CCiinneemmaa iinn

FFiinnllaanndd

Sakari Toiviainen

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Some 350 feature films have been made in Finland in the past fifteen

years - an average of 15-20 films a year. The number is fairly high considering

Finland’s 5 million population and the fact that the market is increasingly

dominated by films imported from the US.

A CRISIS IN THE 1950S

A crisis hit the Finnish film industry in the 1950s, reflecting a global

trend. Audiences shrank, first because of television, then because of the

breakthrough of video, and it was not until the late 1980s that the downward

slide came to an end. It was understood at the end of the 1950s that State

subsidies were necessary, and the first support system was established in the

early 1960s in the form of State Awards. The Finnish Film Foundation was set

up at the end of the decade, and after a chequered history its support system

has finally stabilized. The Film Foundation does not produce films itself, but

it decides on financing and regulates loans out of funds comprising firstly

State grants to the arts, and secondly fees for unrecorded cassettes and

television rights and a share of box office receipts.

When the production system dominated by large companies collapsed in

the early 1960s, a ‘new Finnish wave’ emerged, i.e. films made by small

companies and distinctive cinema personalities. All this was again in keeping

with the international trend. This generation of transition steered the Finnish

film industry into the next decade, until it, too, was forced to step aside for

various reasons. Now, at the end of the 1990s, Risto Jarva, Mikko Niskanen

and Heikki Partanen are dead, and Jörn Donner, Erkko Kivikoski and Maunu

Kurkvaara have not made films since the early 1980s. Even veterans like Matti

Kassila and Rauni Mollberg seem to be having difficulties in carrying on with

their careers.

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A CHANGE OF GENERATION IN THE EARLY

1980S

A change of generation began in the early 1980s, and the decade

witnessed some thirty first films, many of which were unfortunately also their

makers’ last. Mika and Aki Kaurismäki emerged as pioneers of the new film,

but there were also other film-makers worth mentioning, e.g. Päivi Hartzell,

Matti Ijäs, Markku Lehmuskallio, Claes Olsson, Olli Soinio and Lauri

Törhönen.

Along with its young film-makers, Finnish cinema rediscovered the

theme of ‘rootless young people outside the mainstream of society’, thus

achieving rapport with the majority of their audience. The first push in this

direction was given by Tapio Suominen’s film Right On, Man! (1980), a great

success with both the public and the critics. This provided the same kind of

aesthetic and production stimulus as Under Your Skin in the mid-60s.

Suominen’s film captured something in the air that had been lost to Finnish

directors for a long time: it dealt with the problems of the age in a way that

reached a wide audience, and presented a picture young people could identify

with.

The 1980s also saw the advent of such fairytale movies as The King Who

Had No Heart (1982), Pessi and Illusia (1984), The Snow Queen (1987) and

Markku Lehmuskallios’ relentlessly visionary poetic works on the

confrontation between man and nature (The Raven’s Dance, 1980; Skierri, 1982;

Inuksuk, 1988) or Olli Soinio’s horror movie The Moonlight Sonata (1988).

Pekka Parikka applied the conventional epic approach in his films Plainlands

(1988) and The Winter War (1989), while Lauri Törhönen stepped forward as

an interpreter for the new urban ‘yuppie generation’ in his movies Tropic of Ice

(1987) and Insiders (1989).

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THE KAURISMÄKI BROTHERS AS TREND-

SETTERS

Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly the Kaurismäki brothers who have been

trendsetters and most visible representatives of the Finnish film industry both

in Finland and abroad. Their first collaboration projects, The Liar (1981) and

The Worthless (1982), directed by Mika Kaurismäki and written by Aki

Kaurismäki were like a refreshing breath of wind; they rejected the prevailing

production norms, rising from the foundation of the liberated, smallscale film-

making tradition of the ‘new waves’. This tradition included playing with roles,

associations, quotations, inside jokes and the relationship between film and

reality. Mika Kaurismäki has since approached conventional film-making

procedures and genres, using as his starting points a crime story (The Clan,

198884), a road movie (Rosso, 1985), a comedy (Cha Cha Cha, 1989) and

models from international gangster movies (Helsinki Napoli All Night Long,

1987) and adventure films (Amazon, 1990). During the 1990s Mika Kaurismäki

has worked mainly in the United States and has made more American films

than Finnish ones. An example is L.A. Without a Map (1998).

The younger brother, Aki Kaurismäki, has proved himself a stylistically

and thematically coherent and systematic film-maker personality characterized

by a stripped, disciplined expression, awareness of tradition, and rough, often

black humour. His way of presenting his marginal, dispossessed characters

combines criticism of current values with a disciplined moral pathos, for

instance in his ‘working class trilogy’ Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988)

and The Match Factory Girl (1990). Aki Kaurismäki started his career as director

with a version of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment (1983), set in Helsinki,

and continued with a fairytale-like satirical urban odyssey called Calamari Union

(1985) and a modern version of Shakespeare, Hamlet Goes Business (1987). Aki

Kaurismäki has placed most of his later films abroad, in the US (Leningrad

Cowboys Go America, 1989), London (I Hired a Contract Killer, 1990), and Paris

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(La Vie de Bohème, 1992). In his most recent work, Take Care of Your Scarf,

Tatjana (1994) and Drifting Clouds (1996), he returns to the terrain of Finnish

working class life.

