Production
A temporary house for abandoned children near the front line in eastern Ukraine is run by a small group of social workers determined to provide comfort and safety. It may be humble and somewhat run-down, but this house is filled with love and offers up to nine months of refuge to kids whose fate will be determined by the system. During this short time, the caretakers try to nurture within them a sense of stability and normalcy.
Tero, 28, from Northern Finland is becoming a father, but has not yet told anybody. One Saturday night in December his friend Saku comes for a visit, bringing Tero two pairs of baby overalls. For some reason the whole village has heard the news. The boys decide to make a toast for fatherhood.
Erkki and Ritva have lived in a detached house for 30 years. In the summer, they moved into a smaller apartment for their retirement. We see how the couple communicates and marks on their territory, but also loves deeply.
Ida's Diary is a film about hope and courage, about finding your own identity and daring to live. It's a personal film based on Ida's own video diary from the last eight years.
In Dependence is a documentary film about a middle aged couple trying to balance their lives in the riptide of alcoholism and co-dependency.
In December 2016 a remarkable chapter in music history was closed as the Finnish punk rock band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät (PKN) retired. Punk Voyage is a feature length documentary film about the last years of the band, with all the ups and downs included. After becoming celebrities in Finland, this incredible quartet continued to conquer new fans around the World. In its seven years run PKN played nearly 300 gigs in 16 countries. In 2015 the band was selected to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest, where they played to over 100 million television spectators. However, the busy traveling and success created a lot of pressure within the band: Kari struggled with the temptations and responsibilities brought by publicity; Sami extended his territory to politics and religion; Toni's and the band's roadie Niila's crush to the the same girl caused conflicts; and Pertti, tired of this all, decided to retire.
The Living Room of the Nation is a documentary film that portrays a number of Finnish living rooms. The film is a story of changes, the inevitable passing of time, and the human desire to be needed, visible.
A portrait of a relationship between three generations and how it shifts between the search for closeness, understanding and acceptance, as the teenage son steps closer to adulthood. The film continues to follow the lives of Tero and his son Henri, both previously featured in Kärkkäinen’s documentary The Living Room of a Nation.
The film tells the story of 77-year-old Marja, who suffers from dementia and can no longer cope alone in her home. Daughter Terttu and granddaughter Anna are worried about Marja's condition and are trying to get her to live in the municipal service house. However, there are many bumps on the road, and Marja would not want to move away from her home.
Every day in Finland alone, two people commit suicide. Thousands of people are affected by suicide yearly. Once I Dreamt of Life is a feature length documentary film about suicide. It’s an account about one’s personal relation to suicide, but also studies suicide as social phenomena: The motives, warning signs & consequences. The film follows the journey of a young man, an animated character based on a real person, on his path towards suicide. The journey is described by people who’ve had encounters with suicide – parents who lost their child, young adults who considered or even tried committing suicide. When linked together, these experiences offer a collage of our perception of suicide. They tell about how people cope with the past and find a reason to go on with their lives. The intention is not to romanticize suicide or judge. It encourages people to talk about painful and difficult experiences and reminds us how important it is to be heard.
The film follows 10-year-old Oleg, whose life has been turned upside down by the ongoing war in East Ukraine. Oleg lives with his beloved grandmother Alexandra in a small house in a village on the frontline. Most people have left the village, but Oleg and Alexandra love their life together there and want to stay on and take care of each other. But life is becoming more and more difficult and the war does not seem to end.
Hnutove, Donbass, eastern Ukraine, 2015. Young Oleg lives in a war zone where anti-aircraft gunshots and missile attacks often resonate dangerously near. Although many inhabitants have already left this dangerous area, he remains with his grandmother, who has cared for him since his mother's death, because they have nowhere to go. They are just waiting for the war to end.
Intimate moment between a father and son – one night, one car ride, one problem.
The hippie movement that captivated hundreds of thousands of young people in the West had a profound impact on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Within the Soviet system, a colorful crowd of artists, musicians, freaks, vagabonds and other long-haired drop-outs created their own system, which connected those who believed in peace, love, and freedom for their bodies and souls. More than 40 years later, a group of eccentric hippies from Estonia take a road trip to Moscow where the hippies still gather annually on the 1st of June for celebration that is related to the tragic event in 1971, when thousands of Soviet hippies were arrested by the KGB. The journey through time and dimensions goes deep into the psychedelic underground world in which these people strived for freedom.
In many Western countries, trust between the people and conventional political parties is at a low point while populist movements are on the rise. In Italy, protest party Movimento 5 Stelle, founded by popular comedian Beppe Grillo, vows to send all politicians home and bring power to the people. They win a stunning 25% votes, becoming the most-voted single party in Italy, but what happens when ideals meet parliamentary reality? Can one be uncompromising and effective at the same time? Are internet referendums direct democracy or faceless mob rule?
