Discoveries from Finland World Cinema

Two trick-or-treating kids end up at a party hosted by actual ghosts and monsters.

A beautiful summer day in Moomin Valley. Suddenly, a wasp stings Moomintroll, who falls ill and has to stay in bed. To cheer him up, Moominpappa recounts his youthful adventures; his misunderstood childhood, escape from an orphanage and his historic meeting with the inventor Hodgkins.

After the sunset, a man wonders between the edges of the highways gathering edible roadkill animals.

The documentary film Halli addresses body-related commentary and its impact on people's body image. Anonymous stories are set in a swimming hall, where we see a variety of body types. Finnish swimming hall culture respects body privacy. In the film, we follow stories from the women's locker room to the pool, highlighting the experiences of different generations and the body image challenges they face, reflecting the trauma passed down from one generation to the next.

Perky student Inkeri 'Iiri' Paappanen and businessman Taavi Takkulainen fall in love during a boat trip, but a misunderstanding at a hotel in Stockholm causes their break-up. Returning to Finland, Inkeri applies to become a governess and gets a job at Taavi's parents' family. Consul General Albert, Taavi's brother intends to take advantage of Iiri in his political endeavors.

A stubbornly traditional eighty-year-old farmer - whose social attitudes verge on the prehistoric - raises hell when he is forced to move in with his sadsack, city-dwelling son and domineering daughter-in-law.

One woman’s desperate struggle to survive a horde of men with frail egos, who just want to explain everything to her. But the biggest horror may be closer to her than she thinks.

A visual and delicately poetic story about the relationship between a swimmer and water. A young competitive swimmer meets the world's fastest woman swimmer in her dreams and races her.

Not meant for the public eye, this film reveals the dark reality of what's wrong with company's product. With its primitive instincts triggered by bad behaviour of people around it, the seemingly tame Father Christmas will forget the intensive training and turn into a brutal beast. You better watch out, you better not cry, There's no room for mistakes.

Episodic study of feelings where six stories intertwine over one Saturday in a small town. Two boys save a young woman, Anni, and her baby from suicide by drowning. Esa, a down-on-his-luck musician in need of a loan, arrives to his father's 60th birthday party. Waitress Leena tries to stir up a romance between her co-workers at a pizza parlor. Middle-aged Ilpo comes home early from the paper mill and finds a strange man in their bedroom. Old Milja waits for her daughter Merja at the hospital where she is visiting her terminally ill husband Henri. Teenage Santeri tries to cope with his homosexuality.

A middle-aged mental patient suffering from a split personality travels to Italy where his two personalities set off all kinds of confusing developments.

Ella, a girl from the province, starts her freshman year at the Helsinki Business School. The capital's party scene introduces her to ecstasy, and together with her new friend Silja and boyfriend Jokke she can't help finding it an easy and lucrative business opportunity. The three soon develop an addiction not so much to the drug but to all the good things that the money can buy. But before long, reality bites back.

Set in early 16th century Finland, a knight Olavi Gideoninpoika meets Mirjam Raakelintytär and falls in love. Mirjami hides in a monastery disguised as a choir boy, but is revealed by a monk Rasmus, who also desires her, and is put on trial.

Docudrama about the Soviet occupation of a Finnish village in the fall before the Winter War.

In the summer of 1941, the Karelian youths Wist and Anttala decide to seek family silver hidden under Wist's home behind the border line of the truce.

Uuno disguises as an old man and infiltrates a nursing home for rich old people, where his father-in-law also lives. The ever-hungry Uuno is seduced by the table groaning with food, but as it happens, he never manages to be there at dinnertime. Meanwhile Sörsselssön enters Uuno for a TV competition named This Is My Life, where contestants tell about their life as viewers vote them either to continue or out of the show. The nursing home elderly watch on TV as Uuno tells the show's host his life story.

The two sons of the Forsgården estate - Arne and Arthur - both fall for the same woman, the beautiful but poor Lea. She has on the other hand only eyes for Arne. After Arne during a fight thinks he has killed a log driver and flees, Lea finds herself in a difficult situation and is forced to marry Arthur.

The proud widow of Sillankorva falls in love with her young neighbor, Jaakko Hallan, whom she offers to take in as her son. However, much to the bitter disappointment of the mistress of the house, the man falls in love with her daughter Johanna.

In 1931, following the success of the film Battleship Potemkin, Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, to shoot a new film. Freshly rejected by Hollywood, Eisenstein soon falls under Mexico’s spell. Chaperoned by his guide Palomino Cañedo, the director opens up to his suppressed fears as he embraces a new world of sensual pleasures and possibilities that will shape the future of his art.