Largely thanks to the Kaurismäki brothers, the international status of

Finnish cinema has improved considerably, and the overall standard and

artistic and technical quality can now compete with any country of the same

size. Finnish films have been shown widely at various events, both

retrospectives and festivals. At the Nordic Film Festival in Rouen, Finnish

films have won favourable attention among other Nordic output, as is

evidenced by the many special awards and the main award that went to Matti

Kassila’s The Glory and Misery of Human Life in 1989.

The Kaurismäki brothers are known not only in Europe but also in

North and South America and Japan. A retrospective of their output has been

arranged by the New York Museum of Modern Art, and at festivals they are

top names considered equal to other leading European film-makers. Aki

Kaurismäki has even become a cult director in many European countries. It is

true that, amid the mainstream of the film industry, Kaurismäki audiences are

small and specialized, but the brothers have succeeded in continuing to work

on limited budgets, limited international appreciation and in part even limited

financing.

FINNISH CINEMA DURING THE 1990S

During the 1990s, production of Finnish feature films has shrunk to 10

to 12 premieres a year. Meanwhile, television has increased its role in funding

films and production has split more clearly into two genres, namely, "popular"

and "artistic" films. Box office success, too, has contributed to the

polarisation, to the benefit of the few and the detriment of the rest.

Still, there has been no lack of new directors: more than a dozen have

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emerged during the current decade. Alongside the Kaurismäki brothers,

Veikko Aaltonen and Markku Pölönen have achieved notable status. Aaltonen

completed his first film, The Final Arrangement, for the Kaurismäkis’ company

back in 1987 but his real breakthrough came with his second picture, The

Prodigal Son, in 1992. This portrayal of a sadomasochistic relationship between

two men stylishly carted deep wells of violence and emotion. Pater Noster,

released in 1993, employed a similar thematic motif, the trauma caused by an

incestuous childhood relationship. Aaltonen's latest offering "Kiss me in the

Rain" (1999) studies the obsessional outbursts of violence of a lonely woman

of quality.

Markku Pölönen has distinguished himself as a chronicler of rural life. In

The Land of Happiness (1993), The Last Wedding (1995) and A Summer by the River

(1998) Pölönen returns to the North Karelia of his early years, a milieu of

robust country folk living through the crises of migration from the land and

ensuing societal change. Pölönen offers a full-blooded, naturalistic account of

the human condition, combinations of tragedy and comedy, nostalgia and

sharp intuitive insight.

A important feature of the Finnish cinema in the 1990s has been the

notable contribution of women directors. Pirjo Honkasalo began her career as

a director in the 1970s when she worked with Pekka Lehto. More recently she

has earned a high reputation as an independent film-maker through her

documentaries. Moving away from non-fiction, in 1998 she completed Fire

Eater, a dramatic film of great originality. With a fine sense of style Kaisa

Rastimo recounted the odyssey of a modern young woman in Bittersweet

(1995), and in A Respectable Tragedy (1998) she portrayed the position of a

woman stuck in a bourgeois marriage of the 1930s. Auli Mantila aroused

international attention with her first feature film, an exceptional portrait of a

lady entitled The Collector (1997) and she pursues the theme of violence

informed by the female point of view in The Geography of Fear (2000). In the

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course of the decade women distinguished themselves as documentarists. In

addition to Honkasalo, Anu Kuivalainen, Kiti Luostarinen, Virpi Suutari and

Susanna Helke raised the genre to a new level in quality and emotional

outreach.

THE FINNISH CINEMA AT THE TURN OF THE

MILLENNIUM

At the turn of the millennium the Finnish cinema appears to be in the

midst of a renaissance. The 1999 output brought quantity and quality,

displaying professionalism and originality in themes and styles. At the same

time, traditional "national" preoccupations were born anew in such works as

the war movie Ambush, from Olli Saarela, the wild western-Finnish drama The

Tough Ones, directed by Aleksi Mäkelä, and the biographical tribute to the late

Finnish athlete and entertainer Tapio Rautavaara, The Swan and the Wanderer

from Timo Koivusalo. The reawakening was reflected, too, in box office

receipts. In spring 1999 four domestic films topped the audience ratings,

namely Ambush, Tommy and the Wildcat, The Tough Ones and The Swan and the

Wanderer.

Who’s who In Finnish Cinema

AALTONEN, Veikko. Born 1955. Writer, director. From cinema studies

in 1973 at the University of Helsinki, he moved to production, mainly

working as an editor. He made his directorial debut in 1987 and his second

feature, Tuhlaajapoika (The Prodigal Son, 1992), won four national film

awards, as well as several international prizes. After Merisairas (Seasick, 1996),

he will première his Rakkaudella, Maire (Kiss Me in the Rain) at this year's

MIF. Besides breeding lambs and horses, he is currently preparing a

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documentary, Maa (Land), about European Union membership and its

influence on one specific Finnish farm.

AHOKAS, Harri. Born 1953. Distributor, exhibitor. Giving up

psychology studies at the University of Helsinki to run film clubs, he started

as general manager of Bio Illusion - an art-house cinema then owned by the

Students' Association - in 1984. Taken over by Claes Olsson in 1992, the 116-

seat theatre became a member of European Cinemas the following year,

importing, distributing and screening four to five mainly European films

annually. Now on leave to scrutinise local distribution for the Finnish Film

Foundation.

