Discoveries from Finland World Cinema

A creature finds a little island in the middle of the endless sea. He sets up his own empire, builds a wall and drives away intruders.

Even the smallest one makes an effort.

The Arctic Report series episode North, North (1972) tells the story of the annual migration of the nomadic Sámi people of Norway. The Lapinkylä juta, with their families and reindeer, travel 350 kilometers from the Norwegian-Finnish border to the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

Miss Emma is looking for new friends. Could you be one? The mailbox is open until the day miss Emma dies: [email protected]

He says that his family is deeply rooted and that he is carrying on the traditions. Others of us go far in life, like him, who started from scratch and made a lot out of it and built on it.

The second half of this two-part work of anthropological research, during which he met Anastasia Lapsui in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. Seven years in the making, this film became the turning point in Lehmuskallio’s artistic path. “I started from Inuit poetry. I believe that paintings are also poetry. (…) They were kept behind glass: I could not touch them, I could not feel the warmth left by their creators. Inside myself, I could hear their voices. It was like an assignment from them: I had to show them to the world through myself, through my brain and soul.” (Lehmuskallio)

Annie has escaped to Finland from Congo and is facing both her past and future in a first aid class. But tying a bandage can't fix the wounds caused by war, and it even seems absurd mirrored to the horrors of her past. Giving and receiving help, however, is the ultimate bond between human beings, and gives Annie faith for the future. The help Annie receives will move on to others too. Bandage is a short documentary film about the importance and difficulty of giving help.

Two seasonal migrant workers came to Finland for fast bucks. The aim of misha, a ukrainian labourer from the town konotop, is to earn money and invest them in purchasing of apartments for living on that passive income. the colonel of the soviet army from lithuania sergey fedorovich has to fix his white land rover, which is his gem, and also he is burning for some adventures in the years of retirement. alas, everything didn’t quite go as they had planned. they ended up at the summer place of some emigrants of 1918 (the time of the russian revolution) from saint-petersburg. martti has a mission – to restore the old buildings and revive the recollection of his russian grandfather. so, anna martti’s young daughter has decided to make a film about all of it.

Cana, a Syrian woman, wants to buy a fridge in Helsinki as a part of her settling-down process. To deliver the fridge home, she rides in a van with Ville and Rony where the 3 worlds intersect on themes of coldness, home and exile. Until they arrive, with the fridge, to Cana’s own leftovers.

A comedy about a father and son, working life and masculinity, whiskey and internet porn.

A beautiful story of an old art style in the 80's New York.

Racy monster movie parody.

Time inevitably moves from past to future, passing the present moment. Mankind encloses to time its marks, stains and ruins. On the verge of vast changes time acts abnormally. It leaks, folds and fractures, allowing things belonging elsewhere, to the otherworldly, to
permeate itself. In the 8mm film the Helsinki Olympic Stadium represents a historical paradigm shift. Completed in 1938 the building outlines pure functionalist architecture and stands as a landmark for optimistic utopia and the oblivion on man’s neglect of history.

Can you become invisible? That is what Ninni wonders after her dog's disappearance, as she slowly seems to be disappearing before her older sister Sandra's eyes.

"Taanila shows how video images degrade from excessive use. How it becomes ever less visible the more often it gets copied – scorched earth indeed, instructions, their sense vanishing due to excessive consultancy. Desire giveth, then taketh away." – Olaf Möller

Young boy takes advantage of his position as a film director

When the capabilities of technology are pushed over the limits, beautiful devils come out. Image sequences focused on white screens of consumer electronics were shot with handheld camera. Experimental piece made in the spirit of concretism and avantgarde animation.

Closer is a jagged existential animation about how the perspective to life can change. It tells the story of an old artist, broken by his difficult memories. It is an animated short film made by one person about closeness, love, acceptance and healing.

Grim tale of two scoot rangers ending up face to face with a masked killer.

The lonely Toffle learns to overcome his fears when he needs to rescue the Miffle from the Groke.

Wonders of the world: Helsinki is the first part of an experimental short film series. In this part you see different scenes of Finland's capital city.

Tracing back a lost identity, hidden in the forests of an abandoned war zone. How does trauma get carried on from a generation to another and is there a way to stop the cycle? The filmmaker tries to understand how to heal from the pressures of the past by searching for their grandmother's childhood home. Taking the journey with their parents, they find themselves in a village located in the old Karelia, now a part of Russia.

When a chase for a delicious dragonfly goes awry, a frog finds himself on a journey towards higher levels of amphibian consciousness.

It’s 1967, 2015, 2515, 10000 AD. Simon and Garfunkel are travelling through time. Seeking an answer to their growing sadness and anxiety, brought on in part by climate change, they head to the coast, they are incarcerated, they visit a botanical garden… Above the tree line and into the Arctic Circle, they end up in Kilpisjärvi, the northwesternmost point of Finland, where they find themselves alone together.

Film about a cellar connected to film production.

Mannerheim's life stages.

Construction of a university of technology and a tech village in Otaniemi, Espoo.

Industrial fair in Seinäjoki.

