Production
In the summer of 1987, Estonia languishes under Soviet rule, stifling free expression. 17-year-old Mihkel, a rebellious musician, and his rival Hendrik learn of a Finnish talent scout visiting Estonia. To impress him, they must journey to a distant rock festival on the other side of the country. They assemble a group, including Mihkel's secret love Liisa. Amid rivalry and chaos, they navigate challenges, discovering their true selves along the way.
Cold-blooded murders in the Laestadian community of Varjakka take criminal investigators to the heart of guilt and forgiveness over three decades.
A portrait of film actor Kari Väänänen. Väänänen talks openly about his work and himself. Väänänen's colleagues in "Tuntematon Sotilas" and "Lakeuden Kutsu" shed light on the actor's inner life.
With capitalism and corruption becoming more entrenched in Russia, a father and his teenage son gear up for a yearlong political campaign to unseat President Putin in the 2008 elections and shift the country back toward socialism. Aliona Polunina's thoughtful documentary follows Anatoly and Andrei in their struggle to recreate a revolutionary fervor in a society that seems to be embracing the materialist values of the West.
The events of the war in 1944, from the Blue Hills to Sõrve Peninsula. Shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and fight against fellow brothers. Choices have to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.
A fictitious biography of Aira Samulin, the goddess of dance and importer of all the international dance crazes to Finland for some fifty years. The life story of this extravagant ever-teen, well beyond the usual retirement age, is told inside a fictitious plot about a Master of Ceremonies trying to persuade Aira to stage a show at his cabaret restaurant. Besides Aira Samulin, many other Finnish celebrities appear among the eccentric lineup auditioning for the show, playing more or less their fictionalised selves.
In the heart of 20th-century Ukraine, Andriy Voron embarks on an epic journey of survival, love, and healing-one that spans war, imprisonment, and solitude, ultimately transforming him from a young soldier into a wise elder whose spirit transcends time and space.
It is the summer of 1941 and the Finnish army has been mobilized along the border with Russia. A platoon led by Lt. Eero Perkola is waiting for orders to go on the offensive. The platoon receives orders for a recon mission through the wilderness around the Lieksa lake to search for possible Russian defensive positions.
1943: Nine-year-old Eero whose father is killed during the war is brought to Sweden to foster parents to his protection like thousands of other Finnish children. Eero feels lost, particularly as his foster mother Signe behaves very unfriendly. She was expecting a little girl and still mourns for her daughter who drowned in the sea.
Jussi Ketola, returns to Finland from the great depression struck America only to face growing political unrest. One summer night of 1930, nationalist thugs violently abduct Ketola from his home. Beaten and forced to walk the Eternal Road towards a foreign Soviet Russia, where cruelty seems to know no end, his only dream is to return to his family cost it what it may. Hope dies last.
1942. The State of Finland has formed an alliance with Nazi Germany. An elderly man single-handedly tries to stop a secret attempt by the Finnish State Police to hand over Jewish refugees directly to the Gestapo.
Isabella (35) is a driven business woman in Stockholm’s finance world. When she goes home to the small town she grew up in to celebrate her father’s sixtieth birthday, she feels like a winner, the only one in her old school gang that things have really gone well for. Isabella’s selfconfidence falters when she realizes that Simon, her great love from her teen years, is going to marry Isabella’s childhood friend Molly, and that she isn’t invited to the wedding. Isabella is accustomed to getting what she wants, and it disturbs her to see Simon so happy with someone else. Unfortunately, there are some feelings that never go away.
A street racing legend Dennis who neglected his marriage and 16 year old daughter Hanna. One day he finds out that his daughter will participate in a race with her new boyfriend. To stop Hanna, Dennis and his ex-wife Tove go on a trip.
The twin sisters Helena and Irene are born in Helsinki during World War II. A few months later their mother, Sirkka, leaves the girls in the care of their grandmother, an old communist, and runs away with a German soldier. Their life under the protection of their grandmother and the teachings of communism ends first with the death of Stalin, then with that of their grandmother. The girls are eight years old when they are put in an orphanage. Their mother shows up at the orphanage in the company of Ramon, a Spanish trapeze artist. They are on a talent search for a German circus. Ramon trains the reluctant Irene during circus tours in Central Europe. She becomes the trapeze star of the circus. The hard work soon exhausts Irene and she falls from height, as if on purpose. Helena has secretly learned the art of fire-eating. Now she is burdened with both her mother and her sister. The violent life, however, separates the three from each other. In the present-day Helsinki the middle-aged...
Sari is a young, beautiful and intelligent girl who is busy studying at university,but she suffers from epilepsy and has to face death on a daily basis. Mikko is hersomewhat older university teacher, who is tired of life, and who one day decides toabandon his wife, children and idea of a perfect life. Both characters have been tooscared to live their lives to the brim for too long. But they meet, and in spite oftheir prejudices and reserved natures, they manage to create a dramatic and movingmodern romance which confronts numerous taboos. While the imagery explores theboundary between life and death in a most poetic way, the odd couple's romance istold with both bite and humour. Society - be it in the shape of angry ex-wives,overprotective parents, conservative aunts or embittered colleagues - is doing whatit can to put a spanner in the works."
In 1975, Finnish President Urho Kekkonen became an internationally recognized expert on bridging the East with the West by hosting the “Conference of Security and Cooperation of Europe”. His dreams of retirement and the penwork of his newfound journalist friend Maarit Tyrkkö on his memoirs come to an abrupt halt when the Soviet Union attacks Afghanistan, and Brezhnev and Carter start waving nuclear warheads at each other. With his time running out, Urho has to find his will of iron again, and muster up the strength to venture into the Soviet Union to save humanity from total destruction.
In Soviet-era Estonia, three young mavericks drop everything and flee to Sweden, but soon learn the free world is not all it's cracked up to be.
A young student moves into a decaying apartment building and is given a disturbing assignment by its residents.
Detective sergeant Timo Harjunpää of the Helsinki Violent Crime Unit loses his daughter in a tragic way. Despite the support of his closest colleague, Constable Onerva Nykänen, Harjunpää is unable to recover from the loss of his family. He seeks revenge against his daughter's killer, while in his work he investigates strange deaths in the Helsinki metro that turn out to be the work of a serial killer.
Unforgettable melodies, unique timbre and a memorable, soul-stirring voice. A mystery for women and authority for men, his talent was revered by the highest ranks of the Soviet Union and millions of ordinary people. Georg Ots took the stage when a huge country was recovering from the horrors of war, and his voice returned them faith in a bright future. Few people know what his life was really like.