A man is released from prison after 22 years. He tries to live a simple life as a farmer. At the same time, a company director is fighting a hostile takeover from a bigger corporation. Two different kind of journeys collide in sudden ways.

Stigu and Ella have a just-sex relationship. Stigu is secretly in love but settles for what he can get because Ella wants nothing more. Until they find themselves in a same work project: designing an advertisement for the Family Federation on sustainable relationships. It seems like mission impossible since Ella doesn't believe in the whole concept and Stigu knows nothing about it.

Aunt Fanny and aunt Serena try to find a suitable father figure for Ricky.

Three astronauts are turning in for the night in their spacecraft. As they lie in bed they start to recount their thoughts.

A story set over one night in a small rural community we watch various relationships and actions among local people; these include birth, death, and conflicts fuelled by alcohol. The fates of various characters become interlaced over a long and light-filled summer night in the Finnish countryside. Lumberjacks, a deer-eyed young man Nokia, a family of poor farmers, a young girl and her lover. New life is born, old life dies, man is slain in his prime, and his widow continues her life.

Miami is the story of two sisters who have grown up separately. The older sister, Angela, is an exotic dancer with her own touring dance group. The younger, Anna, on the threshold of adulthood, lives in a small town working in sales. When their father dies, Anna looks for and finds Angela. The fascinating, high-strung Angela asks the timid Anna to accompany her on tour and, before long, trouble from Angela’s past catches up to them and the sisters’ love is put to the test.

Pete and Runt travel to Lapland to hunt the snowman in the hope of a cash reward, and take Justiina along as a bait.

Matti turns 16 and becomes a man, at least in his father's eyes. Matti wanders around Helsinki, and strange people cling to him like flies to sticky flypaper. At the same time, Matti's girlfriend Leila waits for him somewhere.

A typical day in the life of a lonely man who works in an unsuccessful tavern located in the historical center of Guimarães, an old town in Portugal. During the day, the man spends his time coming up with new menu items for his tavern, while at night he gets ready to meet someone special.

Mira and Johnannes, two young teenagers, have to spend Walpurgis Night in the hospital. Without knowing each other from before, they flee together from the pediatric ward to Mira's hiding place at the swimming pool, where they play and discuss their illnesses. They spend the night at the pool edge and, in the morning, are no longer the same.

Mattila's relatives Konstu and Fransi travel to Helsinki to meet their friend Kalle Liljepeki, who runs a failing general store in Sörnäis. The companions get Maiki, the daughter of the house, and Sundi, a forest consultant. A lot of misunderstandings arise and a story about the devil in Kalle's shop.

Retired lumber jacks talk about their careers in forest industry of Lapland.

A hunting team meets before the annual moose hunt. A fatal accident occurs that severely tests the loyalties of those involved.

A government official decides to steal a $25-million payroll and then fake his own death. However, in the process he is forced to kill an innocent bystander. He moves to a small rural village to start a new life with a new name and his new money, but finds that it's harder to escape his past than he thought it would be.

Jerico 2000 is a magazine programme parody made by Julmahuvi group. It's mainly made of parts from "Studio Julmahuvi" TV series. It participated in Rose d'Or film festival in Montreux.

In the 18th century, Robert's beloved Helena is forced to marry the cruel Henrik Brest. Robert becomes Roope the Pirate, the most famous pirate in the Baltic Sea, whose legendary life includes scheming and partying, sword fights and women's adventures.

When Kattilakoski family goes on a week-long Summer vacation to a rented cottage, the local police constables Bigbelly and Stronglass are joyful. Finally one week of peace! Their joy doubles when they win a rent-free summer cottage for one week. What they don't know is, that these two cottages are next to each other! When the truth comes out, the constables are forced to masquerade themselves to remain incognito. Unfortunately their alter egos, artistic Rubens brothers, become an instant hit for Mother Kattilakoski. Hayflower and Quiltshoe have instant doubts about Rubens; they must be escaped bandits instead. The girls set to prove their theory.

Machine shop entrepreneur Partanen has severe work pressures and his life is messed up. The foundation of Partanen's life is work. Due to rather unfit subordinates and increasing production pressure, he decides to hire a new employee.

A film about the friendship between Soviet artists touring Finland and Finnish children, members of an amateur music ensemble in the city of Tampere.

The stories of the aristocratic Lilliehjelm family, the middle-class Widing family and the poor Kajander family from the Finland's independence through the Civil War and the Roaring Twenties ending during the Second World War.

A fractured family retreats to a remote winter villa, hoping to reconnect. But when the children discover a mysterious puzzle box hidden in the ruins of a neighboring house, they unknowingly unleash imprisoned spirits bent on fear, possession and death. As the box begins to feed, only sacrifice will stop its hunger.

