Sakari en = Cinema in Finland
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Transcript of Sakari en = Cinema in Finland
CCiinneemmaa iinn
FFiinnllaanndd
Sakari Toiviainen
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Some 350 feature films have been made in Finland in the past fifteen
years - an average of 15-20 films a year. The number is fairly high considering
Finland’s 5 million population and the fact that the market is increasingly
dominated by films imported from the US.
A CRISIS IN THE 1950S
A crisis hit the Finnish film industry in the 1950s, reflecting a global
trend. Audiences shrank, first because of television, then because of the
breakthrough of video, and it was not until the late 1980s that the downward
slide came to an end. It was understood at the end of the 1950s that State
subsidies were necessary, and the first support system was established in the
early 1960s in the form of State Awards. The Finnish Film Foundation was set
up at the end of the decade, and after a chequered history its support system
has finally stabilized. The Film Foundation does not produce films itself, but
it decides on financing and regulates loans out of funds comprising firstly
State grants to the arts, and secondly fees for unrecorded cassettes and
television rights and a share of box office receipts.
When the production system dominated by large companies collapsed in
the early 1960s, a ‘new Finnish wave’ emerged, i.e. films made by small
companies and distinctive cinema personalities. All this was again in keeping
with the international trend. This generation of transition steered the Finnish
film industry into the next decade, until it, too, was forced to step aside for
various reasons. Now, at the end of the 1990s, Risto Jarva, Mikko Niskanen
and Heikki Partanen are dead, and Jörn Donner, Erkko Kivikoski and Maunu
Kurkvaara have not made films since the early 1980s. Even veterans like Matti
Kassila and Rauni Mollberg seem to be having difficulties in carrying on with
their careers.
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A CHANGE OF GENERATION IN THE EARLY
1980S
A change of generation began in the early 1980s, and the decade
witnessed some thirty first films, many of which were unfortunately also their
makers’ last. Mika and Aki Kaurismäki emerged as pioneers of the new film,
but there were also other film-makers worth mentioning, e.g. Päivi Hartzell,
Matti Ijäs, Markku Lehmuskallio, Claes Olsson, Olli Soinio and Lauri
Törhönen.
Along with its young film-makers, Finnish cinema rediscovered the
theme of ‘rootless young people outside the mainstream of society’, thus
achieving rapport with the majority of their audience. The first push in this
direction was given by Tapio Suominen’s film Right On, Man! (1980), a great
success with both the public and the critics. This provided the same kind of
aesthetic and production stimulus as Under Your Skin in the mid-60s.
Suominen’s film captured something in the air that had been lost to Finnish
directors for a long time: it dealt with the problems of the age in a way that
reached a wide audience, and presented a picture young people could identify
with.
The 1980s also saw the advent of such fairytale movies as The King Who
Had No Heart (1982), Pessi and Illusia (1984), The Snow Queen (1987) and
Markku Lehmuskallios’ relentlessly visionary poetic works on the
confrontation between man and nature (The Raven’s Dance, 1980; Skierri, 1982;
Inuksuk, 1988) or Olli Soinio’s horror movie The Moonlight Sonata (1988).
Pekka Parikka applied the conventional epic approach in his films Plainlands
(1988) and The Winter War (1989), while Lauri Törhönen stepped forward as
an interpreter for the new urban ‘yuppie generation’ in his movies Tropic of Ice
(1987) and Insiders (1989).
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THE KAURISMÄKI BROTHERS AS TREND-
SETTERS
Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly the Kaurismäki brothers who have been
trendsetters and most visible representatives of the Finnish film industry both
in Finland and abroad. Their first collaboration projects, The Liar (1981) and
The Worthless (1982), directed by Mika Kaurismäki and written by Aki
Kaurismäki were like a refreshing breath of wind; they rejected the prevailing
production norms, rising from the foundation of the liberated, smallscale film-
making tradition of the ‘new waves’. This tradition included playing with roles,
associations, quotations, inside jokes and the relationship between film and
reality. Mika Kaurismäki has since approached conventional film-making
procedures and genres, using as his starting points a crime story (The Clan,
198884), a road movie (Rosso, 1985), a comedy (Cha Cha Cha, 1989) and
models from international gangster movies (Helsinki Napoli All Night Long,
1987) and adventure films (Amazon, 1990). During the 1990s Mika Kaurismäki
has worked mainly in the United States and has made more American films
than Finnish ones. An example is L.A. Without a Map (1998).
The younger brother, Aki Kaurismäki, has proved himself a stylistically
and thematically coherent and systematic film-maker personality characterized
by a stripped, disciplined expression, awareness of tradition, and rough, often
black humour. His way of presenting his marginal, dispossessed characters
combines criticism of current values with a disciplined moral pathos, for
instance in his ‘working class trilogy’ Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988)
and The Match Factory Girl (1990). Aki Kaurismäki started his career as director
with a version of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment (1983), set in Helsinki,
and continued with a fairytale-like satirical urban odyssey called Calamari Union
(1985) and a modern version of Shakespeare, Hamlet Goes Business (1987). Aki
Kaurismäki has placed most of his later films abroad, in the US (Leningrad
Cowboys Go America, 1989), London (I Hired a Contract Killer, 1990), and Paris
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(La Vie de Bohème, 1992). In his most recent work, Take Care of Your Scarf,
Tatjana (1994) and Drifting Clouds (1996), he returns to the terrain of Finnish
working class life.
