Discoveries from Finland World Cinema

A French cultural research group arrives in Finland. From Helsinki, the group travels to Saimaa to participate in Midsummer rituals, where the summer night celebrations overwhelm the researchers.

Flora & Fauna embraces the dark charms of nature. Rich, colourful close-ups of flowers, leaves, ants, spiders, and inchworms blend into the silent mystique of water and woods.

Set during the recession of the early 1930s, Reino, an engineer who has been laid off from a shipyard, is not considered suitable as a son-in-law for a factory owner. Reino, who has lost his beloved Maire, finds happiness when he befriends Hillin-Jussi, an unemployed rogue.

A technician working in the telephony company receives a mysterious packet.

Life changes for Eeva, working in a hosiery factory as she was chosen as a model. Soon she gets involved in a police operation while working as a courier for her boyfriend.

A pile of pictures from the sky appear on a phone that has been left outside. Elsewhere, slime trails shimmer in the fading evening. The animation, which progresses at the pace of a telephone conversation, deals with communication, wonder and the intersection of diverse lives.

A comical animated opera. A chicken leaves to get birch branches for sauna while the rooster stays to warm the sauna. On her way she sees a clear-watered well, a tired cow and other creatures that sing along "Finland's best animal actress" Elina Salo and a child choir to some songs composed by M.A. Numminen.

Young Anna marries Tuomas, an old widower. Tuomas reluctantly sells his forest to the boss of Ruukki and is forced to take in a group of loggers, among whom the handsome womanizer Humu begins to seduce the young mistress of the house.

Pekka Puupää and Pätkä involuntarily end up in Suez as peacekeepers. After saving the Caliph's daughter Suleiman from kidnappers on two occasions, the Caliph magically reunites the friends with Justiina.

A look at Helsinki in 1933.

Long-time cohabiting couple Petteri and Liisa wake up with a terrible hangover and realize to their horror that they got married the night before. Throughout the day, the couple argues and reminisces about their previous relationships, but by evening they are ready to reconcile.

Julia travels to her new friend Anna's archipelago summer cottage on a late summer weekend. When Anna's husband JP unexpectedly returns to the island, Julia recognises him as her date rapist from fifteen years ago. Both Julia and JP keep it a secret from Anna that they know each other. Anna begins to feel growing insecurity about her husband's relationship with her new friend. Over the course of the weekend, tensions between the trio deepen.

A romantic fairy tale about a 19-year old orphan girl who, as her sole inheritance, gets an antique key that unlocks both an old Italian villa and the secrets of her family history.

Uuno Turhapuro hits his head and loses his memory. Meanwhile, his friend Härski Hartikainen founds a new peace movement with unorthodox methods.

Hunt for the elusive tofu in the Arctic Circle.

Documentary about terminal care.

Elina and Lara love each other. But is it enough?

A documentary following youths of Helsinki and their habits of spending all their money on expensive clothes.

Juhani, a welder and Ritva, a right-wing backgrounded, future clerk get married. Soon we see that their marriage seems to be all about long business trips, housing problems, concerns about the money and political disagreements.

An old man gets lost looking for a post office. Every time he turns around a street corner, he ends up in the same small café. The café owner builds an ice sculpture of the woman he admires.

An astronaut sends her young son a video message from outer space. In Mexico, a stripper dances night after night to keep a roof over her child’s head. In Canada, a woman becomes a mother for the first time after enduring seven miscarriages. Finnish filmmaker Joonas Berghäll has travelled to South African settlements, Nepalese terraced fields and Russia’s metropolis Moscow to investigate an unshakable and almost magical connection: the bond between mother and child. MOTHER‘S WISH portrays 10 women from the most varied of cultural and social backgrounds who all tell of the beauty and difficulty of being a mother. These are not only stories of love and pride – but also of disappointed hopes and the most precarious of life circumstances. Above all else, however, the protagonists tell of their determination – regardless of their current living conditions – to fight for a better future.

In 1860s Lapland, gold diggers Jakob Ervast and Nils Lepistö, who previously worked in California, embark on an arduous journey towards the north. The friends find gold at the first excavation site, which Kittilä's crown prince Konrad Planting and Edvard Manninen also start looking for.

For the first time in its history, Finland became an autonomous state when it broke away from a crumbling Russian empire in 1917. Witnessing the upheaval of the First World War and all too aware of the threat posed both outside and within its borders, the newly installed government initiated harsh and draconian policies for its younger generation. All children and youths were drilled in the importance of discipline, rectitude and nationalism. With no exceptions.