A story about love. A famous singer cannot let go of the memory of her late husband. She befriends a man her own age, and there should be nothing standing in the way of their happiness.

Late 40’s after the war. Strange languaged and religioned immigrants fleeing from Karelia region are hated by Finns in the countryside. 19-year old Anni is living her life wanting to forget the war and hostility surrounding her. Falling in love with a man who hasn’t left fighting, threatens Anni’s whole family’s future and hope for mutual forgiveness..

A newspaper clip of a 30-year-old movie makes our middle-aged protagonist in the middle of his peak years to look for his best childhood friend. The journey leads him back to his teenage years in the 1990s depression, over-generational substance abuse and past encounters. This partly essayistic, autobiographical documentary tells the story of friendship and generational experiences while also pondering on the causes and effects of destinies in the judgmental atmosphere of our society.

14-year-old Petri dreams about becoming an ice hockey professional. A triangle drama at home makes Dad move away and replaces him with Mutanen, the worst player in the local hockey team. Petri finds out a way to get the best out of Mutanen on ice: before a game, he has to be made really angry so his adrenaline gets flowing.

Lieutenant General T.J.A. Heikkilä travels to the Republic of Sierranueva together with his military servant Tlaca and Captain Silvio. The trio uncovers political machinations and helps the righteous marquis don Ramiro. Women can't resist the handsome Heikkilä, who takes the heart of even the beautiful Camilla.

Markus Viitanen, a sculptor living in Suomenlinna, has not seen his son Eero for fifteen years. When he learns of Eero's death, he sets out to find out what kind of person Eero grew up to be during his nineteen years of life, and how the nanny Katri relates to the rest of Eero's life.

A story of one unlucky man's descent into disaster, a dramatic, human-destiny thriller with contemporary social undertones.

The Drakenhjelm family has lived in the Rautakylä manor for over 150 years. The current master of the house, elderly baron Magnus, has been living for a long time in an unregistered relationship with his housekeeper Lisette, with whom he also has a son, Sebastian. After the baron falls gravely ill Lisette starts getting worried about losing everything, so with Sebastian on her side she demands the baron to write a letter to the pastor and ask him to come over to perform a wedding ceremony. Right after Sebastian has left to fetch the pastor, a threesome seeking shelter from the storm comes to the manor and wreaks havoc on the marriage plans.

The 21st-century tale centers on taciturn detective Lipton Cockton as he looks into a series of murders involving exploding victims. The main clue in the case is the white halter dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the subway vent scene in The Seven Year Itch. This clue directs Cockton to the highest levels of the super company LTD Prods. But though Cockton tries and tries, he cannot get there and ends up himself blown to smithereens.

Stuck in the suburbs of Helsinki, 20-year-old Markus plans on moving to New York, his sights set on pursuing streetball fame. With little money behind him, he turns to the local loan shark - and when he discovers that Markus has no plans to repay him, things take a turn for the worse.

The story of legendary Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä.

In many Western countries, trust between the people and conventional political parties is at a low point while populist movements are on the rise. In Italy, protest party Movimento 5 Stelle, founded by popular comedian Beppe Grillo, vows to send all politicians home and bring power to the people. They win a stunning 25% votes, becoming the most-voted single party in Italy, but what happens when ideals meet parliamentary reality? Can one be uncompromising and effective at the same time? Are internet referendums direct democracy or faceless mob rule?

A musical film about human relationships and how today's working life and the pressures of our surroundings can lead a person to the point of exhaustion.

Pertti Ylermi Lindgren was engaged to 76 women, married none, but took the money of all. Lindgren is the real thing, as far as swindlers go. Peter von Bagh asked him to play himself in a film that would reconstruct some of his greatest moments, i.e. the most flamboyant stunts – and he agreed.

A romantic comedy about a writer coming back to Finland is bored with the High Society life and starts a modeling job for a young and beautiful painter Ilona. Dressed as a vagabond, he soon starts to please Ilona and her many lady friends as shows quick learning skills and soon shows great knowledge of history, art, and literature.

Finnish porn movie producer Pertsa returns from America to his home country to continue his profession with hopelessly small budgets and incompetent casts and crews. A self-ironic satire about director Donner's scandalous fame in late 1960s Finland, notorious for a graphic long shot of his penis pointing northeast.

Redbeard leaves Finland to spend time in Berlin wandering in and out of bars. He meets up with a beautiful Italian waitress, who spends one night with him but is then dismissed.

A young man fights against bootleggers in his village during Prohibition.

A lonely young suburban housewife participates in a radio interview survey while simultaneously engaging in an extramarital affair.