Largely thanks to the Kaurismäki brothers, the international status of
Finnish cinema has improved considerably, and the overall standard and
artistic and technical quality can now compete with any country of the same
size. Finnish films have been shown widely at various events, both
retrospectives and festivals. At the Nordic Film Festival in Rouen, Finnish
films have won favourable attention among other Nordic output, as is
evidenced by the many special awards and the main award that went to Matti
Kassila’s The Glory and Misery of Human Life in 1989.
The Kaurismäki brothers are known not only in Europe but also in
North and South America and Japan. A retrospective of their output has been
arranged by the New York Museum of Modern Art, and at festivals they are
top names considered equal to other leading European film-makers. Aki
Kaurismäki has even become a cult director in many European countries. It is
true that, amid the mainstream of the film industry, Kaurismäki audiences are
small and specialized, but the brothers have succeeded in continuing to work
on limited budgets, limited international appreciation and in part even limited
financing.
FINNISH CINEMA DURING THE 1990S
During the 1990s, production of Finnish feature films has shrunk to 10
to 12 premieres a year. Meanwhile, television has increased its role in funding
films and production has split more clearly into two genres, namely, "popular"
and "artistic" films. Box office success, too, has contributed to the
polarisation, to the benefit of the few and the detriment of the rest.
Still, there has been no lack of new directors: more than a dozen have
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emerged during the current decade. Alongside the Kaurismäki brothers,
Veikko Aaltonen and Markku Pölönen have achieved notable status. Aaltonen
completed his first film, The Final Arrangement, for the Kaurismäkis’ company
back in 1987 but his real breakthrough came with his second picture, The
Prodigal Son, in 1992. This portrayal of a sadomasochistic relationship between
two men stylishly carted deep wells of violence and emotion. Pater Noster,
released in 1993, employed a similar thematic motif, the trauma caused by an
incestuous childhood relationship. Aaltonen's latest offering "Kiss me in the
Rain" (1999) studies the obsessional outbursts of violence of a lonely woman
of quality.
Markku Pölönen has distinguished himself as a chronicler of rural life. In
The Land of Happiness (1993), The Last Wedding (1995) and A Summer by the River
(1998) Pölönen returns to the North Karelia of his early years, a milieu of
robust country folk living through the crises of migration from the land and
ensuing societal change. Pölönen offers a full-blooded, naturalistic account of
the human condition, combinations of tragedy and comedy, nostalgia and
sharp intuitive insight.
A important feature of the Finnish cinema in the 1990s has been the
notable contribution of women directors. Pirjo Honkasalo began her career as
a director in the 1970s when she worked with Pekka Lehto. More recently she
has earned a high reputation as an independent film-maker through her
documentaries. Moving away from non-fiction, in 1998 she completed Fire
Eater, a dramatic film of great originality. With a fine sense of style Kaisa
Rastimo recounted the odyssey of a modern young woman in Bittersweet
(1995), and in A Respectable Tragedy (1998) she portrayed the position of a
woman stuck in a bourgeois marriage of the 1930s. Auli Mantila aroused
international attention with her first feature film, an exceptional portrait of a
lady entitled The Collector (1997) and she pursues the theme of violence
informed by the female point of view in The Geography of Fear (2000). In the
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course of the decade women distinguished themselves as documentarists. In
addition to Honkasalo, Anu Kuivalainen, Kiti Luostarinen, Virpi Suutari and
Susanna Helke raised the genre to a new level in quality and emotional
outreach.
THE FINNISH CINEMA AT THE TURN OF THE
MILLENNIUM
At the turn of the millennium the Finnish cinema appears to be in the
midst of a renaissance. The 1999 output brought quantity and quality,
displaying professionalism and originality in themes and styles. At the same
time, traditional "national" preoccupations were born anew in such works as
the war movie Ambush, from Olli Saarela, the wild western-Finnish drama The
Tough Ones, directed by Aleksi Mäkelä, and the biographical tribute to the late
Finnish athlete and entertainer Tapio Rautavaara, The Swan and the Wanderer
from Timo Koivusalo. The reawakening was reflected, too, in box office
receipts. In spring 1999 four domestic films topped the audience ratings,
namely Ambush, Tommy and the Wildcat, The Tough Ones and The Swan and the
Wanderer.
Who’s who In Finnish Cinema
AALTONEN, Veikko. Born 1955. Writer, director. From cinema studies
in 1973 at the University of Helsinki, he moved to production, mainly
working as an editor. He made his directorial debut in 1987 and his second
feature, Tuhlaajapoika (The Prodigal Son, 1992), won four national film
awards, as well as several international prizes. After Merisairas (Seasick, 1996),
he will première his Rakkaudella, Maire (Kiss Me in the Rain) at this year's
MIF. Besides breeding lambs and horses, he is currently preparing a
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documentary, Maa (Land), about European Union membership and its
influence on one specific Finnish farm.
AHOKAS, Harri. Born 1953. Distributor, exhibitor. Giving up
psychology studies at the University of Helsinki to run film clubs, he started
as general manager of Bio Illusion - an art-house cinema then owned by the
Students' Association - in 1984. Taken over by Claes Olsson in 1992, the 116-
seat theatre became a member of European Cinemas the following year,
importing, distributing and screening four to five mainly European films
annually. Now on leave to scrutinise local distribution for the Finnish Film
Foundation.
AHTILA, Eija-Liisa. Born 1959. Writer, director, visual artist. A graduate
from the University of Helsinki in 1985, her installations - eg about teenage
girls and sex, or the balance of the individual in society - have been shown all
over the world. In her latest three productions she has explored the
connection between short films and commercials. Lohdutusseremonia
(Consolation service), her latest project, will be exhibited at this year's
Biennale in Venice and also appear as a film.
ASTALA, Erkki. Born 1956. Head of production at the Finnish Film
Foundation. A film buff since his early teens, and chairman of a film society at
14, he became a journalist and critic, working for the festivals in Tampere and
Sodankylä. In 1984, he joined Villealfa Filmproductions, where he was
assistant director to Aki Kaurismäki on several films. In 1996 he was signed
by the foundation to be in charge of production, allocating funds for new
features.
DONNER, Jörn. Born 1933. Writer, director, producer, politician. A
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controversial figure in Finnish cultural life, he had directed four films -
including Miestä ei voi raiskata (Men Cannot Be Raped) - when he set up Jörn
Donner Productions in 1996, going on to produce more than 30 features.
Between 1972 and 1982 he was head of the Swedish Film Institute, assuring
Ingmar Bergman that he should just go ahead with Fanny och Alexander (Fanny
and Alexander) - as he would provide the financing. Most recently Finnish
Consul General in Los Angeles, he is now a member of the European
Parliament - a position he will leave next month (June). His numerous novels
have won him the Finlandia Prize for Literature.
HALONEN, Jari. Born 1962. Writer, actor, director. Still remembered at
Helsinki's Theatre Academy for his 1987 graduation work - it included
throwing human faeces at the audience - he set out "to make films that will
change the world without boring viewers to death". After Back to the USSR
(1992) and the highly experimental Lipton Cockton in the Shadows of Sodoma
(1995), he made Joulubileet (The Christmas Party), which premiered at
Finland's State Prison. Now shooting Rolling Stone, a biopic of Finland's
national writer, Aleksis Kivi.
HEYDEMANN, Klaus. Born 1962. Producer, managing director of
Bueno Pictures. Realising that business studies would prove a serious obstacle
to his passion for film, he left university and got a job on Peter Lindholm's
1985 feature Kill City. He went on to be credited - in different capacities - for
another 45 productions. From 1988 to 1996, he was assistant producer-
assistant manager at the Brothers Kaurismäki's Villealfa Filmproductions,
before opening his own company in 1997. One of his two dogs is Pietari, the
actor.
HONKASALO, Pirjo. Born 1947. Writer, director, cinematographer, set
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designer. Educated at the Finnish Film School and the Temple University of
Philadelphia, in 1975 she teamed up with director and producer Pekka Lehto,
with whom she made - among other films - Tulipää (Flame Top, 1980), a
contender at Cannes. Since 1985 she has mainly produced documentaries,
with several winning international awards, including Mysterion (1991) and, most
recently, Atman (1996). Her latest feature, Tulennielijä (Fire Eater), was in
competition at Locarno 1998, to become a regular on the festival circuit.
IJÄS, Matti. Born 1950. Writer, director. A student of journalism at
Tampere University, he was signed as a director by public broadcaster YLE,
for whom he still regularly makes television films. After his feature directorial
debut in 1983, Koomikko (The Comedian), he made two contemporary
comedies, Räpsy ja Dolly (Räpsy and Her Lover, 1990), which won First Prize
at Gothenburg, and Pilkkuja ja pikkuhousuja (Lyrics and Lace, 1992). Most
recently he premièred Sokkotanssi (Blindfolded).
JÄMES, Reiko. Born 1953. Marketing director of Finnkino. An educated
economist, he started his cinema career in his home town of Jyväskylä, before
he joined Finnkino in 1989. From heading Interprint Subtitling he became
branch manager video 1991, programme manager theatrical 1995, and
marketing director 1997. With a passion for old British cars, he needs to be
interested in cycling. Also runs to mid-sized poodles.
JÄMSÄ, Jouko. Born 1952. Managing director of Columbia TriStar
Egmont Film Distributors. Failing in socialising film culture in the Finnish
province, Jämsä eventually succeeded in privatising cinema business in the
Baltic republics of Estonia and Latvia. A former consultant for the Finnish
Film Foundation and development manager with Finnkino, he was running
the first laser-subtitling laboratory in the Baltics, when he was signed for the
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top position of the new distribution company in 1997.
JÄRVI-LATURI, Ilkka. Born 1961. Writer, director, producer. Educated
at Helsinki's Film School, he worked as an assistant director and also made
numerous shorts of his own - including Arsenic and Old Penises - before his
feature directorial debut, Kotia päin (Homebound), named Best Scandinavian
Film in 1990. His second feature, Tallinnan pimeys (Darkness in Tallinn)
achieved a similar nod in 1994. He is currently readying History Is Made at
Night, an international co-production starring with Bill Pullman and Irene
Jacob.