AHTILA, Eija-Liisa. Born 1959. Writer, director, visual artist. A graduate

from the University of Helsinki in 1985, her installations - eg about teenage

girls and sex, or the balance of the individual in society - have been shown all

over the world. In her latest three productions she has explored the

connection between short films and commercials. Lohdutusseremonia

(Consolation service), her latest project, will be exhibited at this year's

Biennale in Venice and also appear as a film.

ASTALA, Erkki. Born 1956. Head of production at the Finnish Film

Foundation. A film buff since his early teens, and chairman of a film society at

14, he became a journalist and critic, working for the festivals in Tampere and

Sodankylä. In 1984, he joined Villealfa Filmproductions, where he was

assistant director to Aki Kaurismäki on several films. In 1996 he was signed

by the foundation to be in charge of production, allocating funds for new

features.

DONNER, Jörn. Born 1933. Writer, director, producer, politician. A

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controversial figure in Finnish cultural life, he had directed four films -

including Miestä ei voi raiskata (Men Cannot Be Raped) - when he set up Jörn

Donner Productions in 1996, going on to produce more than 30 features.

Between 1972 and 1982 he was head of the Swedish Film Institute, assuring

Ingmar Bergman that he should just go ahead with Fanny och Alexander (Fanny

and Alexander) - as he would provide the financing. Most recently Finnish

Consul General in Los Angeles, he is now a member of the European

Parliament - a position he will leave next month (June). His numerous novels

have won him the Finlandia Prize for Literature.

HALONEN, Jari. Born 1962. Writer, actor, director. Still remembered at

Helsinki's Theatre Academy for his 1987 graduation work - it included

throwing human faeces at the audience - he set out "to make films that will

change the world without boring viewers to death". After Back to the USSR

(1992) and the highly experimental Lipton Cockton in the Shadows of Sodoma

(1995), he made Joulubileet (The Christmas Party), which premiered at

Finland's State Prison. Now shooting Rolling Stone, a biopic of Finland's

national writer, Aleksis Kivi.

HEYDEMANN, Klaus. Born 1962. Producer, managing director of

Bueno Pictures. Realising that business studies would prove a serious obstacle

to his passion for film, he left university and got a job on Peter Lindholm's

1985 feature Kill City. He went on to be credited - in different capacities - for

another 45 productions. From 1988 to 1996, he was assistant producer-

assistant manager at the Brothers Kaurismäki's Villealfa Filmproductions,

before opening his own company in 1997. One of his two dogs is Pietari, the

actor.

HONKASALO, Pirjo. Born 1947. Writer, director, cinematographer, set

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designer. Educated at the Finnish Film School and the Temple University of

Philadelphia, in 1975 she teamed up with director and producer Pekka Lehto,

with whom she made - among other films - Tulipää (Flame Top, 1980), a

contender at Cannes. Since 1985 she has mainly produced documentaries,

with several winning international awards, including Mysterion (1991) and, most

recently, Atman (1996). Her latest feature, Tulennielijä (Fire Eater), was in

competition at Locarno 1998, to become a regular on the festival circuit.

IJÄS, Matti. Born 1950. Writer, director. A student of journalism at

Tampere University, he was signed as a director by public broadcaster YLE,

for whom he still regularly makes television films. After his feature directorial

debut in 1983, Koomikko (The Comedian), he made two contemporary

comedies, Räpsy ja Dolly (Räpsy and Her Lover, 1990), which won First Prize

at Gothenburg, and Pilkkuja ja pikkuhousuja (Lyrics and Lace, 1992). Most

recently he premièred Sokkotanssi (Blindfolded).

JÄMES, Reiko. Born 1953. Marketing director of Finnkino. An educated

economist, he started his cinema career in his home town of Jyväskylä, before

he joined Finnkino in 1989. From heading Interprint Subtitling he became

branch manager video 1991, programme manager theatrical 1995, and

marketing director 1997. With a passion for old British cars, he needs to be

interested in cycling. Also runs to mid-sized poodles.

JÄMSÄ, Jouko. Born 1952. Managing director of Columbia TriStar

Egmont Film Distributors. Failing in socialising film culture in the Finnish

province, Jämsä eventually succeeded in privatising cinema business in the

Baltic republics of Estonia and Latvia. A former consultant for the Finnish

Film Foundation and development manager with Finnkino, he was running

the first laser-subtitling laboratory in the Baltics, when he was signed for the

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top position of the new distribution company in 1997.

JÄRVI-LATURI, Ilkka. Born 1961. Writer, director, producer. Educated

at Helsinki's Film School, he worked as an assistant director and also made

numerous shorts of his own - including Arsenic and Old Penises - before his

feature directorial debut, Kotia päin (Homebound), named Best Scandinavian

Film in 1990. His second feature, Tallinnan pimeys (Darkness in Tallinn)

achieved a similar nod in 1994. He is currently readying History Is Made at

Night, an international co-production starring with Bill Pullman and Irene

Jacob.

JUSSI. Born 1934. The Finnish Oscar, distributed annually by a

committee of Finnish film professionals. Made from plaster, the first 28.5-

centimetre statuette was made by Finnish sculptor Ben Renvall. Main

categories include Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best

Supporting Roles, Best Original Screenplay, Best Set Design, and Best Musical

Score. Still in plaster, a Concrete Jussi is given for Lifelong Achievement.

