Finnish Film Affair 25

“The project selections this year were really tough, simply because there were so many strong candidates with compelling perspectives and bold stories. In fact, our Fiction in Development and Documentary open calls both received almost twice as many projects compared to last year, which goes to show the desirability and necessity for an industry event such as ours,” comments Head of Industry Lydia Taylerson. The FFA Showcase Day will take place September 25 in Helsinki.

The Best Documentary Project was handed to Sense and Sensibility (Hanna Nordenswan), receiving €3000 from the City of Helsinki. The Best F-Weird Project was named as Boobs (Milla Puolakanaho, Juha Ilmari Laine). This year, FFA featured 44 projects in total, with five fiction films in progress and nine in development, nine documentary projects, six series as well as the 10 unique F-Weird projects across genres and formats. The Nordic Selection showcased five projects from all Nordic countries. The 14th FFA closes September 26.

In the Finnish doc project, pitched both at Finnish Film Affair and Nordisk Panorama, self-made enthusiast Valerio and scientist Sebastian simply can’t stand by and watch their favourite animals go extinct. So, as a last resort they take the endangered fish, geckos and salamanders into their own homes. “The film's number one strength internationally lies in its totally new point of view and cinematic values,” producer Juha Löppönen tells BDE. “Of course, the fact that the main characters speak German, Italian and English makes it easier to market and sell to international audiences.”

“Creaturama – Epic of the Animals is unique because it is not a documentary about animals, but a cinematic collaboration with them,” Finnish director/writer Juha Suonpää [Lynx Man] tells Business Doc Europe of his new project, pitched at FFA in Helsinki. “For seven years, I placed trail cameras deep in Finnish forests — not to pursue or explain wildlife, but to allow animals themselves to trigger the camera - and to shape the film.”

Noted Finnish actress Pihla Viitala (Deadwind, Netflix) makes her directorial debut with the feature doc Carmen!, described as “a powerful portrait of girlhood, following a Finnish Romani girl’s rarely seen journey from the innocence of childhood to the struggles of womanhood.” The film is produced by Elise Pietarila of Finnish production company Gimmeyawallet. “The beauty of the film is that, despite the challenges of Carmen’s life, the film isn’t a sob story - quite the opposite,” Pietarila tells Business Doc Europe.

The Recovery is a powerful and timeless story of resilience and transformation, telling of Pekka Hyysalo, a rising pro-freestyle skier battling to reclaim his life and identity after a devastating accident. “This story has all the attributes to positively affect people from all walks of life to go the extra mile, and face the hardships that life throws at us all,” producer Van Padhaal tells BDE.

Identity and belonging are at the heart of Finnish Einari Paakkanen’s feature doc in which two women fight to prove that Kven culture – a Norwegian minority culture with Finnish roots – is alive and kicking, even as everybody tries to convince them otherwise. “Director Einari has a unique cabability to get close to his characters, and he has a very warm-hearted approach. His films are both emotional and humouristic. This is definitely a strength for the production.” says producer Marianne Mäkelä (napafilms).