JUSSI. Born 1934. The Finnish Oscar, distributed annually by a
committee of Finnish film professionals. Made from plaster, the first 28.5-
centimetre statuette was made by Finnish sculptor Ben Renvall. Main
categories include Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best
Supporting Roles, Best Original Screenplay, Best Set Design, and Best Musical
Score. Still in plaster, a Concrete Jussi is given for Lifelong Achievement.
KAMRAS, Freddy. Born 1947. Distributor-exhibitor. In the business
since 1968, his Kamras Film Group - a member of Europa Cinema - is
running two theatres in Helsinki, including the seven-screen BioCity. He also
has cinemas in Jyväskylä and Kemi.
KAUKOMAA, Tero. Born 1960. Producer, managing director of
GNUfilms. A marketing and business graduate, starting his career with Mobil
Oil, Kaukomaa went on to work as a production manager for Elohopea-Film
and Villealfa Filmproduction. In 1994 he started GNUfilms with Tero Jartti to
produce Auli Mantila's Auli Mantila's Neitoperho (The Collector) and Markus
Nummi's Hyväntekijät (Good Deeds). With his new company, Blind Spot
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Pictures, he is currentlt shooting Mantila's Pelon maantiede (Geography of
Fear).
KAURISMÄKI, Aki. Born 1957. Writer, actor, director, producer.
Regarded as the most influential Finnish director of his generation, he
dropped his media studies at Tampere University to work "in real life",
including time as a postman and a dishwasher. He then learned basic
filmmaking at various European cinemathèques before he wrote the script for
and acted in his brother Mika Kaurismäki's film Valehtelija (The Liar, 1981).
Since his own debut Rikos ja rangaistus (Crime and Punishment) in 1983, he
has made 13 features and numerous shorts, including Kauas pilvet karkavaat
(Drifting Clouds), which was in competition at Cannes in 1996. His latest
feature, the silent Juha, was presented in this year's Berlinale Forum. He has
received the Finnish President's Pro-Finlandia Medal, as well as the top
FIM100,000 (US$20,000) Finnish Culture Prize.
KAURISMÄKI, Mika. Born 1955. Writer, director, producer. The first
Finn to finance a film with his Eurocard (which was eventually withdrawn) -
the FIM 300,000 (US$60,000) Rosso, in 1984 - he started out in low-budget
filmmaking, following his education at the Munich High School for Television
and Film. In recent years, he has moved into international film production,
directing - among others - Condition Red, a US-based thriller, and Los
Angeles without a Map, a French-UK-Finnish co-production based on
Richard Reyner's novel. His most recent production, Highway Society, is
ready for delivery. Besides a shelf of international awards, his films have
bagged four local Jussis.
KOISTINEN, Markku. Born 1952. Managing director, UIP Finland.
Already mad about cinema in his teens, he became a ticket collector and a
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projectionist in the provincial town of Kouvola, where in 1974 he took over
as theatre manager. Ten years later, he was signed by Kinosto, which was
shortly to be part of the Finnkino fusion. He was named local UIP topper in
1995.
LAMPELA, Jarmo. Born 1964. A coffee appasionata, with a preference
of Cuban brew, Lampela followed his 1992 graduation from film school by
acting studies at Helsinki's Theatre Academy. A writer and director of play for
stage and television, he made his feature debut in 1997 by Sairaan kaunis
maailma (Freakin' Beautiful World), performing well at the local box office.
His new novella film, Rakastin epätoivoista naista (I Loved a Desperate Woman),
won the Audience Award at Tampere earlier this year. Also addicted to off-
road bicycling, especially downhill.
LEHMUSKALLIO, Markku Ilmari. Born 1938. An educated forestry
technician, he turned to filmmaking in the early 1970s, and has since been
credited for numerous award-winning documentaries of life in the Deep
North. This genre is not without dangers: when shooting his trilogy on the
Nenetsy nomades of Northern Siberia, he lost all his teeth from eating
deepfrozen food. His latest opus, Uhri - elokuva metsästä (The Sacrifice - A
Film about a Forest) was shown in the 1999 Berlinale Forum.
LEHTO, Pekka. Director, producer. Born 1948. Entering filmmaking
after school, he set up a production company with Pirjo Honkasalo, which
operated between 1975 and 1985. Their Tulipää (Flame Top) was a 1981
Cannes entry and their last effort, Da Capo, showed in Directors' Fortnight in
1985. His own directorial credits include Kaivo (The Well); selected for Venice
in 1992. After Boy Hero, about Soviet role models for young pioneers during
the Stalin era, he made The Real McCoy, about Finnish rock'n'roll legend Andy
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McCoy.
LENINGRAD COWBOYS, The. Established 1986 (deriving from one
of Finland's first new wave bands, The Sleepy Sleepers). Acknowledged as the
world's worst rock'n'roll group, they have been featured in seven films by Aki
Kaurismäki. Headquartered at Helsinki's former Lada Car Sales, and
previously centred around Mato Valtonen (who has now left the group) and
Sakke Järvenpää, they run a couple of varied enterprises, from an authorised
Harley Davidson workshop to the Rio Bravo exotic food import company.
They hit international headlines and the MTV annual awards when
performing with the Russian Red Army Ensemble. Lending their name both
to a beer and vodka brand, they also run Helsinki's Colorado Bar.
