Documentaries
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.
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.
Hockey Dreams
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Janne Niskala, Oskari Pastila
- Screenwriters
- Janne Niskala, Oskari Pastila
- Producers
- Janne Niskala, Oskari Pastila
- Premiere
- 9.2.2022
- SES grant
- 140 000 €
- Budget
- 706 000 €
- Production companies
- Vaski Filmi Oy
- Distribution companies
- Storyhill Oy
Host country Korea will face the world’s best hockey nation Canada in the opening match of 2018 Winter Olympics. Ethnically Korean, but mentally North American hockey coach is given a huge challenge to prevent national embarrassment.
Melting Dreams
- International co-production SI-FI-AT
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Haidy Kancler
- Screenwriters
- Haidy Kancler
- Producers
- Bostjan Virc, Ari Matikainen, Sabine Gruber
- Release year
- 2022
- SES grant
- 30 000 €
- Budget
- 403 000 €
- Production companies
- Kinocompany Oy
In the mountains of central Afghanistan, a group of Afghani teenage girls are challenging cultural stereotypes, by learning to ski and bringing it to a professional level through extensive training in Europe.
Golden Land
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Inka Achté
- Screenwriters
- Inka Achté, Hanna Karppinen
- Producers
- Liisa Karpo
- Premiere
- 11.2.2022
- SES grant
- 155 000 €
- Budget
- 275 000 €
- Production companies
- napafilms oy
- Distribution companies
- napafilms oy
Golden Land is a documentary film about Somalian family who assimilated to Finland a long time ago and now decide to move back to Somaliland in the hope of a better future.
Tukdam
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Donagh Coleman
- Screenwriters
- Donagh Coleman
- Producers
- Kaarle Aho
- Premiere
- 30.9.2022
- SES grant
- 130 000 €
- Budget
- 500 000 €
- Production companies
- Making Movies Oy
- Distribution companies
- Cinema Mondo
In what Tibetans call tukdam, deceased meditators show no signs of death for days or weeks. Juxtaposing ground-breaking scientific research and Tibetan perspectives, this creative documentary challenges our notions of life and death, and where we draw the line between them.
Writing with Fire
- International co-production: IN-FI
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas
- Screenwriters
- Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas
- Producers
- Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas, John Webster
- Release year
- 2021
- SES grant
- 20 000 €
- Budget
- 219 000 €
- Production companies
- JW Documentaries Oy
In one of the most socially oppressive and patriarchal states of India emerges a newspaper run entirely by rural women belonging to the Dalit or ‘untouchable’ community. Meera, its popular political reporter, decides to magnify the local paper’s impact with an audacious move – to transform from print to a digital news agency. Working in media dark villages, mocked and discouraged, this is the story of a visionary woman’s feisty spirit in building what will probably be the world’s first digital news agency run entirely by rural Dalit women.