Discoveries from Finland World Cinema

Experimental comedy analyzing the ending of a romantic relationship.

A girl with a golden star in front of her face runs in the forest.

After the death of an old bandmate, the surviving musicians head to the funeral.

Albi is a jovial snowman, who lives in the land of eternal snow, together with a little birdie and a worm. These two have made a nest into the empty can of tomato soup, which Albi wears as a hat. To Albi, home is where the snow is, but the lack of furniture gives the place a not-so-homely feel. Albi has a stroke of genius, and he starts to build an armchair out of snow. The idea flourishes and soon he has a cozy home.

The museum-like calm of historical clay figures and vessels from different epochs is over, as voices from the present begin to drive them. The dictate of efficiency results in an oppressive endless loop of busy standstill.

A man stays with a fisherman and his adult daughter in coastal Finland, develops feelings for the daughter and begins to uncover a terrible secret haunting the family.

Man drags his girlfriend to hospital for abortion. A brat is a last thing needed right now. But sitting in a waiting room can change your mind.

Niina, a struggling drama teacher, receives an unusual request from her boss: to deliver a eulogy at his father’s funeral in his place. Desperate for an opportunity to perform, she finds herself considering the absurd proposition.

Having run into financial difficulties, a woman decides to start a panty business.

On those very cold days outside, the Steiff stuffed animals heat things up in the skiing center.

With a keen sense of visual beauty, director Markku Lehmuskallio has created a thought-provoking, aesthetic film about a married couple and an old man living in a remote part of Finland. The young husband goes out hunting but only to support himself and his wife, not to kill off hordes of animals. He sets traps, and that gets him in trouble with the police who proceed to ticket him for using the devices. The forest cycles themselves are intimated when an old tree is shown falling to earth -- perhaps a reflection on the old man's passing years. In contrast to these few people living off the land and basically keeping the ecological balance intact, a highway construction crew is shown at work felling trees. Soon the antagonism grows between encroaching civilization and the quiet life of the young couple and elderly man.

Once the proud symbol of the Baltic Sea, the Common Eider is now disappearing at an alarming rate. The Cry of the Eider follows a group of dedicated people fighting to save this iconic sea bird from the brink of collapse. Through breathtaking footage and powerful yet intimate human stories, the film uncovers the deeper forces driving the Eider’s decline — from environmental change to human impact — and asks what this tragedy reveals about the state of the Baltic Sea itself. This is not just the story of one species. The Eider’s fate mirrors the uncertain future of an entire ecosystem. As nature is reshaped by powerful global forces, can individual action still make a difference?

Gay Venuz Vulgar and his friends are on their way to St. Petersburg, Russia.

REFUGEE CONVERSATIONS / PAKOLAISKESKUSTELUJA is a 90-minute documentary film. Its themes are: refugees, racism, xenophobia, Islam, Christianity and compassion — or the lack of it. What is the meaning and role of these in Finland, a country which according to many studies is the happiest country in the world?

A psychotherapist's life is wrecked when her private life is exposed in a sensation magazine.

Presentation of the Turin Crafts Museum.

A stoic and battle-hardened Bastion Hunter roams the zone, seeking out a remnant with an unwavering resolve.

One night Thon went drinking with two friends and disappeared. What happened? Where is Thon? A mystery and an absurd manhunt that eventually involves John F. Kennedy, Elvis and the whole planet.

Heikki, a drunkard and agitator, steals money from his wife Hanna to go on a speaking tour to a village. There he falls in love with Anna, the beautiful daughter of his host, who is already engaged to Johannes, a farmer.

Tope gets out from jail and teams up with his old pal, Make. Together with Make's cousin Sakke, the trio decides to reclaim back their top place in the underworld of Hervanta. The takeover of Hervanta is easy, but the crimelord of Tampere, Manse-Spede does not approve these actions. And that's just the beginning...

Monologue movie that won Jussi Award in Best Actress category. Middle aged woman tells about her life in restaurant.

The screen is in flames as we are inside a crematorium. No much can be seen and the director focuses on the sound recording of the conversations between the employees. There is no place for mystical experiences in their lives, to the contrary – they perform all their tasks mechanically. Cremation is a simple process which turns a human corpse into ash.

Make is 11 but wants to be a teen or better yet, an adult - anything but a child. Instead he's forced to look after his little brother Konsta.

A loose comedy about two ladies on a road trip.

Logger Severi Suhonen is transferred from forestry work to indoor work at the company's paper mill. Unable to adapt to city life, Severi clashes with the autocratic manager Wille Wållberg and meets his girlfriend from decades ago, Anna Tuhkanen, whose daughter Leena Tuhkanen is dating the manager's son, Wille Wållberg Junior.

The films are situated, both formally and narratively, in the terrain between short fiction and advertisements. They examine the differences and interactions between the two: the effects of the moving-image tradition and the language of film on advertising; and the use of narrative strategies and means of expression from adverts in drama. The subject of GRAY is the change in reality caused by a catastrophe, and the blurring of the boundary between self and other. It deals with a situation in which the other cannot be excluded, because it is in the very air that is breathed. Three women talk about a nuclear disaster that has occurred beyond the national borders. Their speech is allusive, including both facts about nuclear accidents and private thoughts. The women descend in a freight elevator to a dark, underwater place. The change, whether caused by fallout from a nuclear accident or the invasion of a foreign language and customs is permanent.

If 6 was 9 tells a story about girls and sex. It shows a point of view to the sexual fantasies, habits, actions and wishes of teenage girls. The film shows the metamorphosis of five young women to a sexual being with the softest organs for taking and grasping. They move from inside and they want to have the world and touch it with their feet, cheeks, tits and arse.

