Documentaries
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.
Just Animals
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Saila Kivelä, Vesa Kuosmanen
- Screenwriters
- Saila Kivelä, Vesa Kuosmanen
- Producers
- Elli Toivoniemi, Venla Hellstedt
- Premiere
- 4.3.2022
- SES grant
- 157 300 €
- Budget
- 400 000 €
- Production companies
- Tuffi Films Oy
- Distribution companies
- Aurora Studios
More than ten years ago Saila confessed openly that she was one of the activists who had secretly filmed animal farms. Saila spent three years of her youth in a legal battle where the prosecutor sought a jail sentence for her and the farmers wanted extreme compensation.
Saila’s sister Mai chose a different path, politics, and Saila fears that her biggest activist idol might become part of the machinery they had been fighting against.
The leading activist, Kristo, saw Saila as the next hope for the movement, but Saila doesn’t want to witness the animals’ suffering anymore. She needs to save herself, and find out what kind of an activist and person she really is.
The Gamer
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Petri Luukkainen, Jesse Jokinen
- Screenwriters
- Jesse Jokinen, Petri Luukkainen
- Producers
- Liisa Karpo, Marianne Mäkelä
- Release year
- 2023
- SES grant
- 190 000 €
- Budget
- 484 000 €
- Production companies
- napafilms oy
The Gamer is a coming of age story set in the harsh world of esports. Young gamers are taken to the limits of their stress control, reaction speed on the pursuit professionalism. When succeeding, still in their late teens, they are faced with the realities and pressure of multi million business and professional sports. Competitive online gaming represents the life of teenagers around the world. It’s all global, all commercial and very much online.
To Teach a Bird to Fly
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Minna Rainio, Mark Roberts
- Screenwriters
- Minna Rainio, Mark Roberts
- Producers
- Maria Gullsten
- Release year
- 2020
- SES grant
- 37 000 €
- Budget
- 96 000 €
- Production companies
- Flatlight Creative Oy
A narrator from a very different future recalls how her grandmother spent 5 years of her young life as a foster parent to a critically endangered bird.
Dance of the Elderly
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Markku Heikkinen
- Screenwriters
- Markku Heikkinen
- Producers
- Miika J. Norvanto
- Release year
- 2020
- SES grant
- 22 500 €
- Budget
- 67 000 €
- Production companies
- Black Lion Pictures
How to Kill a Cloud
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Tuija Halttunen
- Screenwriters
- Tuija Halttunen
- Producers
- Niina Virtanen, Pasi Hakkio
- Premiere
- 10.9.2021
- SES grant
- 135 000 €
- Budget
- 500 000 €
- Production companies
- Wacky Tie Films
- Distribution companies
- Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus
Scientist Hannele Korhonen has one ultimate passion: to work at the top of the atmospheric science community in the world. She wishes to be totally independent and concentrate on her science while maintaining high ethical values. Her life changes dramatically when she is awarded a 1,5 million USD research grant by the United Arab Emirates. The funder expects her to find ways to make the migratory clouds above the UAE to rain on the country suffering of drought. The opportunity to get proper funding for such a special research is perfect. Gradually she learns that the aim of the funder is to benefit one country, not science at large. Korhonen’s enthusiasm morphs into an ethical dilemma and inner conflicts.
It’s Raining Women
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Mari Soppela
- Screenwriters
- Mari Soppela
- Producers
- Julia Ton
- Release year
- 2022
- SES grant
- 113 400 €
- Budget
- 232 000 €
- Production companies
- LPMA Productions
Finnish migrant filmmaker Mari Soppela travels the world as she takes us on a five-year investigation into the complex realities of the glass ceiling. Scrutinizing the statistics and delving into the lived experiences of women battling discrimination throughout the globe she exposes the uncomfortable truths and dirty secrets of gender bias in the workplace. Simultaneously light-hearted and deadly serious, the film shines a light on a much misunderstood phenomenon and acts as a rallying cry to everyone everywhere to continue the fight for gender equality.
End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock
- International coproduction US-FI
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Shannon Kring
- Screenwriters
- Shannon Kring
- Producers
- Shannon Kring, Sophia Ehrnrooth
- Release year
- 2021
- SES grant
- 33 000 €
- Budget
- 450 000 €
- Production companies
- Solar Films Oy
End of the Line – The Women of Standing Rock is the incredible story of a group of indigenous women willing to risk their lives to stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline construction that desecrated their ancient burial and prayer sites and threatens their land, water, and very existence. In the process, they must face the personal costs of leadership, even as their own lives and identities are transformed in the crucible of one of the great political and cultural events of the early 21st century. This compelling documentary gives a uniquely powerful view of the unfolding epic of the Standing Rock movement from the inside, illumined through deeply personal footage and interviews with the remarkable women at the heart of it all – women whose lives are forever changed in the crucible of Standing Rock.