Film Commissioner Jukka Asikainen:
Feature-length fiction
Mannerheim
Mannerheim tells the story of a man who was recently voted the greatest Finn of all time. It is the story of a distinguished military leader, an intrepid explorer and a great statesman: a human destiny not possible in the modern world.
The movie follows his life from the motherless small child who is abandoned by his aristocratic father, to the handsome young man who joins the Imperial Russian army towards the end of the 19th century.
Finally, as President of his country and an old and fragile man, Mannerheim negotiates Finland´s way to peace without dishonour; peace without loss of sovereignty.
Director: Renny Harlin
Script: Heikki Vihinen & Marko Leino
Editing: Brian Berdan
Cinematography: Roman Osin
Sound design: Jyrki Rahkonen
Set design: Streven Lawrence
Costumes: Marjatta Nissinen
Make-up design: Greg Cannom & Riikka Virtanen
Cast: Mikko Nousiainen, Sara Paavolainen, Peter Franzén, Irina Björklund, Ilkka Heiskanen, Kari Heiskanen, Pamela Tola, Laura Birn, Esko Salminen, Jani Volanen, Kari Väänänen, Peter Kanerva, Ville Virtanen
Shooting: March - June 2009
Premiere: January 15, 2010
Distribution in Finland: Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution Oy
Financing TV company: MTV3
International Sales: TrustNordisk
Budget: 10 M€
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 450 000 €
Production: Solar Films Inc. / Markus Selin & Jukka Helle
Tel. +358941744700
Fax +358 9 4174 4744
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sister, I Would Like to Stay (Sisko tahtoisin jäädä)
Emilia, 15, has always been the responsible one in her family. Emilia´s parents are divorced, and the children live with their dad. In the absence of their mother, Emilia looks after her little sister, and her dad says Emilia "will always do fine." On the last day of summer break, Emilia meets Siiri, who seems to be everything Emilia wishes she was: brave, free and independent. It is friendship at first sight, and Emilia´s life soon revolves around Siiri. But can freedom be found in a symbiotic relationship with Siiri? Emilia has to find the courage to break free from Siiri in order to become whole and find her own path. Sister, I Would Like to Stay is a film about the bittersweet beauty of being young.
Director: Marja Pyykkö
Script: Marja Pyykkö, Laura Suhonen
Editing: Mikko Sippola
Cinematography: Konsta Sohlberg
Sound design: Panu Riikonen
Music: Antti Lehtinen
Set design: Antti Nikkinen
Costumes: Tiina Kaukanen
Cast: TBA
Shooting: August 4 - September 25, 2009
Premiere: Autumn 2010
Distribution in Finland: Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution Oy
Financing TV company: Channel Four Finland
International Sales: TBA
Budget: 1 552 334 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 650 000 €
Production: Solar Films Inc. / Markus Selin, Jukka Helle, Piia Nokelainen
Tel. +358941744700
Fax +358 9 4174 4744
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Bad Family (Paha perhe)
Followed by an ugly divorce the father has been bringing up the son by himself while the mother has had the custody of the daughter. Sixteen years later the mother passes away and the brother and sister meet again. The brother has a crush on his sister and rebels against the father, who copes poorly with the situation. The father ends up alone with his dementic father.
Director: Aleksi Salmenperä
Script: Aleksi Salmenperä
Editing: Samu Heikkilä
Cinematography: Tuomo Hutri
Sound design: Tero Malmberg
Music: Ville A. Tanttu
Set design: Markku Pätilä
Costumes: Ella Brigatti
Make-up design: Marjut Samulin
Cast: Ville Virtanen, Lauri Tilkanen
Shooting: March 31 - May 25, 2009
Premiere: January 29, 2010
Distribution in Finland: Sandrew Metronome Distribution Finland
Financing TV company: YLE TV1
International Sales: TBA
Budget: 1,6 M€
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 780 000 €
Production: Sputnik Oy / Aki Kaurismäki
Tel. +35896877100
Fax +358 9 6877 1010
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rally On (Ralliraita)
Sladi (Heikki Silvennoinen) is a retired top rally co-driver who´s nowadays tired driving teacher in Pekkarinen´s garage complex "Team Susa". Sladi´s nephew Luumu (Olavi Uusivirta) arrives from Helsinki to Pekkarinen´s garage. His parents have sent him North Karelia´s peace and quiet, away from the big city´s attractions. Luumu loves cars and he finds his own place in Pekkarinen´s garage with the help of Team Susa´s mechanist Suko (Peter Franzén).
