23-05-2010

Juho Kuosmanen´s The Painting Sellers won the first prize of Cinéfondation

    The one-hour fiction film The Painting Sellers (Taulukauppiaat) by Juho Kuosmanen (b. 1979) has won the first prize of Cannes´s Cinéfondation competition. The prize includes a guarantee of the director´s first feature film to be selected for Cannes official programme as well as Euro 15 000 for the director. The chairman of the jury Atom Egoyan praised the film´s brilliant direction as well as other artistic work, such as cinematography and acting. He said that he is eagerly waiting for a chance to see Kuosmanen´s future work and that we will certainly hear a lot more about this director. Kuosmanen will start writing his first feature film in the autumn.

    Cinéfondation is the Cannes competition for student films, founded in 1998. Kuosmanen´s earlier film Roadmarkers (Kestomerkitsijät, 2007) won the third prize in Cinéfondation 2008.

    The Painting Sellers is Kuosmanen´s graduation film for the department of Motion Picture, TV and Production Design at the School of Art and Design of Aalto University Helsinki. The film is produced by Aamu Filmcompany Ltd. / Jussi Rantamäki and Auli Mantila; script and cinematography by JP Passi. The main cast includes Teppo Manner, Auli Mantila and Tuomas Airola.

    The Painting Sellers is a story about three people still on the road, though it´s almost Christmas. Their products don´t sell, the car is a wreck and the weather is freezing. Moreover, there is a problem: how to cope with an emerging friendship?

    Further information:

    Producer Jussi Rantamäki, +358 40 7355 977