Agriculture on the Elanto farm, operations of the central warehouse, department store, bread and dairy shop, meat and cold cuts shop, first convenience store, herbalist's shop, Parliament House kitchen, sugar bakery, restaurant, car repair shop, laundry, workshop, shoe repair shop, advertising department, Elanto school, staff clinic and dentist, children's summer camp in Sompasaari, production of the Elanto magazine and staff magazine.

The arrival of spring in Helsinki in 1941, the celebration of May Day, the international match march.

The schooner Uljas on its final voyage

A realm of light and shadow blending with sound textures. Moving images and material collages create a dreamlike landscape, awakening something undiscovered and untamed.

Blending science and poetry, the narrator reveals lost aromatic landscapes and memories. Based on two years of research into e-nose and Headspace technologies (collaborating with Japanese firm Takasago International Fragrances), the film speculates on new sensory relationships through aroma technologies. Part of a wider cross-disciplinary research project exploring aroma sensing and electronic nose technologies and ways in which they might assimilate into our cities to sense atmospheric information. The script shifts from molecular precision to poetic abstraction, blurring technology and human perception in a speculative language of memories coded in aroma.

An investigation into the functioning of fake news in pre-election Bulgaria reveals the people behind its creation and dissemination, while also highlighting those who are trying to remove it from public discourse. The documentary follows two opposing protagonists. An experienced investigative journalist, with twenty years of experience, whose life has been repeatedly threatened, and whose car has been set on fire twice, has long been highlighting the dangers of disinformation to the Bulgarian public. In contrast to her efforts is a young man entering politics to fight against “gender ideology,” immigrants, vaccinations, and Western influences, who actively buys Russian trolls, and spreads propaganda through social networks.

Overtime is about a girl who would like to play, but the parents want her to succeed by any means necessary. The girl dies in a skating accident, and the parents make a deal with God.

Leif Segerstam, who wrote his first compositions at the age of six, was an exceptionally talented individual. He grew up to be a musician proficient in several instruments, a remarkably productive composer, and a sought-after conductor.

TV movie based on Christer Kihlman's novel. Writer Ralf spends the summer at the old family villa with his wife Madeleine and children. Family friend Christian lives nearby. The events of the blazing summer days drive these people into a crisis, where pent-up emotions, love, jealousy, guilt and fears come out. The film tells about a person's difficulty in finding himself, another person and a relationship with today's world.

A man tries to stop the queue of black cars.

Blackboard animation Qualia seeks for the essence of experience. There is no such thing as same feeling, same pain, same colour. Qualia is always subjective. The essence of universal experience is unreachable.

A couple on the verge of retirement run a small dairy farm in the Finnish countryside. Without anyone to carry on the family farming tradition, the work of generations is quietly coming to an end. A film about letting go that won’t soon let you go, this unforgettable record of the farm’s final year brims with affection for the land, its livestock and lifestyle.

On 7 November 2016, the Tampere City Council convenes to discuss the tram.

10-year-old Inari is preparing for the traditional May Day celebrations with her enthusiastic mother and reluctant father. In order to ensure an enjoyable evening for everyone Inari decides to make a deal with God.

Boiling Point (original title Kiehumispiste) describes the different reactions the Finnish people had to the large immigration amounts in 2015-2016.

Amelia Earhart was a heroine. The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1928, she disappeared without a trace during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Erja is in mid-life. She confronts her youthful enthusiasm for the flight pioneer, and her disillusionment with her own biography. This experimental animation combines re-enactments with archival material.

Tänään consists of three short polemical episodes. The subject matter in the episodes is the relationship between father and daughter. In a summer night grandfather dies in an accident. The event is viewed through three different characters... The objective has been to... explore the possibilities of technical means in expressing subject matter, and nevertheless to maintain the relevancy of the work to larger audiences.

Ale and Lare are two wannabe career criminals who work for a ruthless kingpin Liljeroos. This dynamic duo takes action when a weasel named Sepi snitches about the big score: the easy way for Ale and Lare to get rid of criminal lifestyle and start it over. But this doesn't please Liljeroos at all.

This documentary follows an Ethical and Environmental expert from Nokia as she travels to China to inspect the facilities under contract to her company.

A documentary about Finland's first and only perfumer, Max Perttula, who wants to conquer the world with his luxury fragrances from Viitasaari.

Erkki and Ritva have lived in a detached house for 30 years. In the summer, they moved into a smaller apartment for their retirement. We see how the couple communicates and marks on their territory, but also loves deeply.

A film introducing the use of a tractor and its various possibilities.

The 300th anniversary celebrations of the city of Hamina and a presentation of the city.

Consumer goods fair in Tampere 1-9 July 1950.

Opening of the Helsinki Fair at the Helsinki School of Economics. President Paasikivi visits the exhibition in the Fair Hall. Presentation of the various sections.

Unfortunately topical socio-political songs from Tuomari Nurmio's catalog spanning over 40 years. The themed concert "Songs of War and Dictatorship" was performed at the Helsinki Festival's Huvila pavillion, Tampere's Tavara-asema, and again on September 30, 2024, at the Tavastia Club, where this documentary was recorded.