Finnish Film Affair 2025 will this year showcase nine new Finnish documentary projects during its Showcase Day, which takes place September 25. Additionally, FFA’s F-Weird pitch event will include a brand new animated doc project on the life of boobs.
“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.
DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE
- In a Box by Liinu Grönlund, Okku Nuutilainen. Producer: Juha Löppönen (Mouka Filmi). Synopsis: Sebastian, a scientist, and Valerio, a self-made enthusiast, cannot just stand by watching animals go extinct. Armed with buckets and boxes, our protagonists take us to a world, where even the tiniest species are precious and friendship prevails.
- The Recovery by Jukka Metsäaho, Jyri Paajamaa. Producers: Van Padhaal, Jyri Paajamaa (Pablo Films). Synopsis: “The Recovery is a powerful story of resilience and transformation. It follows Pekka Hyysalo, a rising freestyle skier whose career was shattered after a crash in 2010. Waking in hospital with a traumatic brain injury, he couldn’t walk, talk, or move independently. What was meant to be an Olympic journey towards the podium became a fight to simply survive. But it’s more than a recovery story; it’s about redefining identity and one’s purpose. Through intimate footage and expert insights, the film explores the brain’s incredible ability to heal (neuroplasticity) and the concept of post-traumatic growth that suffering can lead to a deeper sense of strength, focus and meaning.
- Rapland by Miina Alajärvi. Producer: Oona Saari (Illume). Synopsis: Rapland is a documentary musical about rap music and hip hop culture in North Finland and Sápmi. The story of the genre’s evolution from the early 90s to the present day is told through the impact rap music has had on individuals and experiences of identity in the North. In the film, we follow four northern rappers – Hannibal, Lapin Akka, Yungmiqu, and Talonpoika Lalli – who share their stories and music with us. Their voices reveal different perspectives on hip hop culture in the northernmost parts of Europe.
- Creaturama – Epic of the Animals by Juha Suonpää. Producers: Juha Suonpää, Liis Nimik (Swamphead Oy & Klara Films Oü) Synopsis: Creaturama is an experimental nature film where the human gaze steps aside and the forest begins to speak. It’s a journey into otherness and encounters beyond control. Built from tens of thousands of hours of trail camera footage, the film reveals the forest’s hidden rhythms with reverence.
- The Runaway Brain by Sanna Liinamaa. Producer: Jorma Kaulanen(Kajo Productions Ltd). Synopsis: The Runaway Brain is a documentary film combining animation and creative documentary material, in which Nikke Liinamaa’s brain jumps out of his skull and sets off on an adventure through a drawn world. It is a world Nikke intuitively creates each day, like a visual diary. The journey of the brain passes through fantasies and happiness, into the depths of anger and depression, and returns to the light.
- Jamila’s Children by Arezo Ariapoor. Producer: Iiris Härmä (Guerrilla Films). Synopsis: Directed by and starring Arezo, an Afghan-born filmmaker, this intimate documentary draws from deeply personal roots. The eldest of six siblings, Arezo was thrust into the role of guardian after the untimely death of their parents—while some of her brothers and sisters were still minors. Set over the course of a single transformative year, the film follows the now-grown siblings as they navigate the friction between tradition and modernity, between inherited values and individual desires. As each charts their own uncertain path, tensions simmer, loyalties are tested, and bonds are redefined.
- Secret Reading Club of Kabul by Shakiba Adil, Elina Hirvonen. Producer: Marko Talli (Yellow Film & TV, Ten Thousand Images). Synopsis: In Taliban‑ruled Afghanistan, a small circle of young women risks everything to meet in secret and read banned books – from Anne Frank’s Diary to Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Filming themselves with hidden phones, they reveal a life of defiance, humour, and friendship under constant threat.
- Second Acts by Anu Kuivalainen. Produced by: Markku Tuurna (Filmimaa Oy). Synopsis: Second Acts is a poetic documentary about transformation through theatre. At Helsinki-based Portti Theatre, current and former prisoners step on stage not to play roles—but to strip them away. Behind tattoos and trauma, they ask: Who do I want to be?
- The Sense and Sensibility by Hanna Nordenswan. Producer: Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen (Zone2 Pictures Oy). Synopsis: Sense and Sensibility tells the story of a unique mother-daughter relationship at a cemetery, where Carita works as the cremator and her daughter Christa as the undertaker. As the seasons change, a story of letting go unfolds.
F-WEIRD SELECTION
- Boobs by Milla Puolakanaho, Juha Ilmari Laine. Producer: Tero Suomela (Animagency Oy). Synopsis: Boobs is a short animated documentary exploring the evolving meaning of breasts through Milla’s life—from childhood to motherhood. With humour and tenderness, it reflects on body image, identity, and acceptance, highlighting how society, others, and ourselves shape our views on the body.
THE JURY FOR THE BEST DOCUMENTARY PROJECT
- Katre Kajamäe-Gupta is a Project Manager at the Council of Europe’s Eurimages fund. She previously worked at the Estonian Film Institute and served as Head of the Creative Europe MEDIA Desk Estonia. Before joining Eurimages, she was Head of Seminars and Workshops at Baltic Event & Industry@Tallinn, where she coordinated industry training and professional development initiatives.
- Jason Ryle is the International Programmer for the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Global Indigenous Cinema at the Toronto International Film Festival. Ryle has also previously worked as the Executive Director of imagineNATIVE, and advisor for Indigenous films at Berlinale. Apart from TIFF, Jason works as an independent producer, curator, and story editor.
- Natalie Campbell-Reid is Executive Assistant in Business Development and Acquisitions at Together Films, where she combines her background in marketing with a passion for social impact storytelling.
THE JURY FOR THE BEST F-WEIRD PROJECT
- Claire Willats, Producer, Two Magpies Entertainment. Willats is a seasoned film executive, best known for her position as Head of the Nordics team at Netflix, as well as roles at Film4 and Universal Pictures. Willats has been recognised for her ability to bridge creative vision with audience insight, championing projects that resonate both locally and internationally, particularly in amplifying voices and stories from the Nordic region.
- Javier Puerto Garcia, Programmer, PÖFF Rebels With a Cause. Film & Video Curator, organizing programs, exhibitions, and panels worldwide as a freelancer, as well as working for Festivals. Since 2011, he has been programming at Tallinn Black Nights, managing films from Spanish-speaking territories and leading the singular “Rebels with a Cause” Competition. He co-founded the REC International Film Festival of Tarragona (2001), where he created RECLab for new Spanish filmmakers (2014), now opening a branch for international professionals. His last adventure is panoramica, promoting recent cult Spanish films (panoramica.film)
- Maria Sol, is a Finland-based fiction and documentary filmmaker, an alumna of the Academy of Moving People and Images (AMPI), and the Berlinale EFM Toolbox program participant. Her work explores permaculture, somatic body practices, community-driven soil projects, and socio-environmental issues.
