Documentaries
Afterwar
- International co-production DK-FI-XK-SE
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Birgitte Stærmose
- Screenwriters
- Birgitte Stærmose
- Producers
- Lise Lense-Møller, Mark Lwoff, Misha Jaari
- Release year
- 2024
- SES grant
- 35 000 €
- Budget
- 903 000 €
- Production companies
- Oy Bufo Ab
In the murky streets of postwar Pristina 2009, children sell cigarettes and whisper tales of loss and hope. Now ten years later as young adults, they still fight to survive at the bottom of a society that continues to struggle with the trauma of war. For these young people, the dream of emigrating to another country or religion alone offers purpose and escape. A collective portrait of a condition, a state of being set in a world now marked by a (pandemic and) new devastating war in Europe.
Making Art In My Dreams
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Leena Jääskeläinen
- Screenwriters
- Leena Jääskeläinen
- Producers
- Marko Tandefelt
- Release year
- 2024
- SES grant
- 60 000 €
- Budget
- 123 000 €
- Production companies
- Osuuskunta Animaatiokopla
What do artists dream about? Repressed androids, trees full of panthers, surreal cities – their work. And a lot of times their work is influenced by dreams. A theremin player, a painter, and a poet share their inner worlds in a wild virtual reality experience.
Varado
- International co-production FR-FI
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Nicos Argillet, Stèphane Correa
- Screenwriters
- Nicos Argillet, Stèphane Correa
- Producers
- Kaarle Aho, Christian Popp
- Release year
- 2024
- SES grant
- 35 000 €
- Budget
- 278 000 €
- Production companies
- Making Movies Oy
At the heart of the Amazon rainforest, at the border between French Guiana and Suriname, clandestine gold panners destroy the rainforest in the hope of a better life.
Child No. 182
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Camilla Roos
- Screenwriters
- Camilla Roos
- Producers
- Pia Andell
- Release year
- 2024
- SES grant
- 65 000 €
- Budget
- 152 000 €
- Production companies
- Of Course My Films
Child No. 182 is a documentary film about child protection practices in Finland in the 60s and 70s. It tells the story of a little girl who is placed from orphanages to summer colonies and foster homes. The film is based on the reports of social service officials and other authorities and is shot mainly on 8mm film. Director Camilla Roos makes a deep dive into her own childhood from her birth to when she was 8 years old.
Sirkus Tuomento
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Veli Granö
- Screenwriters
- Veli Granö, Antti Tuomento
- Producers
- Veli Granö
- Release year
- 2025
- SES grant
- 45 000 €
- Budget
- 110 000 €
- Production companies
- Filemo ky
Circus Tuomento is a documentary about Finland’s most famous tightrope walker, Antti Tuomento (b. 1968). After the tragic end of his circus career, he focuses on building his own city. About a dozen fascinating, organic buildings have been made in his garden. The city has a museum, church and a theater. This private city is a piece of art, but its main function can be seen in Antti’s attempt to take fate into his own hands – and to build an entire alternative world.
Not Withholding
Anything From You
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Veikko Aaltonen
- Screenwriters
- Veikko Aaltonen, Jukka-Pekka Bohm
- Producers
- Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff
- Release year
- 2024
- SES grant
- 140 000 €
- Budget
- 263 000 €
- Production companies
- Oy Bufo Ab
How do artists view their own work? Veikko Aaltonen’s documentary Not Withholding Anything From You takes us straight into the heart of creativity in the company of artists from different fields and generations.
From singer-turned-filmmaker Anna Eriksson to cinematographer Esa Vuorinen, from painter-sculptor Jarmo Mäkilä to actor Hannu-Pekka Björkman, these artists allow the audience to follow their work as they reveal what intuition, inspiration, and love and hate mean for their art. Celebrating the various forms of passion and creative work, the film presents a compelling case for the significance of art.
In the Borderland
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Elina Hyvärinen
- Screenwriters
- Elina Hyvärinen
- Producers
- Mina Laamo
- Premiere
- 14.3.2025
- SES grant
- 135 000 €
- Budget
- 241 000 €
- Production companies
- Koko Production
- Distribution companies
- Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus
The Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022 turned the European worldview upside down. In Parikkala, a small town in Eastern Finland near the Russian border, this soon becomes very real as the iron curtain lowers again on the Finno-Russian border. The locals are faced both with a future that is unknown and the heavy historical baggage of the borderland.
Homecoming
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Suvi West, Anssi Kömi
- Screenwriters
- Suvi West
- Producers
- Janne Niskala
- Premiere
- 22.9.2023
- SES grant
- 122 000 €
- Budget
- 298 000 €
- Production companies
- Vaski Filmi Oy
The emotionally broken Sámis finally get back their ancestral heritage that has been taken away from them. The film director Suvi faces the collective pains and starts to break the outside image of the Sámis, not only for herself but for the wellbeing of the whole nation.
The film is set in the Museum world in a turning point. Where the Sámis have to redetermine their relationship to identity, the national museums have to deal with their colonialist history. Suvi follows repatriation processes in different stages. The Finnish National Museum Sámi collection is returning home but the holy drums are stuck in the museums around Europe.
Suvi takes the audience behind the scenes of the museum world where the debate of the othering and cultural inequality is causing inevitable change.
One of Us
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Niina Vuorisara
- Screenwriters
- Niina Vuorisara
- Producers
- Pauliina Punkki
- Release year
- 2024
- SES grant
- 70 000 €
- Budget
- 146 000 €
- Production companies
- Ida Productions Oy
A short documentary about sibling violence and monster of aggression told through animation, live-action scenes and archival material.
My Truth
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Panu Suuronen
- Screenwriters
- Panu Suuronen
- Producers
- Vera Olsson
- Release year
- 2023
- SES grant
- 160 000 €
- Budget
- 420 000 €
- Production companies
- Aito Media Oy