KAMRAS, Freddy. Born 1947. Distributor-exhibitor. In the business

since 1968, his Kamras Film Group - a member of Europa Cinema - is

running two theatres in Helsinki, including the seven-screen BioCity. He also

has cinemas in Jyväskylä and Kemi.

KAUKOMAA, Tero. Born 1960. Producer, managing director of

GNUfilms. A marketing and business graduate, starting his career with Mobil

Oil, Kaukomaa went on to work as a production manager for Elohopea-Film

and Villealfa Filmproduction. In 1994 he started GNUfilms with Tero Jartti to

produce Auli Mantila's Auli Mantila's Neitoperho (The Collector) and Markus

Nummi's Hyväntekijät (Good Deeds). With his new company, Blind Spot

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Pictures, he is currentlt shooting Mantila's Pelon maantiede (Geography of

Fear).

KAURISMÄKI, Aki. Born 1957. Writer, actor, director, producer.

Regarded as the most influential Finnish director of his generation, he

dropped his media studies at Tampere University to work "in real life",

including time as a postman and a dishwasher. He then learned basic

filmmaking at various European cinemathèques before he wrote the script for

and acted in his brother Mika Kaurismäki's film Valehtelija (The Liar, 1981).

Since his own debut Rikos ja rangaistus (Crime and Punishment) in 1983, he

has made 13 features and numerous shorts, including Kauas pilvet karkavaat

(Drifting Clouds), which was in competition at Cannes in 1996. His latest

feature, the silent Juha, was presented in this year's Berlinale Forum. He has

received the Finnish President's Pro-Finlandia Medal, as well as the top

FIM100,000 (US$20,000) Finnish Culture Prize.

KAURISMÄKI, Mika. Born 1955. Writer, director, producer. The first

Finn to finance a film with his Eurocard (which was eventually withdrawn) -

the FIM 300,000 (US$60,000) Rosso, in 1984 - he started out in low-budget

filmmaking, following his education at the Munich High School for Television

and Film. In recent years, he has moved into international film production,

directing - among others - Condition Red, a US-based thriller, and Los

Angeles without a Map, a French-UK-Finnish co-production based on

Richard Reyner's novel. His most recent production, Highway Society, is

ready for delivery. Besides a shelf of international awards, his films have

bagged four local Jussis.

KOISTINEN, Markku. Born 1952. Managing director, UIP Finland.

Already mad about cinema in his teens, he became a ticket collector and a

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projectionist in the provincial town of Kouvola, where in 1974 he took over

as theatre manager. Ten years later, he was signed by Kinosto, which was

shortly to be part of the Finnkino fusion. He was named local UIP topper in

1995.

LAMPELA, Jarmo. Born 1964. A coffee appasionata, with a preference

of Cuban brew, Lampela followed his 1992 graduation from film school by

acting studies at Helsinki's Theatre Academy. A writer and director of play for

stage and television, he made his feature debut in 1997 by Sairaan kaunis

maailma (Freakin' Beautiful World), performing well at the local box office.

His new novella film, Rakastin epätoivoista naista (I Loved a Desperate Woman),

won the Audience Award at Tampere earlier this year. Also addicted to off-

road bicycling, especially downhill.

LEHMUSKALLIO, Markku Ilmari. Born 1938. An educated forestry

technician, he turned to filmmaking in the early 1970s, and has since been

credited for numerous award-winning documentaries of life in the Deep

North. This genre is not without dangers: when shooting his trilogy on the

Nenetsy nomades of Northern Siberia, he lost all his teeth from eating

deepfrozen food. His latest opus, Uhri - elokuva metsästä (The Sacrifice - A

Film about a Forest) was shown in the 1999 Berlinale Forum.

LEHTO, Pekka. Director, producer. Born 1948. Entering filmmaking

after school, he set up a production company with Pirjo Honkasalo, which

operated between 1975 and 1985. Their Tulipää (Flame Top) was a 1981

Cannes entry and their last effort, Da Capo, showed in Directors' Fortnight in

1985. His own directorial credits include Kaivo (The Well); selected for Venice

in 1992. After Boy Hero, about Soviet role models for young pioneers during

the Stalin era, he made The Real McCoy, about Finnish rock'n'roll legend Andy

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McCoy.

LENINGRAD COWBOYS, The. Established 1986 (deriving from one

of Finland's first new wave bands, The Sleepy Sleepers). Acknowledged as the

world's worst rock'n'roll group, they have been featured in seven films by Aki

Kaurismäki. Headquartered at Helsinki's former Lada Car Sales, and

previously centred around Mato Valtonen (who has now left the group) and

Sakke Järvenpää, they run a couple of varied enterprises, from an authorised

Harley Davidson workshop to the Rio Bravo exotic food import company.

They hit international headlines and the MTV annual awards when

performing with the Russian Red Army Ensemble. Lending their name both

to a beer and vodka brand, they also run Helsinki's Colorado Bar.