Pekkarinen´s garage is situated in his worst opponent Torppo´s states. Torppo Junior (Antti Virmavirta) wants to evict with a big rent raise the whole Pekkarinen´s team before the grand rally triathlon begins. Sladi attracts Torppo Junior to a bet between Torppo team and Susa team, racing against each other in the rally triathlon. The winner takes it all. On stake is the future of Pekkarinen´s garage and its people.
The preparation goes smoothly in Team Susa´s garage until their driver Stumppi (Mika Nuojua) hurts his hand while rehearsing for the rally. Sladi has no other change than let Luumu go behind the wheel. For Sladi´s surprise Luumu is a magnificent rally driver. But Team Susa´s rally car brakes because of the sabotage of Torppo team.
The last race of rally triathlon is crucial and Team Susa´s future doesn´t look so good. Sladi is distracted by a sweet Sirkku (Satu Silvo) and Luumu´s heart is swept away by Torppo Junior´s daughter Aija (Laura Birn). Can the honorable duo keep their thoughts in the road and their feelings banned...?
Of course they can!!
RALLY, ROCK AND LOVE!
Director: Markku Pölönen
Script: Arttu Käyhkö, Heikki Silvennoinen, Markku Pölönen
Editing: Jari Innanen
Cinematography: Kari Sohlberg C.F.I.
Sound design: Kyösti Väntänen
Music: Vesa Mäkinen & Kotiteollisuus
Set design: Pete Neuvonen
Costumes: Anna Sinkkonen
Make-up design: Riikka Virtanen
Cast: Heikki Silvennoinen, Satu Silvo, Olavi Uusivirta, Laura Birn, Peter Franzén, Tom Petäjä, Mika Nuojua, Kai Hyttinen, Eeva Litmanen, Antti Virmavirta, Heikki Nousiainen, Sakari Kuosmanen, Aake Kalliala, Janne Reinikainen, Ismo Apell, Hans Stigzelius, Olli-Kalle Heimo, Marja-Leena Gröhn, Hannu Virolainen, Jouko Rummukainen, Janne Kinnunen
Shooting: May 13 - 23 & September 9 - 26, 2008
Premiere: February 27, 2009
Distribution in Finland: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Finland
Financing TV company: MTV3
International Sales: TBA
Budget: ca. 1 200 000 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 210 000 €
Production: Suomen Filmiteollisuus SF / Jukka Karttunen & Satu Sadinkangas
Tel. +358408644804
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Feature-length children´s films
Ricky Rapper and Bicycle Thief (Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras)
Ricky Rapper´s adventures continue in a fabulous new musical comedy.
Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief is a touching and action-packed musical comedy, which tells a totally new story of Ricky´s adventures.
Serena Rapper and Lennart Lindberg decide to go on a vacation and Fanny Freezer comes to take care of Ricky and Nelly Noodlehead. Ricky gets a fancy new bike in consolation. Unfortunately, the new bike disappears inexplicably. This launches a wild adventure in which all key characters mysteriously cross paths. And what is the role of Bertil and Robert Rosenbögel and a hospital headed by odd behaving doctors in all this?