A small village provides a scene for intrigues, fights, love, jealousy, accusations, and revenge.

ISMO – Breaking Bad English is a cinematic version of the saying “through hardships to the stars.” Ismo, who grew up in Jyväskylä, is a shy boy with a vivid imagination who has trouble fitting in. As a student in his twenties, he stumbles upon a new form of expression in Finland, stand-up comedy, which suits him perfectly. Ismo quickly rises to become one of Finland’s most successful stand-up comedians, but that’s not enough for him. He decides to pursue a career in the United States, the homeland of the world’s most famous comedians.

A suitor arrives at Kaiku's house, who has mistaken both the house and the person, and causes a series of commotions

Young nurse Satu Santala falls in love with Somali medical student Adam Osman. When Satu's pregnancy is revealed, the couple encounters racism among their friends and family, and Satu's alcoholic colleague Pena, who persecutes her in the name of love, proves to be a danger to the couple's relationship.

Tiina's teen-aged younger sister Juulia runs away to the Mietaa Youth Center on New Year's Eve 2003, which leads to a chain of events that brings Tiina face to face again with Mika, who performs with his band at Mietaa.

Step into the bustling streets of Toronto through the project designed as expanded cinema, where the visual narrative unfolds in layers of urban information captured entirely on 16mm black and white film to tell the story about city symphony.

Kallinen from Hervanta homicide, and his new partner, Kuokka, fight against the evil crimelord of Hervanta, known as Kunkku (The King), who has killed a teacher who stole drugs from him.

Finnish alpha male decides to help his artist friend to get laid.

Heatwave Reverie has won the awards for Best Experimental Short from Five Continents International Film Festival (Venezuela), Best Micro Short and Best Cinematographer from Mokkho International Film Festival (India) in 2023. The film received the Special Jury Award from Tekka International Film Festival (Singapore) in 2023, and was an Official Selection of Salerno International Film Festival 2023 (Italy).

Jenni Nyberg's documentary Siéva is an intimate and lyrical look at a gentle and poetic form of street dance. A deliberate rejection of the hyped-up cockiness of traditional b-boying, siéva dancing is soft and vulnerable. It's a style for exploring your shyness and doubts, your fears and hopes. Nyberg's film follows a group of young dancers and shows how they use siéva to express their insecurities and dreams.

Story of a healing process of sámi woman who has post-traumatic stress disorder caused by sexual violence.

A narrator asks: ‘Do you know this bird?’

A group of Chinese sculptors arrive to build an exotic experience park in the middle of Finnish Lapland. Among them Huang Sheng a young Chinese student, who brings with him his dreams. Every day he dresses up as panda to attract tourists and as he wanders around in his panda outfit, Huang is led to reflect on the differences between the Finnish and the Chinese society - and the status of the Chinese in this modern world.

The film tells the story of Esteri, a transgender girl who has only recently come out of the closet and has a crush on her childhood friend Teemu. Does she dare to tell him her feelings, and are they the only thing she should have told him?

"Sometimes we have to get to the other side first to understand what we've really been through." FEBRUARY ANSWERS is a cinematic travelogue filmed in February 2022 between Finland and the USA, and finished in 2024 in Berlin.

Mamu, a young immigrant, is trying to woo his date, a Finnish lady, by making dinner for her. Once the meal is served, she discovers that the main course is a bit too “excotic” for her taste.

Villagers are afraid of Samurai Rauni Reposaarelainen, who keeps them on their toes every day. When someone places a bounty on Rauni's head, he goes after this mysterious person.

Uuno's nose is proved to be so good, that he can smell behind the display window what goods are on the other side. With this fabulous smell talent Uuno is chosen to Police's police-dog school as a student among the other dogs. Meanwhile Director Tuura, Uuno's father-in-law has been chosen to a very high office and thinks that Uuno is just gaining bad reputation for him, so he decides to broake Uuno's and Elisabet's marriage.

A strange woman insinuates her way into the life and home of an elderly artist. By the time the snow thaws, both their lives will have changed irrevocably.

Rovaniemi 50 cent is a small story set in a Nordic shopping mall. In an interior imitating the Ancient Rome, there is almost undetectable reference to the Sámi culture. This clue leads the protagonist to an absurd encounter.

Wanderlust refers to the desire to wander, to explore the world, be free, and feel like a stranger in your surroundings. When the wanderlust takes over you, you know that the adventure has begun, but not where or when it ends. And how do you make a documentary without an end? This is one of the questions that directors Cristiana Pecci and Matteo Maggi ponder on his film The Fifth Sun.

Johanna, husband Linus, teenager Tove and little Alfons head for a well-deserved holiday in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Despite promises, Johanna never gets a moment's peace from her family. On a trip to a nearby murder scene, Johanna is surrounded by a swarm of mosquitoes. At first the mosquitoes annoy her, but when she finally lets one bite her, she suddenly experiences a deep inner peace. Johanna discovers her more selfish side, and the more the mosquitoes bite, the greater her desire to break away from the family grows. The forces of nature transform her into a mother who crosses all boundaries to satisfy her own needs.

According to the story, the heroes of the backyard are "Impression from the moment when a child realizes that childhood is transient". The scriptwriters combined episodes in the film on Merima's two works and placed events in an unspecified town after the wars. Costumes and sculptures refer to the wooden houses of the 1940s and 1950s. The venues included Suomenlinna and the Ruiskumestari House in Helsinki Kruununhaa. The backyard heroes were filmed for 16mm film originally as a television movie , but also taken to theatrical release.