LILLQVIST, Katarina. Writer, director, puppeteer. Born 1963. Having
completed her film studies in Finland, she joined public broadcaster YLE as
an editor, mainly working on documentaries. In 1989, she moved to Prague to
learn puppet animation at the DAMU, as an apprentice at the Jiri Trnka
Studio. Her credits include five puppet animation films, including Maalais
lääkäri (The Country Doctor), which concluded her Franz Kafka trilogy to
win a Silver Bear in Berlin in 1996. Her Ksenia pietarilainen (Ksenia of St
Petersburg) won the Grand Prix at Tampere 1999.
LINDBLAD, Christian. Born 1963. Scriptwriter, director, actor. Rarely
in a hurry, Lindblad let five years pass between his first feature, Ripa ruostuu
(Ripa Hits the Skids), and his scond telephone call to producer Klaus
Heydemann about his next project. The director of Space Pigs, he worked on
stage before entering cinema by a series of short films.
LINDMAN, Åke. Born 1928. Actor, director. An educated actor at
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Helsinki's Svenska Teatern, he turned to directing in the early 1960s. In the
last 30 years he has been credited for some of the country's most popular
television series, such as Myrskyluodon Maija (Maija from the Stormy Island).
On film he was originally cast as the bad guy, now he performs in a variety of
roles both in Finland and Sweden. He is currently completing what he
decscribes as "the dream of a lifetime," the film of the 1868 gold rush in
Lapland, Lapin kullan kimallus. Also a skilled football player, in the 1940s and
1950s he played 32 matches for the Finnish national team. Married to ex-Miss
Finland Pirkko Mannola.
LUOSTARINEN, Kiti. Born 1951. Scriptwriter, director. A philosophy
graduate from the University of Helsinki, Luostarinen has written and directed
a score of documentaries and fictional short films, including the award-
winning Sanokaa mitä näitte (Tell Me What You Saw), which was named Best
Nordic Documentary. After Naisenkaari (Gracious Curves) - a 1998 festival
favourite - she has made Rakkaus (The One and Only).
MANTILA, Auli. Born 1964. Scriptwriter, director. While still a student
in the Department of Film and Television at the Helsinki University of Art
and Design, she was awarded for Best Screenplay (Marja) at the Munich Film
Festival 1994. A writer and director of radio and teleplays, she had her feature
debut in 1997 by the award-winning Neitoperho (The Collector), which was
selected for Venice. She is currently working on he second feature, Pelon
maantiede (The Geography of Fear).
MATILA, ILKKA Y L. Born 1963. Producer, co-owner of Matila &
Röhr Productions. Educated in Berlin, and specialising in the development of
international co-productions, Matila started his career with The Co-
Production Office. In acquisition and distribution, he has worked for - among
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others - Germany's Neue Atlas Media, Denmark's Zentropa Entertainment.
In 1998 his company, Juju Media, merged with Marko Röhr Productions, to
become MRP.
MÄKELÄ, Aleksi. Born 1969. Director. The son of Finnish actor Vesa
Mäkelä, he is a selfmade filmmaker who tries to meet audiences halfway: "I'm
sick of the constant moaning you hear about no films being made in Finland
that cater to popular taste," he says. After two features, Romanovin kivet (The
Romanov Stones, 1993) and Esa ja Vesa - auringonlaskun retsastajat (Sunset
Riders, 1994), and Samppanjaa ja vaahtokarkkeja (Champagne and
Marshmallow), a popular Finnish television series, he made Häjyt (The Tough
Ones), closing in on 400,000 admissions domestically, and now successfully
released in Sweden.
MÄKELÄ, Jussi. Born 1956. Managing director of Buena Vista
International Finland. A marketing graduate whose grandfather started
Kinosto - one of Finland's oldest film companies - in 1920, he entered the
movie industry as distribution manager. As Kinosto merged with Adams and
Savoy to become Finnkino, he became part of the management trio, with
cousin Jukka Mäkelä and Markku Koistinen, in charge of distribution. A BVI
topper since 1997, he also distributes local product (Häjyt/The Tough Ones)
and recently signed an output deal with Svensjk Filmindustri. Also a superb
skeet shooter.
MÄNTTÄRI, Anssi Uolevi. Born 1941. Writer, director, producer. A
bohemian figure in Finnish Cinema, Mänttäri started his career as a runner.
He has written and directed more than 50 films, since his 1975 feature debut,
Pyhä perhe (The Holy Family), from a play by present Culture Minister, Claes
Andersson. A lead singer in his own band, he produces for Reppufilmi (=
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rucksack), and is currently completing a low-budget film shot in Spain,
Dirlandaa.
MÄNTY, Timo. Born 1961. Ceo-Finnkino. An international business
graduate, he left an executive position with the Hartwall Breweries in 1995,
when the Rautakirja Group - owner of Finnkino since 1994 - offered him the
top position with the company, which is Finland's largest distributor and
exhibitor (1996 national market share: approximately 50% in distribution,
60% in exhibition). He started his working life with Unilever and his first stint
with Rautakirja was in distribution (newspapers and magazines), before he was
lured away by Hartwall and then by the cinema, which he used to visit over
100 times annually. Most recently he opened Helsinki's Tennispalatsi, a 14-
screen multiplex.