Lonely son of a Canadian preacher man Michael builds the first professional wrestling company in faraway Finland. Young transsexual wrestler Jessica infiltrates into the company contesting Michael both physically and ideologically. Anger and frustration get to Michael who is now 40 years old still looking for companion. He is looking for love, but first must learn not to hate. As Michael finds true love online he redefines his values, and reinvents himself as a wrestler in love.

Poor but ambitious country girl Hulda arrives in the country's capital and gets a job as a maid for a bachelor Member of Parliament, Judge Soratie. She works hard, never loses her common sense, and starts taking evening classes. Keeping her studies secret from her employer for years, she eventually graduates from the university and becomes candidate in the parliamentary election, stressing women's and working people's rights. Romance with Judge Soratie finally ensues.

An ex-fireman returns to his home country Iran after a decade-long absence, only to have his old enemy resurface and steal away what he treasures most - and now he'll stop at nothing to exact revenge.

Traveler Severi travels to Helsinki to enjoy some culture, where he meets Sinikka and Simo, who run a buying and selling business. At a customs auction, he buys a painting that businessman Kehveli and his assistants also have their eyes on.

A midnight freight train collides with a mysteriously abandoned truck at Rajamäki station, derailing and revealing that its cargo manifests were falsified. Investigation secretary Ari Nykänen uncovers a scheme smuggling explosives out of the country, with evidence pointing to collusion among senior VR executives.

Jobless inventor Justus begins to help people to become happy together with a homeless girl named Bella.

A young girl and her friends try to save their small rural school from being demolished to make way for a race track.

Old Virtanen is a respected night watchman at a textile factory and a single father to his daughter Aino, who is about to graduate from high school. The heartless factory owner Kuusela fires Virtanen, who is forced to look for a new job. When Aino, who is in love with the manager's son Veikko, disappears after her graduation party, her father, who has fallen ill with worry, is overcome with despair.

Black Blooded Brides of Satan - Grim, oppressive an in part even more realistic horror movie whose world in strung on modern devils worship, anguish, agony and dark discomfort from where there is no escape. Linda is a student from a well-off family and her parents have high expectations and put a lot of pressure on her to succeed. Too high pressure and expectations cause some rebellion in the young woman, however, and lead by her friend Linda drifts into the dark and twisted world of Satans worship - To the clutches of charismatic Master, to rituals where truth and nightmares mix and to the vertigo of self-destruction

Taina is preparing a perfect weekend with the family, since her son Eetu is visiting with his girlfriend Noora. Nothing goes as planned. The more Taina tries to entertain everyone, the less comfortable they feel.

A young boy finds a magic talking shoe that can change his voice to that of an adult.

After getting released from prison, Eeva returns to her old home town with only a shoulder bag, cellphone and the clothes she is wearing. She wants to find her grown-up daughter, but the townspeople soon make it clear that she is not welcome.

Summer vacation begins and Jason and his mother Kaarina go to the country, away from the dust and noise of the city. Jason notices that the others have also come to the vacation home to spend their summer vacation. There are a few big people and one small one. Kaarina loves not having to cook. But Jason thinks people look like they're sitting at home alone. So he starts organizing things a bit. And at the end of the holiday, everyone has new friends!

A weekend father wants to bond with his teenage daughter by taking her with him to the carwash. They end up on a life-changing adventure in the supermarket, at the endless sanitary towel aisle. They get "help" from an older lady who shares intimate stories of her experience, some about menstruation, some on wildly different topics.

Based freely on the play of the same title by Tennesee Willams. Some fragments of the original play are restaged frame by frame by new botanical performers.

Photographer Sami, maybe 35 and living in a loveless marriage, has to travel south to Pärnu, Estonia, to find his much younger brother Joni and get him back to Helsinki for treatment. Joni, around 20, is possibly fatally ill but would rather stay in Estonia enjoying a simple life together with a local girlfriend Rimma and her little baby.

A Finnish music comedy set in the ealy 1960s.

In 1983 Finland, a sidelined dermatologist ends up leading the country's fight against the AIDS epidemic when fear of the spread of the disease and its effects on patients puts his morale and family relationships to the test.

