual Finland, the Finnish Film Foundation, the Finnish Producers Organisation and TEKES – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, among others.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy