Six Finnish films to Göteborg – The Missile and The Homecoming in Competition
The Missile by Miia Tervo will have its world premiere at the Swedish festival.
Image: The Missile / Komeetta
Göteborg Film Festival takes place January 26 – February 4, 2024 in Sweden. The main prize, Dragon Award, is worth 400,000 Swedish krona (about 39,000 euros).
There are 10 Nordic feature films competing for the Dragon Award this year. The Finnish candidate is The Missile, written and directed by Miia Tervo. Set in 1984, the film sees single mother Niina drifting into the middle of an international crisis in Inari when the Soviet Union shoots a missile across the Finnish border. The film is described as a drama-comedy of personal and national borders and boundaries.
Tervo’s sophmore feature is produced by Kaisla Viitala ja Daniel Kuitunen Komeetta. Its domestic premiere is at the start of February. Tervo’s debut feature Aurora was the opening film at Göteborg in 2019.
The Homecoming (Máhccan) is among the 8 films in the Nordic Documentary Competition. Directed by Suvi West and Anssi Kömi, the film follows the repatriation of Sámi objects from European museums back to Sápmi. The Homecoming premiered in Toronto International Film Festival last September, and it is produced by Janne Niskala for Vaksi Filmi.
Two minority co-productions supported by the Finnish Film Foundation are in also competition sections: the feature drama Kalak by Isabella Eklöf and the documentary feature The Andersson Brothers by Johanna Bernhardson.
Nordic films get highlighted also in the Nordic Light section which sees four Finnish feature films this year:
- Family Time (director: Tia Kouvo, production: Aamu Film Company)
- Je’vida (director: Katja Gauriloff, production: Oktober)
- Light Light Light (director: Inari Niemi, production: Lucy Loves Drama)
- Stormskärs Maja (director: Tiina Lymi, production: Solar Films)
Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize is given during the TV Drama Vision event. The prize, worth 200,000 Norwegian krone (a little under 20,000 euros), celebrates Nordic scriptwriting in drama series. Among the five nominees is Miikko Oikkonen for Estonia. Finnish Film Foundation has supported the development of the multinational disaster series, produced by Fisher King and sold internationally by Beta Film.