Director: Mari Rantasila
Script: Sinikka & Tiina Nopola
Editing: Tuuli Kuittinen
Cinematography: Timo Heinänen
Sound design: Risto Iissalo
Music: Iiro Rantala
Set design: Minna Santakari
Costumes: Niina Pasanen
Make-up design: Leila Mäkynen
Cast: (Ricky Rapper TBA, Nelly Butterfly TBA,) Martti Suosalo, Ulla Tapaninen, Annu Valonen
Shooting: July - August 2009
Premiere: February or August 2010
Distribution in Finland: Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution Oy
Financing TV company: YLE
International Sales: TBA
Budget: 1 709 354 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 600 000 €
Production: Kinotar Oy / Lasse Saarinen & Rimbo Salomaa
Tel. +35891351864
Fax +358 9 135 7864
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Film Commissioner Kaisu Isto:
Feature-length fiction
Vera - Sukunsa viimeinen (working title)
Young nenets-girl Neko is taken against her will from her family´s tepee to a boarding school in a Russian village. For the first time in her life Neko finds herself surrounded by a foreign language and culture, and rebels against the attempts to turn her into Russian. Bullied by her schoolmates and pressured by the teachers, Neko decides to run away and return to her family. She talks her fellow nenets boy Parasi from the school into fleeing with her. The children´s flight in the icy forests and tundra is short-lived and the return to the school and their new Russian life inevitable.
The story is told through the memories of Neko. Now grown up she´s concious of all the good the school gave her. But something essential has changed for good; Neko - the last of her kind - has been alienated from her extincting heritage for good.
Directors: Markku Lehmuskallio & Anastasia Lapsui
Script: Markku Lehmuskallio & Anastasia Lapsui
Editing: Juho Gartz
Cinematography: Johannes Lehmuskallio
Sound design: Sergei Zabenin
Cast: Villagers from Yamal and the town of Salehart
Shooting: Spring - Summer 2009
Premiere: February 26, 2010
Distribution in Finland: Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus
Financing TV company: YLE TV1
International Sales: TBA
Budget: 554 828 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 350 000 €
Production: Illume Oy / Pertti Veijalainen & Jouko Aaltonen
Tel. +35891481489
Fax +358 9 148 1489
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If You Love (Jos rakastat)
If You Love is an edgy musical love story between a politician´s daughter and an immigrant family´s son. A spoiled 19-years old girl, Ada, crashes a car, loses her memory and has to start her life a new. She falls in love with Toni, but has to carry a big secret, which endangers to destroy everything.
Director: Neil Hardwick
Script: Katja Kallio
Cinematography: Pini Hellstedt
Music: Leri Leskinen
Set design: Kaisa Mäkinen
Cast:TBA
Shooting: June 4 - July 30, 2010
Premiere: January / February 2010
Distribution in Finland: FS Film Oy
Financing TV company: YLE TV2
International Sales: TBA
Budget: 1 583 017 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 680 000 €
Production: Juonifilmi Oy / Jarkko Hentula
Tel. +358207300451
Fax +358 20 7300 452
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Hella W
At last Finnish cinema gives us a heroine - a strong woman, one who takes her place, if no place is offered to her.
Every Finn knows the characters of Hella Wuolijoki´s Niskavuori plays, but the eventful life of the author is less known to many. Writer Outi Nyytäjä and director Juha Wuolijoki´s journey into Hella´s past makes the story of the famous playwright, politician and businesswoman familiar to all.
Director: Juha Wuolijoki
Script: Juha Wuolijoki, adapted from the original script by Outi Nyytäjä
Editing: Harri Ylönen
Cinematography: Mika Orasmaa
Music: Leri Leskinen
Costumes: Anu Pirilä
Cast: TBA
Shooting: May - July 2009 and Winter 2009 - 2010
Premiere: Autumn 2010
Distribution in Finland: Sandrew Metronome Distribution Finland Oy
Financing TV company: YLE
International Sales: TBA
Budget: 1 730 000 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 800 000 €
Production: Snapper Films Oy / Juha Wuolijoki
Tel. +358969693560
Fax +358 9 6969 3569
E-mail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Hellsinki (Rööperi)
Happiness, jail or the grave?