LILLQVIST, Katarina. Writer, director, puppeteer. Born 1963. Having

completed her film studies in Finland, she joined public broadcaster YLE as

an editor, mainly working on documentaries. In 1989, she moved to Prague to

learn puppet animation at the DAMU, as an apprentice at the Jiri Trnka

Studio. Her credits include five puppet animation films, including Maalais

lääkäri (The Country Doctor), which concluded her Franz Kafka trilogy to

win a Silver Bear in Berlin in 1996. Her Ksenia pietarilainen (Ksenia of St

Petersburg) won the Grand Prix at Tampere 1999.

LINDBLAD, Christian. Born 1963. Scriptwriter, director, actor. Rarely

in a hurry, Lindblad let five years pass between his first feature, Ripa ruostuu

(Ripa Hits the Skids), and his scond telephone call to producer Klaus

Heydemann about his next project. The director of Space Pigs, he worked on

stage before entering cinema by a series of short films.

LINDMAN, Åke. Born 1928. Actor, director. An educated actor at

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Helsinki's Svenska Teatern, he turned to directing in the early 1960s. In the

last 30 years he has been credited for some of the country's most popular

television series, such as Myrskyluodon Maija (Maija from the Stormy Island).

On film he was originally cast as the bad guy, now he performs in a variety of

roles both in Finland and Sweden. He is currently completing what he

decscribes as "the dream of a lifetime," the film of the 1868 gold rush in

Lapland, Lapin kullan kimallus. Also a skilled football player, in the 1940s and

1950s he played 32 matches for the Finnish national team. Married to ex-Miss

Finland Pirkko Mannola.

LUOSTARINEN, Kiti. Born 1951. Scriptwriter, director. A philosophy

graduate from the University of Helsinki, Luostarinen has written and directed

a score of documentaries and fictional short films, including the award-

winning Sanokaa mitä näitte (Tell Me What You Saw), which was named Best

Nordic Documentary. After Naisenkaari (Gracious Curves) - a 1998 festival

favourite - she has made Rakkaus (The One and Only).

MANTILA, Auli. Born 1964. Scriptwriter, director. While still a student

in the Department of Film and Television at the Helsinki University of Art

and Design, she was awarded for Best Screenplay (Marja) at the Munich Film

Festival 1994. A writer and director of radio and teleplays, she had her feature

debut in 1997 by the award-winning Neitoperho (The Collector), which was

selected for Venice. She is currently working on he second feature, Pelon

maantiede (The Geography of Fear).

MATILA, ILKKA Y L. Born 1963. Producer, co-owner of Matila &

Röhr Productions. Educated in Berlin, and specialising in the development of

international co-productions, Matila started his career with The Co-

Production Office. In acquisition and distribution, he has worked for - among

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others - Germany's Neue Atlas Media, Denmark's Zentropa Entertainment.

In 1998 his company, Juju Media, merged with Marko Röhr Productions, to

become MRP.

MÄKELÄ, Aleksi. Born 1969. Director. The son of Finnish actor Vesa

Mäkelä, he is a selfmade filmmaker who tries to meet audiences halfway: "I'm

sick of the constant moaning you hear about no films being made in Finland

that cater to popular taste," he says. After two features, Romanovin kivet (The

Romanov Stones, 1993) and Esa ja Vesa - auringonlaskun retsastajat (Sunset

Riders, 1994), and Samppanjaa ja vaahtokarkkeja (Champagne and

Marshmallow), a popular Finnish television series, he made Häjyt (The Tough

Ones), closing in on 400,000 admissions domestically, and now successfully

released in Sweden.

MÄKELÄ, Jussi. Born 1956. Managing director of Buena Vista

International Finland. A marketing graduate whose grandfather started

Kinosto - one of Finland's oldest film companies - in 1920, he entered the

movie industry as distribution manager. As Kinosto merged with Adams and

Savoy to become Finnkino, he became part of the management trio, with

cousin Jukka Mäkelä and Markku Koistinen, in charge of distribution. A BVI

topper since 1997, he also distributes local product (Häjyt/The Tough Ones)

and recently signed an output deal with Svensjk Filmindustri. Also a superb

skeet shooter.

MÄNTTÄRI, Anssi Uolevi. Born 1941. Writer, director, producer. A

bohemian figure in Finnish Cinema, Mänttäri started his career as a runner.

He has written and directed more than 50 films, since his 1975 feature debut,

Pyhä perhe (The Holy Family), from a play by present Culture Minister, Claes

Andersson. A lead singer in his own band, he produces for Reppufilmi (=

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rucksack), and is currently completing a low-budget film shot in Spain,

Dirlandaa.

MÄNTY, Timo. Born 1961. Ceo-Finnkino. An international business

graduate, he left an executive position with the Hartwall Breweries in 1995,

when the Rautakirja Group - owner of Finnkino since 1994 - offered him the

top position with the company, which is Finland's largest distributor and

exhibitor (1996 national market share: approximately 50% in distribution,

60% in exhibition). He started his working life with Unilever and his first stint

with Rautakirja was in distribution (newspapers and magazines), before he was

lured away by Hartwall and then by the cinema, which he used to visit over

100 times annually. Most recently he opened Helsinki's Tennispalatsi, a 14-

screen multiplex.

