Documentaries
Simo Was Here
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- PV Lehtinen
- Screenwriters
- PV Lehtinen
- Producers
- PV Lehtinen
- Release year
- 2026
- SES grant
- 3 700 €
- Budget
- 9 000 €
- Production companies
- Cineparadiso Oy
Simo Salminen visits an outdoor swimming pool and amuses children. A short fanfare for the late great entertainer.
Second Acts
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Anu Kuivalainen
- Screenwriters
- Anu Kuivalainen
- Producers
- Markku Tuurna
- Release year
- in production
- SES grant
- 173 000 €
- Budget
- 312 000 €
- Production companies
- Filmimaa Oy
Second Acts is a documentary film about metamorphosis, about how people use art to break out of their shells and grow new wings. A person has a new opportunity to make moral choices and have the freedom to influence the course of their life through their own decisions, even though we were each dealt with different cards in childhood.
Invisible Enemy
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Ann-Mari Leinonen, Einari Paakkanen
- Screenwriters
- Ann-Mari Leinonen, Einari Paakkanen
- Producers
- Kimmo Paananen, Pasi Riiali
- Release year
- 2026
- SES grant
- 155 000 €
- Budget
- 259 000 €
- Production companies
- Filmbutik Oulu Oy
Two Finnish volunteer soldiers who fought in Ukraine begin trauma therapy to face the nightmares of war and find their way back to civilian life.
Featherless
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Kaapo Kamu
- Screenwriters
- Kaapo Kamu
- Producers
- Kaapo Kamu, Siiri Siltala
- Release year
- 2026
- SES grant
- 50 000 €
- Budget
- 123 000 €
- Production companies
- Kaapo Kamu Oy
Featherless is an intimate film about 73-year-old Jarmo Rastas and letting go of a life’s work. In ballet, the body is the core of self-image, but as a career ends, identity is tested. The film follows Rastas, Michal Krčmář, Nina Hyvärinen and Tiina Myllymäki exploring pain and love for dance. It is a poetic portrayal of who we are without the work that once defined us.
ORSOQ – Seasons of Solitude
- International co-production GL-FI
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Inuk Silis Høegh
- Screenwriters
- Inuk Silis Høegh
- Producers
- Emile Hertling Péronard, Outi Rousu
- Release year
- in production
- SES grant
- 45 000 €
- Budget
- 601 000 €
- Production companies
- Pystymetsä Oy
The very first Greenlandic-Finnish documentary film ORSOQ – Seasons of Solitude is an exploration of man’s longing for solitude. In an ambitious cinematic form, the film zooms in on people who have voluntarily chosen a life of loneliness. But who – no matter what they do – remain caught between the calmness of isolation and the need for community. The film is a philosophical inquiry, a visual poem about the spaces between belonging and solitude.
Sing For Me Arja
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Marko Talli
- Screenwriters
- Marko Talli
- Producers
- Marko Talli
- Premiere
- 14.8.2026
- SES grant
- 75 000 €
- Budget
- 200 000 €
- Production companies
- Yellow Film & TV
- Distribution companies
- Nordisk Film
An intimate portrait of the legendary Finnish singer and human rights advocate Arja Saijonmaa. The film traces her artistic journey and lifelong friendship with the Greek composer and freedom fighter Mikis Theodorakis, whose music and ideals shaped her mission. Through archival footage and present-day reflections, the film portrays a fearless artist and bridge-builder for peace.
The Heart of the Forest
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Markku Laine
- Screenwriters
- Markku Laine, Petri Keto-Tokoi
- Producers
- Kirsi Mattila
- Release year
- 2026
- SES grant
- 32 000 €
- Budget
- 156 000 €
- Production companies
- Third Eye Films
The Heart of the Forest is an immersive fulldome film that transforms the wisdom of nature into a powerful audiovisual journey. Deep within the woods stands an ancient and all-knowing oak, the Tree of Life, who narrates a mesmerizing odyssey into the lives of trees. The story reveals the forest as a living, breathing organism, full of wisdom, connection, and resilience.
The Secret Reading Club of Kabul
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Shakiba Adil, Elina Hirvonen
- Screenwriters
- Elina Hirvonen, Shakiba Adil
- Producers
- Pauliina Piipponen, Marko Talli
- Release year
- 2026
- SES grant
- 123 000 €
- Budget
- 250 000 €
- Production companies
- Yellow Film & TV
Three Afghan women secretly film their lives in a documentary film that bridges the experiences between Anne Frank in the 1940s Amsterdam, filmmaker Shakiba Adil’s childhood in the 1990s Kabul and the Afghan women of today – and cherishes the triumph of humanity against oppression.
Cyclovia
- International co-production UK-DK-SE-FI-CO
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Finlay Pretsell
- Screenwriters
- Finlay Pretsell
- Producers
- Kaarle Aho
- Release year
- in production
- SES grant
- 40 000 €
- Budget
- 1 235 000 €
- Production companies
- Making Movies Oy
Cyclovia is a universal cinematic story about freedom, life and love set in Colombia. The bicycle is embedded deep within Colombia’s culture. A vivid multi-textured picture of not only why Colombia produces the best cyclists in the world but how the bike is a vital component for living.
Antti Tuisku – Kuolemattomuusprojekti
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Krista Hannula
- Screenwriters
- Krista Hannula
- Producers
- Pete Eklund
- Release year
- 2025
- SES grant
- 135 000 €
- Budget
- 280 000 €
- Production companies
- Kaiho Republic Oy
A documentary series about a young man who decided to become Finland’s most popular pop star.