Hellsinki is based on an interview novel describing the old days of one of the most notorious parts of Helsinki, "Rööperi". The film is set between 1966 and 1979.
Besides the journey of Tomppa and Krisu, the main characters of the film, Hellsinki tells the story of Gypsy Kari, Arska, Biscuit, Uki and a bunch of other bad boys and criminals; it tells of their memorable and unscrupulous journey from crime and poverty to becoming respectable citizens, going to jail - or dying too young. The wrong side of the law is seen through the eyes of Koistinen, a local police officer.
The guys, who fall into a life of crime, have one thing in common: they all start by bootlegging, being sure money is an answer to all their problems. Money is a way out of a miserable life; it is a way to happiness and their modest dreams. They can stop doing criminal business as soon as they get enough money.
When the guys start making more money with black-market booze, their hunger and their dreams grow bigger.
Even though the reality Rööperi is portrayed as rather rugged and rotten, we can see both warmth and humor in the characters walking the streets of Rööperi; these qualities will make the audience love them. The audience will cry and laugh with them - and for them.
Director: Aleksi Mäkelä
Script: Marko Leino
Editing: Kimmo Taavila
Cinematography: Pini Hellsted F.S.C.
Sound design: Jyrki Rahkonen
Music: Kalle Chydenius
Set design: Pirjo Rossi
Costumes: Tiina Kaukanen
Cast: Samuli Edelmann, Peter Franzén, Kari Hietalahti, Pihla Viitala, Juha Veijonen, Jasper Pääkkönen, Pekka Valkeejärvi, Hiski Grönstrand, Tommi Rantamäki, Kristo Salminen
Shooting: March, June - July 2008
Premiere: January 9, 2009
Distribution in Finland: Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution
Financing TV company: MTV3
International Sales: TrustNordisk
Budget: 1 718 234 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 550 000 €
Production: Solar Films Inc. / Markus Selin & Jukka Helle
Tel. +358941744700
Fax +358 9 4174 4744
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
International co-productions
Circus Fantasticus
(co-production Slovenia, Ireland, Finland)
When the deafening rattle of war dies away, we see Stevo, scared, running about the field where traces of warfare can be seen and where his house, likewise badly damaged, stands. He is left alone with his daughter Dunja and son Small as his wife has been hit by one of the grenades. When it seems that the worst is over, a terrible rumble can be heard from a distance and keeps nearing the house as a threat.
Stevo discovers, confused, that the vehicle which stopped in front of the house is not a killing machine but a rather unusual vehicle of Circus Fantasticus.
Getting know of the group of bizarre but utterly human characters changes the life of Stevo and his children, and they join the circus caravan which sets off on a new journey.
Director: Janez Burger
Script: Janez Burger
Cinematography: Divis Marek
Sound design: Rob Flannagan
Set design: Vasja Kokelj & Andraž Trkman
Costumes: Alan Hranitelj
Make-up design: Alenka Nahtigal
Cast: Leon Lučev, rene Bazinet, Daniel Rovai, Pauliina Räsänen, Slava Volkov, David Boelee, Martens Yannick, Ravil Sultanov, Nataša Sultanova, Luna Mijovic, Devi Trošt, Marjuta Slamič, Enej Grom, Zhang Xiaoxue, Urs Jackle
Shooting: March 2 - April 30, 2009
Premiere: September 1, 2010
Distribution in Finland: TBA
International Sales: TBA
Budget: 2 073 639 €
Total Support of The Finnish Film Foundation: 29 000 €
Production: Staragara / Jozko Rutar (Slovenia)
Finnish co-producer: Cine Works / Petri Rossi
Tel. +358503861266
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Satu Elo
kulttuuriviennin tiedottaja /
Information Officer International Promotion
Suomen elokuvasäätiö /
The Finnish Film Foundation
Kanavakatu 12
FI-00160 Helsinki
tel. +358962203020
fax +358 9 6220 3050
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
