Documentaries
The Last Seagull
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Tonislav Hristov
- Screenwriters
- Tonislav Hristov, Kaarle Aho
- Producers
- Kaarle Aho
- Release year
- 2023
- SES grant
- 138 000 €
- Budget
- 400 000 €
- Production companies
- Making Movies Oy
Bulgarian “seagull” Ivan, 58, has been escorting wealthy foreign ladies at Sunny Beach resort for 40 years. He’s getting old and tired. His greatest asset seems to be his EU passport when trying to get the attention of Russian ladies. But even they start questioning Ivan’s status as a possible provider. The pandemic does not make the work any easier. No tourists mean no money. Ivan would like to settle down and reconnect with his son in Ukraine who does not answer his calls – until spring 2022 arrives.
Rap and Reindeer
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Petteri Saario
- Screenwriters
- Petteri Saario
- Producers
- Petteri Saario, Tiina Saario
- Premiere
- 24.3.2023
- SES grant
- 124 000 €
- Budget
- 295 000 €
- Production companies
- DocArt Ky
- Distribution companies
- DocArt Ky
The documentary Rap and Reindeer follows the life of the 18-year-old Sámi rapper Mihkku Laiti, who lives in the northernmost corner of Sámiland. The film is a coming-of-age story, following Mihkku on his journey towards a career as a musician and rise to stardom in the midst of varying expectations. He’s charmed the crowd at the Talent Finland competition and proudly wears the traditional Sámi clothing he has styled himself. He raps and yoiks in harmony, designs his own brand on his computer but also masters the skill of laborious reindeer herding. Above all, he sees his own unique roots and the Sámi language as his greatest strengths. The future makes him wonder: to follow his father’s footsteps or to reach for his dreams.
Knockout
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Lauri Anssi Moilanen, Olli Vuokko
- Screenwriters
- Lauri Anssi Moilanen, Olli Vuokko
- Producers
- Juho-Pekka Tanskanen, Isabella Karhu
- Premiere
- 27.9.2022
- SES grant
- 150 000 €
- Budget
- 291 000 €
- Production companies
- Danish Bear Productions Oy
- Distribution companies
- Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus
Resistant
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Ville Suhonen
- Screenwriters
- Ville Suhonen
- Producers
- Satu Majava, Joonas Berghäll
- Premiere
- 9.7.2021
- SES grant
- 165 000 €
- Budget
- 310 000 €
- Production companies
- Oktober Oy
- Distribution companies
- Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus
A documentary about Arndt Pekurinen and the peace movement in the early 20th century
The Night My Brother Disappeared
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Anna Blom
- Screenwriters
- Anna Blom, Tommi Seitajoki
- Producers
- Tommi Seitajoki
- Release year
- 2022
- SES grant
- 8 000 €
- Budget
- 33 000 €
- Production companies
- Impressio Films Oy
An overcrowded boat carrying Eritrean refugees sinks near the Italian coast. The human rights activist Adal Neguse learns that his brother was one of the victims. Adal decides to contact the survivors in order to find out what really happened. The encounters give birth to a collective testimony, marked by sorrow, guilt and hope.
Claes Andersson – When You Least Expect Happens What Happens
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Pentti Kasurinen
- Screenwriters
- Pentti Kasurinen, Kari Elovuori
- Producers
- Pentti Kasurinen, Tuuli Vuorinen-Oras
- Release year
- 2022
- SES grant
- 20 000 €
- Budget
- 100 000 €
- Production companies
- BenCine
A documentary about a man called Claes Andersson. Big themes of the film are living through your life without father and same time competing with your father. It also film about fear of death, fear of becoming crazy and also how you survive with your fears.
Claes Andersson was a poet, jazz-musician, former minister of culture, presidential candidate, doctor and psychiatrist, who worked in mental hospital. Somehow he regarded himself being mentally ill, too.
All That Remains to Be Seen
- International coproduction DK-FI
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Julie Madsen Bezerra
- Screenwriters
- Julie Madsen Bezerra
- Producers
- Katrine Sahlström, Sonja Lindén
- Release year
- 2022
- SES grant
- 30 000 €
- Budget
- 394 000 €
- Production companies
- Avanton Productions Oy
Gaialand
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Hannu Kontturi, Yvonne Debeaumarché
- Screenwriters
- Hannu Kontturi, Yvonne Debeaumarché
- Producers
- Vera Olsson, Elodie Polo-Ackerman
- Release year
- 2022
- SES grant
- 80 000 €
- Budget
- 1 432 000 €
- Production companies
- Aito Media Oy
Gaialand is a documentary series packed with unbelievable twists, an ecological undertone and unsolved mystery. This 4-part series is about Europe’s most mysterious sect: Ecoovie.
Monica in the South Seas
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Sami van Ingen, Mika Taanila
- Screenwriters
- Sami van Ingen, Mika Taanila
- Producers
- Jussi Eerola
- Premiere
- 17.11.2023
- SES grant
- 81 000 €
- Budget
- 151 000 €
- Production companies
- Elokuvayhtiö Testifilmi Oy
When a daughter of a famous American film director returns to her childhood paradise in Samoa and attempts to create a perfect sound version of the silent feature film made by her father fifty years earlier, she finds herself tangling between complex cultural practices, haphazard field work and her childhood memories.
Snowball Effect
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Pauliina Punkki
- Screenwriters
- Pauliina Punkki
- Producers
- Kaisa Astikainen, Pauliina Punkki
- Premiere
- 6.10.2023
- SES grant
- 157 120 €
- Budget
- 334 000 €
- Production companies
- Ida Productions Oy
Director Pauliina Punkki sets out to find what happened in the small town of 6,500 people and 12,000 reindeers in Finnish Lapland. How a decision to elect and then dismiss a young feminist female Town Manager from Southern Finland led to a democratic crisis and why they end up with a Town Manager with a conditional jail conviction from the Finnish Supreme Court. This kind of Snowball Effect can happen anywhere, even in this arctic wonderland, known for its international tourism, winter sports and Northern lights.