The life of First Lieutenant Heikki Lilja, who is dating Colonel Taipale's daughter Tiina, is turned upside down when his company is ordered to search for the dangerous escaped convict Kahle-Kustaa. Things are complicated by Lilja's friend, the artist Paaso, and Paaso's admirer Merja Metsä, Lilja's strict superior Colonel Taipale, and Police Chief Mäkinen.

Sisters Pirkko and Brita travel to Aulango together with their landlady Sigrid to look for wealthy spouses. At the same time brothers Erkki and Olavi hope to find girls who would love them for their own sake and not for their money.

Pekko is jealous when Pipsa is under the spell of the handsome Markku. The children Kalle and Katariina enjoy each other's company. Beauty salon owner Kaisa Kuovi and police officer Reino are preparing for their wedding.

The three men enjoy the evening at a bar whose fate is threatened by pandemic restrictions. Bartender Heikki offers discussion help to his friend Risto, who works in the first line of healthcare, and who has just finished a difficult shift. The evening gets a new twist when a stranger looking for a mobile phone charger pops in and refuses to leave.

For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.

Computer professional Vesa Rajala rushes to home from a work trip because his wife Sanna is leaving for Greece with her new lover, Georgios from next door.

1892. Vappu Biörcke and Kaarlo Härkönen get to know each other during the summer in the countryside at the birthday of Vappu Jalle-sedä. In Helsinki, the young people continue their courtship under the supervision of Vapu's aunt, Moster Mella. However, Vapu's father, business advisor Ossian Biörcke, is not as accepting when his daughter's actions begin to be revealed.

This is a sad story of Eros and Psyche. Sadder than the ancient myth that was only a dream after all. In my story, the characters learn nothing.

The film follows a boy and the relationship between his birth mother and step mother. Based on the novels by Aapeli.

Finnish animation film.

Lasse Pöysti's directorial debut film. And Helena Plays On (1951) is based on Aino Räsänen's second novel of the same name in the Helena series. When the Winter War breaks out, Arttu (Jussi Jurkka), the son of Helena (Irma Seikkula) and Jari Junkkeri (Erkki Viljos), go to the front. Arttu proposes to his girlfriend Elina (Leena Häkinen), but the world events come in between. When he is not heard of at the end of the war, the relatives begin to believe that Arttu is dead - everybody else but not Helena.

Kummelin Jackpot, was released in February 2006. It was about a divorced man portrayed by Silvennoinen, who realises a way to trick himself a jackpot in football betting.

Thirty-year-old twins Jenna and Joni find out that their father has a third child. Sister Jóna lives in Iceland. The siblings' meeting will change everyone's world, relationships and future. As each searches for meaning in their own lives, surging between one father, two homelands and three adult siblings, from reunification to separation and back again. Over the years, the siblings encounter themselves and each other, their similarities and differences.

Schoolboy Klaus is convicted of theft and sent to prison. At his release Klaus feels that his life has changed a lot. Despite all his hardship and difficulties he keeps up his studies under the supervision of the grim Master Kahari.

A heavily indebted construction entrepreneur robs a bank in Jakomäki, Helsinki. He takes two officers and one customer hostage from the bank. In addition to himself, the desperate robber threatens to blow up the hostages if the police who left to follow them try to prevent the escape.

Reima Elo ends up trying to commit suicide when he is abandoned by his wife Molla. He is also the village's laughing stock due to his communism. At a critical moment, a Lenin lookalike from Russia named Vladimir rescues him.

An ordinary suburban family is shattered when their youngest son is killed in an accidental fire while locked inside the family's car on their yard. Mother Marja can't stop crying, father Jaakko can't cry at all but blames himself for the fire. Their remaining son Timo develops problems at school because of his constant worries about his parents' safety. In their grief, Marja and her sister Leena have to confront an old family secret, their little sister's accidental death for which Leena has quietly blamed herself through decades.

Uuno Turhapuro is a lazy man who abhors manual labor, but has the ability to talk himself out of any sticky situation, usually with his long-suffering wife. In this, his first feature film appearance, Uuno embarrasses his wife in public, tricks his best friend, accidentally goes on a diet, and becomes a famous violinist.

How do artists view their own work? How does actor Esko Salminen immerse himself in his roles, how does the writer/director Saara Turunen create a whole new world for the stage, and why does musician PK Keränen pick up his guitar time and time again? Is creativity a conscious or subconscious process, a pleasure or a compulsion? Veikko Aaltonen’s documentary takes us straight into the heart of creativity with artists from different fields and generations. Celebrating the various forms of passion and creative work, the film presents a compelling case for the significance of art.