MCCOY, Andy. Born 1962. Guitarist, songwriter. The founder and lead

guitarist of Hanoi Rocks, the all-time Finnish cult group, he became solo

guitarist of Iggy Pop. An acknowledged rock'n'roll icon, he was portrayed in

Pekka Lehto's documentary, The Real McCoy, selected for this year's Berlinale

Forum. During the production he broke both legs falling from a third floor

balcony, and wrote six new songs for the film over his 17 weeks of

reconvalescense. After his visit to Berlin, his hotel room had to be

refurbished.

MERTSOLA, Ilkka. Born 1965. Producer, production manager. After

five years of business studies, he took up film producing at the Helsinki

University in 1991. His production debut, Kaupunkisinfonia (Symphony of

the City), won the Rista Jarva Award in 1995. He is currently working as a line

producer with Villealfa Filmproductions and Sputnik.

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MILONOFF, Pekka. Born 1947. Actor, director, theatre manager.

Educated at Helsinki's Theatre Acadamy, he became co-founder of the Kom

Theatre - then a revolutionary drama group, now one of Finland's strongly-

profiled stages. The son of a Russian immigrant, he has made several

television series, including Vuoroin vieraissa (Everybody's Having an

Affair/1997). His first feature, Rikos ja rakkaus (Love and Crime), was

released earlier this year.

MOLLBERG, Rauni. Born 1929. Director. Originally an actor and

producer, he worked his way from the stage to television and is credited for

such Finnish classics as Meidän herramme muurahaisia (Our Lord's Aunts)

and Tehtaan varjossa (In the Shadow of the Factory). His feature directorial

debut in 1973, Maa on syntinen laulu (The Earth Is a Sinful Song), became

synonymous with Finnish Cinema for a decade, taking more than 700,000

admissions domestically. Later films include Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown

Soldier, 1986), a remake of Edvan Laine's 1954 classic from Väinö Linna's

novel. A former arts professor, he has just completed two short fiction films

and is now beginning on the third.

MYKKÄNEN, Jouni. Born 1939. Managing director of The Finnish

Film Foundation, politician. A former radio and television journalist and

deputy director general of public broadcaster YLE, he took over the top

position at the foundation in late 1995. An experienced politician - previously

a Member of Parliament, now with a seat in the Espoo City Council - he

presided over the ministry of communications' committee proposing the

future structures of radio and television in Finland. The driving force behind

the current success of Finnish Cinema.

NIEMI, Raimo O. Born 1948. Scriptwriter, director. Educated at the

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Moscow State University and graduated from VGIK in 1976, he has

specialised in films and television series about children and animals. Best

known for his tales of Susikoira Roi (Roy, the German Shepherd), he

combined the interests for his third feature, Poika ja ilves (Tommy and the

Wild Cat), which has so far reached close to 300,000 admissions domestically.

His Tomas won the grand prix in Moscow 1997.

NURMI, Maila (aka Vampira). Born 1914. The only Finnish actress to

achieve Hollywood and international fame. She was discovered by US director

Ed Wood for his 1958 epic, Plan 9 from Outer Space, at a time when she was

blacklisted by Tinseltown and living on $13 a week. A close friend of James

Dean, Bela Lugosi and Mae West (who sent her home-made meatballs by

limo), she became a bonne viveuse in the dream factory and a presenter of

midnight horror films on KABC Television. She was portrayed in Mika J

Ripatti's documentary, Vampira - About Sex, Death and Taxes.

OLSSON, Claes. Born 1948. Director, producer, distributor, professor,

managing director of Kinoproduction/Kinoscreen. A student of philosophy

and sociology at the University of Helsinki, he dropped out to make

underground films in the 1960s, including Luokkataistelu-lehti (The Class

Struggle), which won a state award in 1970. Credited for more than 70 short

films, documentaries and features, he founded Kinotuotanto - now

Kinoproduction - in 1977. The owner of Kinoscreen and Bio Illusion, he was

given the honorary title of professor of arts in 1996, and in 1997 co-launched

KinoPalatsi Sandrew-Metronome. Last year he made his second feature as a

director, Underbara kvinnor vid vatten (Amazing Women by the Sea).

OUTINEN, Kati. Born 1961. Actress. After her graduation from

Helsinki's Theatre Academy in 1984, she was engaged by one of Finland's

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most popular theatre groups, KOM, where she stayed for 10 years. Her screen

debut was in Tapio Suominen's Täältä tullaan, elämä (Right on, Man, 1980),

one of the local crowd-pleasers of the decade. She went on to become an Aki

Kaurismäki regular, playing the lead in such features as Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö

(The Match Factory Girl, 1990) - a 63-minute film in which she has the

opening line after 16 minutes, "Pieni olut" (A small beer…) - Kauas pilvet

karkaavat (Drifting Clouds), and most recently his 1999 silent, Juha.

PIETARI. Born 1990. A flat-coated fox terrier with no previous acting

experience, he was cast in the central part of a dog in Aki Kaurismäki's

Cannes contender, Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds). According to his

master's voice - producer Klaus Heydemann's - he has become somewhat

conceited, following Kaurismäki's appraisal of his thespian talent ("If I'd

known he was so good, I would have written him some lines," he said.)

Currently unemployed in his main profession, he occasionally stands in as a

watchdog.

