The Finnish Film Foundation has invested €660,000 in nine documentary projects during its latest round of funding. These include two majority and four minority doc feature projects, two series and a short doc. A major beneficiary is The Pitcher series, about Finnish baseball player Konsta Kurikka making it big in the US, which received 216,873 euros in FFF support.
MAJORITY FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES
- Sense and Sensibility (Järki ja tunne) Director & scriptwriter: Hanna Nordenswan. Producer: Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen. Production company: Zone2 Pictures. Support sum: 138,000 euros. As the seasons change in Malmi Cemetery, a story of letting go unfolds in Sense and Sensibility. In her recovery from alcoholism, daughter Christa has buried her feelings and grown into a symbiotic relationship with her mother, but as mother Carita approaches retirement, the security of shared work and leisure time is at breaking point. Will Christa dare to make room for her feelings and open up her sheltered life?
- Unmade in Japan Directors & scriptwriters: Catarina Diehl, Tommi Seitajoki. Producer: Tommi Seitajoki. Production company: Impressio Films. Support sum: 90,000 euros. An autobiographical film about divorce, trauma, and lack of communication. Catarina tries to repair her family’s broken relationships by making a film about her parents’ divorce, but instead she may only deepen the family’s wounds.
DOCUMENTARY SERIES
- Kunnes ruoste meidät erottaa Director: Ossi Piispanen. Scriptwriters: Ossi Piispanen, Emilia Hernesniemi. Producer: Oskari Huttu. Production company: Lucy Loves Drama. Support sum: 160,000 euros
- The Pitcher Director & scriptwriter: Lotta-Kaisa Riistakoski. Producer: Tiina-Mari Pitkänen. Production company: Rabbit Films. Support sum: 216,873 euros. Konsta Kurikka is one of the top Finnish pitchers in pesäpallo, Finland’s national game, which has similarities to baseball. Writer-director Lotta-Kaisa Riistakoski follows Kurikka on his quest to become the first Finn to make it to America’s Major Leagues, growing into an idol and experiencing both thrilling wins as well as bitter disappointments.
MINORITY FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES
- About Horses Wives and Weapons (BE-FI-FR) Director & scriptwriter: Volkan Üce. Finnish co-production company: Silmu Films. Producer: Magalie Dierick, Emmy Oost, Jenni Jauri, Valérie Montmartin. Production company: Timescapes (Belgium). Support sum: 50,000 euros. With a dose of humour, director Volkan Üce explores a young man’s role in the modern society.
- Good Girls (SE-FI) Director & scriptwriter: Ania Winiarska. Finnish co-production company: Tekele Productions. Producers: Melissa Lindgren, Tobias Janson. Production company: Story (Sweden). Support sum: 45,000 euros. Good Girls is a coming-of-age story of young Polish girls living in a correctional center. The girls undergo a behavioral reprogramming so that they may become good girls. But what does it take? And is that even something they want? Told through the eyes of the girls, this documentary depicting the micro cosmos of the center, reflects the values and expectations on young women in today’s Poland.
- Homesick (DK-KR-FI) Director & scriptwriter: Tanja Inwol. Production company: Euphoria Film. Producer: Rikke Tambo, Virpi Suutari. Production company: Tambo Film (Denmark). Support sum: 32,000 euros. Homesick delves into the lived experience of an adoptee from Korea, growing up in a dysfunctional Danish family. After the deaths of her adoptive parents, Tanja Inwol turns to the mediums of film, imagination and writing to reflect on memories and unveil the complexities of transnational adoption.
- The Silence of the Lams (IE-FR-FI) Director & scriptwriter: Ciaran Deeney. Finnish co-production company: Polygraf. Producers: Ciaran Deeney, Dave Clarke. Production company: EZ Films (Ireland). Support sum: 55,000 euros. A curry-war has broken out in Ballyfermot, Ireland. A son has opened up a Chinese take-away right next door to his dad’s long standing operation. It’s big news and everyone is talking about it, but they’re not talking to each other.
SHORT DOCUMENTARY
- Eclipse (Auringonpimennys). Directors & scriptwriters: Azar Saiyar, Juuso Paaso. Producer: Mika Taanila. Production company: Testifilmi. Support sum: 34,000 euros The short film Eclipse looks at the bankruptcy of a small entrepreneur during the depression of the 1990s in Finland and the personal collapse that followed. It paints a picture of the euphoria of the upswing years, the middle-class dream, the longing for success and love, and growing up in the aftermath of the recession. The documentary film focuses on a forty-something entrepreneur and family man, Pekka Paaso, the father of one of the directors.
