Discoveries from Finland World Cinema

It's Monday. A man wakes up. A journalist wants to hear the truth.

A look into a night in the life of a cat.

John, Jay and Joe form a band and start rehearsals in John’s garage. At first, everyone plays calmy, but soon the volume increases. The search for sound balance leads to an equipment race that can only end badly.

Two young ballerinas, Nerissa and Svana navigate love, insecurities and boundaries in a fairytale world.

Life in the Christian Orthodox nunnery of Lintula in Heinävesi.

During the Continuation War Finland had allied with Hitler's Germany. The underground resistance group believed that the Soviet Union would win the war and that Finland would get rid of the bourgeoisie.

A detailed ethnographic documentary on the making of a horn comb. 85-year-old Eemil Alarik Ahlrot from Turku demonstrates his skills. The horn is heated and opened, and from it the horn comb is created in the hands of the craftsman, just like a lice comb.

Rehabilitation of children and adults at the Käpylä Rehabilitation Center.

SOK's anniversary film presents the history and present day of cooperatives, agriculture and various sectors of industry.

Coaching athletes and training physical education instructors at the Pajulahti and Vierumäki sports institutes.

The film introduces SOK's distribution system.

Car exhibition at the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center in 1952.

National Coalition Party election advertisement.

Photos of restaurants from the outside and inside the restaurant halls. Wanha-Hokki on the corner of Yrjönkatu. Pikku-Hokki on City-kuja. Keski-Hokki on Esplanadi. Pika-Pala restaurant in Sokos-talo. The last episode also introduces the modern kitchen of the newly opened restaurant.

"Lapland is a land of men's men, and so its women and children have also been shaped to endure meager, joyless conditions. All growth here remains low, both of people and other life. Here, you have to stay close to the surface of the ground so that the freezing wind doesn't cut the tops." Suomi-Film's film crew in the spring landscapes of Fell Lapland's Yliperä hiking towards the end point, the peak of the "holy fell" Halti. The men are tough with their sledges, but true fell hikers are used to wind and mist. When a storm surprises you, then you wait for the weather to clear up.

Pictures from the London Olympics, the preparation for the Helsinki Olympics, the construction of the Stadium and other sports venues, and an introduction to Finnish society. The beginning of the film is in color, the Finnish section is in black and white.

Observational examples of the use of hypnosis.

Helsinki City Transport Department's educational film for tram and trolleybus drivers and operators on proper traffic behavior and public service.

Introduction to the Aulanko Hotel and its surroundings.

Documentary on Tukkilaispisat from 1949.

The short film describes President J. K. Paasikivi's activities as a statesman and especially as President of the Republic. Paasikivi takes the oath at the Parliament House. Independence Day celebration at the Presidential Palace.

Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian Lapland.

The "image hunger" was enormous in the post-war years. The Finnish film industry joined forces in the autumn of 1949 and held the first Finnish film week in both large cities and smaller towns. During the week, 20 premieres were shown. The interaction between the film industry and the film audience was emphasized with many stunts. The grand opening was held at the Kino-Palats in Helsinki. In 1949, there were 470 cinemas and 40 film rental companies in Finland. That year, Finns went to the cinema 26 million times.

Traffic education film.

Holger Harrivirta and Aimo Jäderholm follow the 25 reindeer tracks assembled by Aslak Juuso on their journey from Kaaresuvanto to Kilpisjärvi in ​​the spring of 1948. The camera's images don't just show the spring sunshine, they also capture a sudden snowstorm brought by the changing weather. But the reindeer can withstand all the weather in Lapland, "the reindeer is so wild that it doesn't even learn its name". The journey continues on the ice of Kilpisjärvi past the sacred Saana, Pohjola rides reindeer...

A loosely ethnographic document from the late 1940s from Uimaharju, North Karelia. At that time, it was completely free to dump the nest, even directly from the nest in winter.

Tourists in Koli. Campers. Traveling by bus and ferry. The city of Savonlinna. Exploring Olavinlinna.

The journey of meat from the meadow to the sausages that children nibble on.

A dramatization of the life of Antti Ahlström and the history of the company that bears her name, based on biographies, letters and memoirs.

Pictures of the city of Raahe.

Pictures from the presentation of Soviet industry and culture at the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Center.

Manufacturing and presentation of Kalevala Koru products.

The revival of trade and cultural relations between Finland and England after the war, the documentary film depicts the unloading of the first English cargo ship and the presentation and mediation of English culture in Helsinki.

An inland waterway boat trip in Central Finland, described from the perspective of a regional presentation.

The production and use of Paulig frozen foods.

Documentary film about peat extraction, peat block production and transportation.

Collection of public assistance for war orphans, war invalids and the elderly.

A documentary about everyday life in Aunus Karelia in the second year of the Continuation War. As the film tells the story, every village has a primary school.

A large public aid collection for those affected by the war, money is collected for boxes in shops, among other places.

Ethnographic images of the millet festival, the village swing, grain spreading and violin playing.

Passenger seafaring between Finland and Sweden

Midsummer Eve 1941, threatening clouds loom in the eastern sky. A Finnish man heads east... "On Midsummer, a siren blooms in the barrel of a Finnish soldier's rifle." The delegation of our eastern neighbor packs its bicycles for the journey towards an ideal society... Midsummer brought other sirens, war broke out. The first documentary images of the outbreak of the Continuation War.

Pictures of new and old Turku.

Karelia, which was ceded to the Soviet Union, was commemorated in numerous short films during the armistice. The Karelia series and the poetic narration by a female voice bring memories to the surface for at least every Vyborg resident. "Our old Vyborg, the city of joy and sorrow in hard-fought Karelia, is now lost..."

Dogs of different breeds pull sleds in the countryside and on the road, soldiers on skis. The dogs are fed. The soldiers are given soup from the bed of a car. The dogs pull sleds on the ice in Munkkiniemi.

Finnish Navy exercise at the Baltic Sea

Finnish-American artist Heta Kuchka’s wistful depiction of her late father’s home region unfolds in a mountainous landscape, where the small town of Brewick is fading away together with its ageing population. Old houses, grassy yards and vast lakes intertwine with storytelling. The soundtrack features country music, chirping crickets and melancholy singing.

Finnish Coast Guard in action at the Gulf of Finland

An examination of how large language models and generative AI may create algorithmic narratives, recontextualizing a line from Marguerite Duras’s screenplay for Hiroshima mon amour (1959): “You didn’t see the hospital in Hiroshima.”

Each year across Finland, high school students prepare for Wanhat, a traditional dance marking the end of adolescence.

A commissioned cruise ship film

An appropriated footage collage on the male gaze – that takes the expression literally. Yes, this is a film about men looking, but at what, and what for? The opening list of interpretations for the meaning of “queer” invites readings probably accidental if not spurious but nevertheless there. Punkish fun.

What happens when a renowned experimental filmmaker with a flair for absurdist humour is invited to a military training session designed to rally support for national defence and promote preparedness for crises and war? Pilvi Takala, with help from scientist Johanna Vuorelma, playfully deconstructs the ways society is persuaded to believe that peace is best negotiated at gunpoint.

Jasu returns 25 years later and murders more people

A story about acceptance and cooperation. Clashing customs lead to disagreements, but a shared struggle, fueled by potatoes and a storm, brings understanding.

This historical documentary about the maidens of Autti recounts women’s new opportunities and freedom in Lapland during the 1920s.