POHJOLA, Ilppo. Born 1957. Director, producer, production designer,

multimedia artist. After studies in the US and Canada, graduating from the

Faculty of Art, Design and Film of London's Harrow College of Higher

Education in 1988, he has produced numerous award-winning short films as

well as multimedia installations. Most recently he directed Asphalto, about

demolition car derbys, showing in this year's Berlinale Panorama. He is

currently breeding ten wolves for his new feature, Sudenmorsian (The Wolf's

Bride), from Aino Kallas' novella.

PÖLÖNEN, Markku. Born 1957. Director, writer. Broke a 400-year-old

family tradition when he decided not to become a farmer in the Finnish

countryside. Attended Helsinki University for three years, before devoting

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himself to his favourite hobby, filmmaking. Credited for, among others,

Onnen maa (The Land of Happiness, 1993) and Kivenpyörittäjän kylä (The

Last Wedding), the most popular local feature in Finland in 1995. Also his

award-winning Kuningasjätkä (A Summer on the River) placed No 1 on the

Finnish charts in 1998. He is currently preparing a film about Badding - Rauli

Somerjoki - the lead character of 1970s' Finnish rock'n'roll.

RASTIMO, Kaisa. Director, writer. Born 1961. Having completed her

film studies at Helsinki University in 1988, she made her first 45-minute

feature, Lauran huone (Laura's Room). After a couple of documentaries, her

full-length debut, Suolaista ja makeaa (Bittersweet), was released in 1995, as

the first feature by a woman director in Finland for eight years. Her second

feature, Säädyllinen murhenäytelmä (A Respectable Tragedy) was released to

critical acclaim last autumn.

RÖHR, Marko. Born 1961. Producer, managing director of Marko Röhr

Productions. After majoring in business management strategies, specialising in

the economic structures of the international and domestic film industries, he

has been in feature film and television production since 1985. Using

underwater photography, he has had several wet experiences both as a

director and a producer. His new company with Ilkka Y L Matila, MRP,

backed Pirjo Honkasalo's Tulennielijä (Fire Eater) and Olli Saarela's

Rukajärven tie (Ambust), and is now in pre-production with with Ilkka

Vanne's Lakeuden kutsu (Return to Plainlands), from Antti Tuuri's novel.

SAARELA, Olli. Born 1965. Scriptwriter, director. The only trained

fireman in the Finnish film industry, Saarela began studies of literature and

philosophy at the University of Helsinki, later to graduate as a director from

the Department of Film and Television at the Helsinki University of Art and

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Design in 1996. After several short films, he had his feature debut in 1997, by

Lunastus (The Redemption). Closing in on 400,000 admissions domestically,

his Rukajärven tie (The Ambush) is one of this year's top attractions of Finnish

Cinema.

SAARINEN, Lasse. Born 1961. Producer. A former student of literature

and aesthetics, and a dealer of antique books since, he became an assistant

producer on Ilkka Järvi-Laturi's Kotia päin (Homebound). As a producer he

has been credited for, among others, Ilkka Järvi-Laturi's Tallinnan pimeys

(Darkness in Tallinn). His latest, Veikko Aaltonen's Rakkaudella, Maire (Kiss

Me in the Rain), will have its world première in the MIFF. The proud owner

of Urho Kekkonen's Peugeut 505, a gift to the late president from François

Mitterand.

SALMINEN, Kai. Born 1946. A newspaper and television journalist, he

co-founded Epidem Productions in 1969, to become the producer of

numerous shorts and documentaries. Also an experienced beekeeper - at the

height of his career producing honey from 40 hives (after unsuccessful

attempts with snails and asparagus) - he joined the Finnish Foundation as film

consultant in 1991. Two years later, he was signed to build up the country's

MEDIA Desk. Currently working free-lance.

SALMINEN, Timo. Born 1952. Director of photography. The son of

Ville Salminen, director of the golden era of Finnish Cinema, Salminen began

his collaboration with the Brothers Kaurismäki in 1981. He has since

photographed most Aki Kaurismäki's films, including the 1996 Cannes

contender, Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds), as well as Juha - in this

year's Berlinale - and other productions from Villealfa. He never lets it

influence his work that he is totally blind of colours.

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SARA, Kari. Born 1951. Producer. As a free-lance production manager,

Kari Sara worked on 20 features, before he founded his own company, Dada

Filmi, in 1990. To produce "popular films with artistic ambitions", he selected

two directors, Matti Ijäs and Markku Pölönen. Neither has disappointed him.

Pölönen, whose Kivenpyörittäjän kylä (The Last Wedding) became most

popular local feature in Finland in 1995, also made Finland's top box office

attraction in 1998, Kuningasjätkä (A Summer by the River). Ijäs, who has

bagged a First Prize in Gothenberg, has rececently released Sokkotanssi

(Blindfolded).

SELIN, Markus. Born 1960. In 1981 Markus Selin was the second to

open a video distribution company in Finland, releasing 800 titles within three

years. Entering production, he teamed up with Renny Harlin for Sunset

Riders, and went on to work with him in the US. In Finland he set up Solar

Films, a leading producer of television programming, credited for 40 episodes

of TV4's Tähtitehdas (Star Factory), the first Finnish soap. Solar Films' first

feature, Aleksi Mäkelä's Häjyt (The Tough Ones), was released early 1999 and

has till now exceeded 300,000 admissions domestically. He has another three

productions in development.

