Over 4.8 million euros of production support to Finnish films
14 new projects go into production with support from the Finnish Film Foundation.
Image: Lonesome Land (dir. Virpi Suutari), photo by Teemu Liakka / Euphoria Film
The supported projects include seven feature films, three documentary films, three short fiction films and one animated series.
One of the most internationally prominent documentary filmmakers in Finland, Virpi Suutari is in production with Lonesome Land, a feature documentary focusing on an environmental crime in a Finnish forest. Suutari’s previous film Once Upon a Time in a Forest (2024), about young activists, premiered at CPH:DOX and screened also at IDFA.
Teemu Nikki’s 8th feature film 100 Liters of Gold was number two in the domestic box office and the Finnish Oscar submission last year. It’s Alive Films received production support for the film’s sequel, 200 Liters of Gold.
Four of the feature films received production support in the 50/50 scheme aimed at mainstream films that have secured at least half of their budget.
One of the films in the scheme is King of Fucking Everything, directed by Tiina Lymi. Lymi’s period drama Stormskerry Maya was a standout success in the domestic box office in 2024 with over 470,000 admissions. King of Fucking Everything is a spin-off film for Lymi’s series for Yle, Queen of Fucking Everything (2024), which has over 9 million views on Yle’s streaming platform.
NB: The support sums below include development and production support
Feature films
200 Liters of Gold (200 litraa sahtia)
Director & scriptwriter: Teemu Nikki
Producers: Jani Pösö, Aino Suvanto
Production company: It’s Alive Films
Support sum: 600,000 euros
Arrogance (Röyhkeys)
Director: Ville Jankeri
Scriptwriters: Ville Jankeri, Ossi Nyman
Producer: Mete Sasioglu
Production company: Sons of Lumière
Support sum: 802,000 euros
The story of an ideologically unemployed Ossi in a world that loves work too much.
A Small Love Story (Pieni tarina rakkaudesta)
Director & scriptwriter: Antti Heikki Pesonen
Producer: Jarkko Hentula
Production company: ICS Nordic
Support sum: 765,000 euros
Juppe returns to Finland to be with his dying mother, but also his criminal past comes back to haunt him. Taina lives in the suburbs together with her young son suffering from mutism. They fall in love. But will they live happily ever after?
Feature films – 50/50 Support
Bank Ladies (Pankkineidit)
Director & scriptwriter: Taneli Mustonen
Producers: Anna Nuru, Jukka Helle, Markus Selin
Production company: Solar Films
Support sum: 490,000 euros
When the banking crisis of the 1990s devastates a small Finnish town and the lives of its people, five bank maids decide to take back what is theirs—by robbing their own bank.
Karavaanarit
Director: Kari Ketonen
Scriptwriters: Mauri Ahola, Joonas Nordman, Ninni Saajola
Producers: Jonna Enroth, Antti Luusuaniemi, Paavo Tervonen
Production company: Red Carpet Film & TV
Support sum: 495,000 euros
King of Fucking Everything
Director: Tiina Lymi
Scriptwriters: Juha Lehtola, Tiina Lymi
Producers: Minna Haapkylä, Olli Suominen, Aleksi Bardy
Production company: Rabbit Films
Support sum: 600,000 euros
King of Fucking Everything is a film about unbearable shame. Its protagonist, Mikael, always on the move, does not live in a car or on highways, but in shabby warehouses, a rotting cabin, a karaoke bar, and on the fringes of his former wifes’s apartment — until he believes he has found an idyll in Porvoo. Mikael is a liar and a skilled manipulator. He seeks out broken people and turns their wounds into a home for himself. When his lies begin to burn, he disappears. At his core, Mikael is perfect mediocrity: a beautiful, but weak human being.
Ricky The Rapper and The Last Ice Cream Cone (Risto Räppääjä ja viimeinen tötterö)
Director: Niklas Lindgren
Scriptwriters: Tiina Nopola, Emma Nopola
Producers: Anni Pänkäälä, Jukka Helle
Production company: Solar Films
Support sum: 600,000 euros
Ricky The Rapper and the Last Ice Cream Cone is a fast-paced family adventure set on a train journey, where Risto, Nelli, Aunt Rauha and Mr Lindberg travel across Finland to Höljäkkä in North Karelia in search of Europe’s last ever ice-cream cone.
Documentary Films
Lonesome Land (Raakkukuningas)
Director, scriptwriter & producer: Virpi Suutari
Production company: Euphoria Film
Support sum: 200,000 euros
One day, everything went to shits. Thousands of endangered freshwater pearl mussels were crushed in an instant. Absurd tale in the middle of nowhere.
Myllylä
Directors & scriptwriters: Sean Ricks, Jussi Sandhu, Ville Hakonen
Producers: Pasi Hakkio
Production company: Wacky Tie Films
Support sum: 200,000 euros
Mika Myllylä was a national icon and Olympic hero whose fall from grace shook Finland. Through decades of home videos, a deeply personal story unfolds — of love, pressure, shame, and need for mercy.
The Recycle King (Kierrätyskuningas)
Director & scriptwriter: Antti Haase
Producers: Oona Saari, Jouko Aaltonen
Production company: Illume
Support sum: 48,000 euros
Short Films
Climb!
Director & scriptwriters: Ninni Saajola
Producer: Jonna Enroth
Production company: Aster Films
Support sum: 35,000 euros
Gap
Director & scriptwriter: Malin Nyqvist
Producers: Julia Elomäki
Production company: Tekele Productions
Support sum: 25,000 euros
Takapiha
Director & scriptwriter: Sami Mustonen
Producers: Jukka Vidgren, Pia Ervasti
Production company: Whatevergroup
Support sum: 65,000 euros
Animated Series
Ted & Paula’s Tadpole Journey
Director: Joonas Utti
Scriptwriter: Jocelyn Geddie
Producer: Anttu Harlin
Production company: Tadpoles Rights
Support sum: 300,000 euros
Set in a vast and perilous pond, we follow the underwater odyssey of Ted and Paula, two adventurous sibling tadpoles as they quest towards the surface, levelling up, growing up and chasing big dreams—while trying to stay alive!