The Board of the Finnish Film Foundation has granted a total of €295,000 in support to six new documentaries, one of which (Children of the Lowest Heaven and Varado) is a minority co-production. In total, €3,352,500 euros was granted to six feature films and six documentaries in the latest funding round.
The documentary projects are:
Children of the Lowest Heaven (Ønskeliv). Minority co-production. Director & scriptwriter: Birgitte Stærmose. Finnish co-producer: Bufo. Support sum: €35,000. Synopsis: A hybrid feature film, and an extension of the short film Out of Lovefrom 2009, which featured an ensemble of street kids in Kosovo. Children of the Lowest Heaven features the same children – now young adults – and focuses on their transition to adulthood in postwar Kosovo as they try to create a life for themselves in Europe’s youngest, poorest and most corrupt nation.
In the Ballpark of Finland (Suomeen juurtuneet). Director & scriptwriter: Arto Halonen. Producer: Arto Halonen / Art Films Production AFP. Support sum: €50,000. Synopsis: In the 1970s, Black American basketball players introduced multiculturalism to Finland, and later their sons launched a battle for equality.
Sodan ja rauhan lapset. Director & scriptwriter: Ville Suhonen. Producer: Jouko Aaltonen/Illume. Support sum: €80,000 euros.
Oh No, a Mouse! (Täällä haisee hiiri). Animation. Director & scriptwriter: Iiti Yli-Harja. Producer: Oona Saari / Illume. Support sum: €45,000.
Making Art in My Dreams. Animation. Director & scriptwriter: Leena Jääskeläinen. Producer: Marko Tandefelt / Osuuskunta Animaatiokopla. Support sum: €50,000. Synopsis: An animated VR documentary about the relationship and boundaries between creative work and dreaming. This VR experience aims at exploring what it might be like to enter someone else’s dreams.
Varado. Minority co-production. Directors & scriptwriters: Nicos Argillet, Stèphane Correa. Producer: Kaarle Aho / Making Movies. Support sum: €35,000. Synopsis: In the heart of the Amazon, on the border between French Guyana and Suriname, illegal miners are destroying the rainforest in the hope of a better life.