SILTALA, Mika. Writer, editor, publisher, distributor, exhibitor, festival

director. Born 1961. Cinema has been his life since he became president of

Helsinki's Click Film Society in 1984. A co-founder of the award-winning Like

Publishing Company, where he edits books on cinema, in 1988 he instigated -

and is still the programme director of - Helsinki's Love & Anarchy Film

Festival. In 1990, he instigated the Cinema Mondo distribution and exhibition

company. Last autumn he took over Helsinki's totally-renovated Rex Cinema.

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SIMMA, Paul-Anders. Director, producer. Born 1959. A native Lapp,

and a former Nordic champion of lasso throwing, he was educated at

Stockholm's Film School. From 1981 to 1985, he was a producer for Swedish

public broadcaster SVT Kanal 2, with a short stint at ABC's Good Morning

America. Credited for 25 short films and teleplays - including the award-

winning Let's Dance! - he made his feature directorial bow with Sagojogan

ministeri (The Minister of State). His latest film is Oaivveskaldjut/Antakaa

meille meidän luurankomme! (Give Us Our Skeletons).

SOHLBERG, Kari. Born 1940. Director of photography. Since 1961

Sohlberg has done more than 40 Finnish features and been awarded the local

Oscar, the Jussi, for several of them, including Pekka Parikka's Pohjanmaa

(Plainlands). As work piles up - last year he shot three features - he has taken

on his son, Konsta, as an assistant cameraman.

TIKKA, Pia. Writer, director, photographer. Born 1961. Originally a

graphic designer and visual artist, she started at Helsinki Film School in 1989.

Two years later, she landed a job as a camera assistant, then worked in

different capacities on 21 productions until her feature debut Yemanjan tyttäret

(Daughters of Yemanja, 1995). After Hiekkamorsian (Sand Bride), produced by

her own company, Oblomovies, she is in pre-production with her next film.

TÖRHÖNEN, Lauri. Born 1947. Director, professor. Also a Mediheli

pilot (flying ambulance helicopters) and a member of Helsinki's City Council,

he was named professor in film and television at the Helsinki University in

1976. In between lecturing, he has found time to direct more than 20 films,

including six features from Palava enkeli (Burning Angel) in 1984 until, most

recently, Kasvoton mies (The Faceless Man) for Jörn Donner in 1994. Also

for Donner he will direct Hylätyt talot, autiot pihat (Abandoned Houses,

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Deserted Yards).

TYKKYLÄINEN, Kirsi. Born 1949. Head of the international

department at The Finnish Foundation. A language graduate in Russian and

English, she was a lecturer at Helsinki University when, in 1983, she was

signed by the foundation. A spare-time singer (and sometime belly dancer),

she has frequently appeared with the Leningrad Cowboys, as well as played in

several films, including a lead role in Aki Kaurismäki's Pidä huivista kinni,

Tatjana (Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana, 1995). Spending more than 100

days annually at international festivals and markets, she has become the

Foreign Face of Finnish Cinema.

VILHUNEN, Jukka. Born 1950. Managing director of KinoPalatsi

Sandrew-Metronome. Originally a historian, he became secretary general for

the Federation of Finnish Film Societies as his enthusiasm for American

westerns displaced that for sociology theories. From exhibition and

distribution with Gaudeamus and Nordfilmi, he became managing director of

the Finnish Film Foundation in 1986. In 1991, he started his own consultant

company, Juvi Media. A co-owner of Helsinki's KinoPalatsi Sandrew-

Metronome 1997.

VON BAGH, Peter. Film historian, journalist, critic. Born 1943. What

he doesn't know about Finnish Film would not even fill the back of your

business card. Since 1985, the unpaid programme director of the Midnight

Sun Festival in Sodankylä, each year unspooling one of the weirdest events in

the film world 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, one week before the

mosquito season starts (which not all of them fully respect). The editor of

several books and a CD-ROM, Kino Palatsi, comprising the full history of

Finnish Cinema.

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VUORINEN, Esa. Born 1945. Cinematographer. A graduate from the

Department of Film and Television at the Helsinki University of Art and

Design, he has photographed 32 full-length features - 11 in Sweden for,

among others, Kjell Grede and Vilgot Sjöman, and the rest in Finland. The

first professor of cinematography at his old university, he is currently building

up the technical facilities for the education. The acknowledged elegantier of

Finnish Cinema, he is a keen archer.

VÄÄNÄNEN, Kari. Born 1953. Actor, director, drama professor. After

teaching acting for four years at Helsinki's Theatre Academy, where he

studied, he has returned to acting and directing. His earlier film roles include

Mika Kaurismäki's Rosso and Aki Kaurismäki's La vie de Bohème and Kauas

pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds). His feature directorial debut, Vaiennut kylä

(The Quiet Village), was premièred in 1997. He is currently seen in Olli

Saarela's Rukajärven tie (Ambush), and he will play the lead in Ilkka Vanne's

Lakeuden kutsu (Return to Plainlands).

YLÄNEN, Helena. Born 1943. Film journalist and film critic, employed

by the Helsingin Sanomat (500,000 circulation) since 1969. An early film buff

at 11, she crashed police fences to greet US actor William Holden at Helsinki's

Vaakuna Hotel. A 1960s drop-out from Helsinki University - now the

doyenne of Finnish film criticism - she has been a sworn supporter of Aki and

Mika Kaurismäki and their Villealfa Filmproductions.