MCCOY, Andy. Born 1962. Guitarist, songwriter. The founder and lead
guitarist of Hanoi Rocks, the all-time Finnish cult group, he became solo
guitarist of Iggy Pop. An acknowledged rock'n'roll icon, he was portrayed in
Pekka Lehto's documentary, The Real McCoy, selected for this year's Berlinale
Forum. During the production he broke both legs falling from a third floor
balcony, and wrote six new songs for the film over his 17 weeks of
reconvalescense. After his visit to Berlin, his hotel room had to be
refurbished.
MERTSOLA, Ilkka. Born 1965. Producer, production manager. After
five years of business studies, he took up film producing at the Helsinki
University in 1991. His production debut, Kaupunkisinfonia (Symphony of
the City), won the Rista Jarva Award in 1995. He is currently working as a line
producer with Villealfa Filmproductions and Sputnik.
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MILONOFF, Pekka. Born 1947. Actor, director, theatre manager.
Educated at Helsinki's Theatre Acadamy, he became co-founder of the Kom
Theatre - then a revolutionary drama group, now one of Finland's strongly-
profiled stages. The son of a Russian immigrant, he has made several
television series, including Vuoroin vieraissa (Everybody's Having an
Affair/1997). His first feature, Rikos ja rakkaus (Love and Crime), was
released earlier this year.
MOLLBERG, Rauni. Born 1929. Director. Originally an actor and
producer, he worked his way from the stage to television and is credited for
such Finnish classics as Meidän herramme muurahaisia (Our Lord's Aunts)
and Tehtaan varjossa (In the Shadow of the Factory). His feature directorial
debut in 1973, Maa on syntinen laulu (The Earth Is a Sinful Song), became
synonymous with Finnish Cinema for a decade, taking more than 700,000
admissions domestically. Later films include Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown
Soldier, 1986), a remake of Edvan Laine's 1954 classic from Väinö Linna's
novel. A former arts professor, he has just completed two short fiction films
and is now beginning on the third.
MYKKÄNEN, Jouni. Born 1939. Managing director of The Finnish
Film Foundation, politician. A former radio and television journalist and
deputy director general of public broadcaster YLE, he took over the top
position at the foundation in late 1995. An experienced politician - previously
a Member of Parliament, now with a seat in the Espoo City Council - he
presided over the ministry of communications' committee proposing the
future structures of radio and television in Finland. The driving force behind
the current success of Finnish Cinema.
NIEMI, Raimo O. Born 1948. Scriptwriter, director. Educated at the
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Moscow State University and graduated from VGIK in 1976, he has
specialised in films and television series about children and animals. Best
known for his tales of Susikoira Roi (Roy, the German Shepherd), he
combined the interests for his third feature, Poika ja ilves (Tommy and the
Wild Cat), which has so far reached close to 300,000 admissions domestically.
His Tomas won the grand prix in Moscow 1997.
NURMI, Maila (aka Vampira). Born 1914. The only Finnish actress to
achieve Hollywood and international fame. She was discovered by US director
Ed Wood for his 1958 epic, Plan 9 from Outer Space, at a time when she was
blacklisted by Tinseltown and living on $13 a week. A close friend of James
Dean, Bela Lugosi and Mae West (who sent her home-made meatballs by
limo), she became a bonne viveuse in the dream factory and a presenter of
midnight horror films on KABC Television. She was portrayed in Mika J
Ripatti's documentary, Vampira - About Sex, Death and Taxes.
OLSSON, Claes. Born 1948. Director, producer, distributor, professor,
managing director of Kinoproduction/Kinoscreen. A student of philosophy
and sociology at the University of Helsinki, he dropped out to make
underground films in the 1960s, including Luokkataistelu-lehti (The Class
Struggle), which won a state award in 1970. Credited for more than 70 short
films, documentaries and features, he founded Kinotuotanto - now
Kinoproduction - in 1977. The owner of Kinoscreen and Bio Illusion, he was
given the honorary title of professor of arts in 1996, and in 1997 co-launched
KinoPalatsi Sandrew-Metronome. Last year he made his second feature as a
director, Underbara kvinnor vid vatten (Amazing Women by the Sea).
OUTINEN, Kati. Born 1961. Actress. After her graduation from
Helsinki's Theatre Academy in 1984, she was engaged by one of Finland's
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most popular theatre groups, KOM, where she stayed for 10 years. Her screen
debut was in Tapio Suominen's Täältä tullaan, elämä (Right on, Man, 1980),
one of the local crowd-pleasers of the decade. She went on to become an Aki
Kaurismäki regular, playing the lead in such features as Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö
(The Match Factory Girl, 1990) - a 63-minute film in which she has the
opening line after 16 minutes, "Pieni olut" (A small beer…) - Kauas pilvet
karkaavat (Drifting Clouds), and most recently his 1999 silent, Juha.
PIETARI. Born 1990. A flat-coated fox terrier with no previous acting
experience, he was cast in the central part of a dog in Aki Kaurismäki's
Cannes contender, Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds). According to his
master's voice - producer Klaus Heydemann's - he has become somewhat
conceited, following Kaurismäki's appraisal of his thespian talent ("If I'd
known he was so good, I would have written him some lines," he said.)
Currently unemployed in his main profession, he occasionally stands in as a
watchdog.
