Finnish Film Affair 24

The Finnish Weird (F-Weird) programme of FFA, which runs 25-27 September, is described as “a playground for your wildest ideas and a party for your extravagant thoughts.” The two doc projects (out of an overall selection of twenty) are the Indian/Czech ‘Death. Karma. Moksha.’ by Roy Dipankar, and the Finnish ‘Postpartum – Are You Ready for the Challenge’ by Milla Puolakanaho.

Jussi Sandhu’s feature doc project concerns the world’s first higher-education programme for social media, launched in Tampere, Finland. “But I’m No Influencer explores the questions of education export and social media through the eyes of a Filipino immigrant, Mark. But what should we all really learn about Influencing?” asks producer Pasi Hakkio. “It deals with global questions of education and social media. Rarely can such a character-driven story open up themes this big.”

The Norwegian/Finnish In Cod We Trust is described as a portrait of a town, and a meditation on home and belonging. “To a fishing village, at the very top of the world, in the far north of Norway, people from all over the world have come in search of a better life. It creates an exciting symbiosis of people, and a society completely out of the ordinary,” producer Benedikte Bredesen tells Business Doc Europe of her FFA project.

Riding with Death is a poetic feature documentary that shows the emotional impacts of the tuberculosis outbreaks in Finland between 1920-60, and details the sanatorium culture that emerged. “We feel that after the Covid-19 experience, the film gives us necessary historical perspective. Many of us suffered alone during Covid-19, but it did not have to be that way. The rich sanatorium culture in Finland shows us another approach,” says producer Markku Tuurna.