POHJOLA, Ilppo. Born 1957. Director, producer, production designer,
multimedia artist. After studies in the US and Canada, graduating from the
Faculty of Art, Design and Film of London's Harrow College of Higher
Education in 1988, he has produced numerous award-winning short films as
well as multimedia installations. Most recently he directed Asphalto, about
demolition car derbys, showing in this year's Berlinale Panorama. He is
currently breeding ten wolves for his new feature, Sudenmorsian (The Wolf's
Bride), from Aino Kallas' novella.
PÖLÖNEN, Markku. Born 1957. Director, writer. Broke a 400-year-old
family tradition when he decided not to become a farmer in the Finnish
countryside. Attended Helsinki University for three years, before devoting
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himself to his favourite hobby, filmmaking. Credited for, among others,
Onnen maa (The Land of Happiness, 1993) and Kivenpyörittäjän kylä (The
Last Wedding), the most popular local feature in Finland in 1995. Also his
award-winning Kuningasjätkä (A Summer on the River) placed No 1 on the
Finnish charts in 1998. He is currently preparing a film about Badding - Rauli
Somerjoki - the lead character of 1970s' Finnish rock'n'roll.
RASTIMO, Kaisa. Director, writer. Born 1961. Having completed her
film studies at Helsinki University in 1988, she made her first 45-minute
feature, Lauran huone (Laura's Room). After a couple of documentaries, her
full-length debut, Suolaista ja makeaa (Bittersweet), was released in 1995, as
the first feature by a woman director in Finland for eight years. Her second
feature, Säädyllinen murhenäytelmä (A Respectable Tragedy) was released to
critical acclaim last autumn.
RÖHR, Marko. Born 1961. Producer, managing director of Marko Röhr
Productions. After majoring in business management strategies, specialising in
the economic structures of the international and domestic film industries, he
has been in feature film and television production since 1985. Using
underwater photography, he has had several wet experiences both as a
director and a producer. His new company with Ilkka Y L Matila, MRP,
backed Pirjo Honkasalo's Tulennielijä (Fire Eater) and Olli Saarela's
Rukajärven tie (Ambust), and is now in pre-production with with Ilkka
Vanne's Lakeuden kutsu (Return to Plainlands), from Antti Tuuri's novel.
SAARELA, Olli. Born 1965. Scriptwriter, director. The only trained
fireman in the Finnish film industry, Saarela began studies of literature and
philosophy at the University of Helsinki, later to graduate as a director from
the Department of Film and Television at the Helsinki University of Art and
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Design in 1996. After several short films, he had his feature debut in 1997, by
Lunastus (The Redemption). Closing in on 400,000 admissions domestically,
his Rukajärven tie (The Ambush) is one of this year's top attractions of Finnish
Cinema.
SAARINEN, Lasse. Born 1961. Producer. A former student of literature
and aesthetics, and a dealer of antique books since, he became an assistant
producer on Ilkka Järvi-Laturi's Kotia päin (Homebound). As a producer he
has been credited for, among others, Ilkka Järvi-Laturi's Tallinnan pimeys
(Darkness in Tallinn). His latest, Veikko Aaltonen's Rakkaudella, Maire (Kiss
Me in the Rain), will have its world première in the MIFF. The proud owner
of Urho Kekkonen's Peugeut 505, a gift to the late president from François
Mitterand.
SALMINEN, Kai. Born 1946. A newspaper and television journalist, he
co-founded Epidem Productions in 1969, to become the producer of
numerous shorts and documentaries. Also an experienced beekeeper - at the
height of his career producing honey from 40 hives (after unsuccessful
attempts with snails and asparagus) - he joined the Finnish Foundation as film
consultant in 1991. Two years later, he was signed to build up the country's
MEDIA Desk. Currently working free-lance.
SALMINEN, Timo. Born 1952. Director of photography. The son of
Ville Salminen, director of the golden era of Finnish Cinema, Salminen began
his collaboration with the Brothers Kaurismäki in 1981. He has since
photographed most Aki Kaurismäki's films, including the 1996 Cannes
contender, Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds), as well as Juha - in this
year's Berlinale - and other productions from Villealfa. He never lets it
influence his work that he is totally blind of colours.
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SARA, Kari. Born 1951. Producer. As a free-lance production manager,
Kari Sara worked on 20 features, before he founded his own company, Dada
Filmi, in 1990. To produce "popular films with artistic ambitions", he selected
two directors, Matti Ijäs and Markku Pölönen. Neither has disappointed him.
Pölönen, whose Kivenpyörittäjän kylä (The Last Wedding) became most
popular local feature in Finland in 1995, also made Finland's top box office
attraction in 1998, Kuningasjätkä (A Summer by the River). Ijäs, who has
bagged a First Prize in Gothenberg, has rececently released Sokkotanssi
(Blindfolded).
SELIN, Markus. Born 1960. In 1981 Markus Selin was the second to
open a video distribution company in Finland, releasing 800 titles within three
years. Entering production, he teamed up with Renny Harlin for Sunset
Riders, and went on to work with him in the US. In Finland he set up Solar
Films, a leading producer of television programming, credited for 40 episodes
of TV4's Tähtitehdas (Star Factory), the first Finnish soap. Solar Films' first
feature, Aleksi Mäkelä's Häjyt (The Tough Ones), was released early 1999 and
has till now exceeded 300,000 admissions domestically. He has another three
productions in development.
SILTALA, Mika. Writer, editor, publisher, distributor, exhibitor, festival
director. Born 1961. Cinema has been his life since he became president of
Helsinki's Click Film Society in 1984. A co-founder of the award-winning Like
Publishing Company, where he edits books on cinema, in 1988 he instigated -
and is still the programme director of - Helsinki's Love & Anarchy Film
Festival. In 1990, he instigated the Cinema Mondo distribution and exhibition
company. Last autumn he took over Helsinki's totally-renovated Rex Cinema.
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SIMMA, Paul-Anders. Director, producer. Born 1959. A native Lapp,
and a former Nordic champion of lasso throwing, he was educated at
Stockholm's Film School. From 1981 to 1985, he was a producer for Swedish
public broadcaster SVT Kanal 2, with a short stint at ABC's Good Morning
America. Credited for 25 short films and teleplays - including the award-
winning Let's Dance! - he made his feature directorial bow with Sagojogan
ministeri (The Minister of State). His latest film is Oaivveskaldjut/Antakaa
meille meidän luurankomme! (Give Us Our Skeletons).
SOHLBERG, Kari. Born 1940. Director of photography. Since 1961
Sohlberg has done more than 40 Finnish features and been awarded the local
Oscar, the Jussi, for several of them, including Pekka Parikka's Pohjanmaa
(Plainlands). As work piles up - last year he shot three features - he has taken
on his son, Konsta, as an assistant cameraman.
TIKKA, Pia. Writer, director, photographer. Born 1961. Originally a
graphic designer and visual artist, she started at Helsinki Film School in 1989.
Two years later, she landed a job as a camera assistant, then worked in
different capacities on 21 productions until her feature debut Yemanjan tyttäret
(Daughters of Yemanja, 1995). After Hiekkamorsian (Sand Bride), produced by
her own company, Oblomovies, she is in pre-production with her next film.
TÖRHÖNEN, Lauri. Born 1947. Director, professor. Also a Mediheli
pilot (flying ambulance helicopters) and a member of Helsinki's City Council,
he was named professor in film and television at the Helsinki University in
1976. In between lecturing, he has found time to direct more than 20 films,
including six features from Palava enkeli (Burning Angel) in 1984 until, most
recently, Kasvoton mies (The Faceless Man) for Jörn Donner in 1994. Also
for Donner he will direct Hylätyt talot, autiot pihat (Abandoned Houses,
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Deserted Yards).
TYKKYLÄINEN, Kirsi. Born 1949. Head of the international
department at The Finnish Foundation. A language graduate in Russian and
English, she was a lecturer at Helsinki University when, in 1983, she was
signed by the foundation. A spare-time singer (and sometime belly dancer),
she has frequently appeared with the Leningrad Cowboys, as well as played in
several films, including a lead role in Aki Kaurismäki's Pidä huivista kinni,
Tatjana (Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana, 1995). Spending more than 100
days annually at international festivals and markets, she has become the
Foreign Face of Finnish Cinema.
VILHUNEN, Jukka. Born 1950. Managing director of KinoPalatsi
Sandrew-Metronome. Originally a historian, he became secretary general for
the Federation of Finnish Film Societies as his enthusiasm for American
westerns displaced that for sociology theories. From exhibition and
distribution with Gaudeamus and Nordfilmi, he became managing director of
the Finnish Film Foundation in 1986. In 1991, he started his own consultant
company, Juvi Media. A co-owner of Helsinki's KinoPalatsi Sandrew-
Metronome 1997.
VON BAGH, Peter. Film historian, journalist, critic. Born 1943. What
he doesn't know about Finnish Film would not even fill the back of your
business card. Since 1985, the unpaid programme director of the Midnight
Sun Festival in Sodankylä, each year unspooling one of the weirdest events in
the film world 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, one week before the
mosquito season starts (which not all of them fully respect). The editor of
several books and a CD-ROM, Kino Palatsi, comprising the full history of
Finnish Cinema.
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VUORINEN, Esa. Born 1945. Cinematographer. A graduate from the
Department of Film and Television at the Helsinki University of Art and
Design, he has photographed 32 full-length features - 11 in Sweden for,
among others, Kjell Grede and Vilgot Sjöman, and the rest in Finland. The
first professor of cinematography at his old university, he is currently building
up the technical facilities for the education. The acknowledged elegantier of
Finnish Cinema, he is a keen archer.
VÄÄNÄNEN, Kari. Born 1953. Actor, director, drama professor. After
teaching acting for four years at Helsinki's Theatre Academy, where he
studied, he has returned to acting and directing. His earlier film roles include
Mika Kaurismäki's Rosso and Aki Kaurismäki's La vie de Bohème and Kauas
pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds). His feature directorial debut, Vaiennut kylä
(The Quiet Village), was premièred in 1997. He is currently seen in Olli
Saarela's Rukajärven tie (Ambush), and he will play the lead in Ilkka Vanne's
Lakeuden kutsu (Return to Plainlands).
YLÄNEN, Helena. Born 1943. Film journalist and film critic, employed
by the Helsingin Sanomat (500,000 circulation) since 1969. An early film buff
at 11, she crashed police fences to greet US actor William Holden at Helsinki's
Vaakuna Hotel. A 1960s drop-out from Helsinki University - now the
doyenne of Finnish film criticism - she has been a sworn supporter of Aki and
Mika Kaurismäki and their Villealfa Filmproductions.