Tuula Mehtonen

Milka: A Film About Taboos

Based on a novel by the late Finnish writer Timo Mukka, this simple story focuses on what happens when Milka (Irma Huntus), a girl barely out of childhood, gets pregnant by Ojanen (Matti Turunen) a rustic fieldhand. Her own mother had been hoping to marry Ojanen, and her daughter's pregnancy turns their lives around. Set in the Lapp country of northern Finland, the scenery is breathtaking, made even more so by the isolation of the region. A sense of natural solitude is underscored by a slow-moving dialogue interspersed with long silences, and the connection between nature and the dialogue is underscored as the young Milka recites poetry while out in the countryside. The fate of Milka and her mother, however, is connected to the decision that Ojanen makes at the end.

A Dream of the Mediterranean

A documentary about Göran Schildt and his relationship with the Mediterranean.

Gotta Run!

Juuso, Late, and Pyry return from military service to their small village in the Finnish countryside. Finding work is difficult there, so Juuso decides to take a job on a Norwegian oil drilling platform. Late could start working on his family's chicken farm but wants to break free from his father who has a new wife. Looking for work in Gothenburg, Sweden, he only runs into more problems and is deported back to Finland. Pyry would like to take over his late father's farm but family quarrels over the estate make him quit his agricultural studies and, together with drifter Late, take a job in a steel mill in southern Finland.

Natalia

Sammeli from Näljängä and Einari from Haataja, who were hunting bears, encounter Natalia, a cow that has crossed the eastern border. In the name of friendship between neighboring countries, Natalia is asked to return to the Soviet Union.

Palna's Daughters

A film about memory, identity and the overwhelming power of love. One-year-old Devi was found starving at a railway station in Delhi. The police took her to Palna, an orphanage, where she lived for a year. When Devi learned to talk she often wanted to talk about Amma, her first mother. In the film, the 6-year-old Devi journeys to her own past, as her family adopts another daughter from Palna, a baby sister for Devi.

Paradise America

Finnish friends escape taxes to Florida.

Aidankaatajat

Three old men escape from the hospital and travel to Turku in search of one of the mens daughter

Tales of Transvestia

Racy monster movie parody.

The Undressing

Minister Korkolainen happens to bump into his ex-girlfriend from years ago. They end up spending the night together, discussing the past and politics.

Tropic of Ice – Jään kääntöpiiri

A Finnish businessman finds himself at the center of an international corruption scandal.

Into the Forest I Go

The film in its entirety is set in the forest: the protagonists sleep under spruce trees, make art, hunt with their dogs, hold techno raves in the summer night and earn their living as forest owners. As the film progresses, one gains a more versatile view of the forest as a biological organism, a spiritual retreat for humans, a source of inspiration and as a complete living environment supporting us all.

The Face of Death

Documentary about terminal care.

Father to Son

The film examines the painful relationship between fathers and sons through the eyes of one family. Four generations of men are featured in the film. Father to Son deals with the conflict between generations and their subjective memories, and the way different methods of raising children pass from one generation to the next. How often and to what extent do we repeat the behavioural patterns of our fathers; can we change or break these patterns or is repeating them inescapable, and how many generations are needed for change to occur? Are the values we have inherited from our fathers still valid in the modern world? One of the leading themes of this film is the sensitivity of a man and a boy, and its preservation and suppression.

Helping Mihaela

A Roma beggar on his knees raises many extreme emotions: guilt, rage, sympathy and frustration. Most people just walk on by, but there is always someone willing to help. In this film, the director follows the confrontations between the Roma beggars from Romania and Finnish people, and is forced to question, over and over again, her own ideas about helping.

Homebound

Mika's mother marries a man who is getting out of the jail. At the beginning everything seems to be all right. Mika leaves Oulu, an industrial city up in Northern Finland, to study in the capital, Helsinki. He does very well with his studies and also begins a relationship with the girl he knew already back in Oulu. Meanwhile the new husband reveals his true self - and all of a sudden things get very serious.

Emily and the Search for Happiness

Part five of the Emilia animation series. Emilia lives at home with her dog Oskari. One night they see a strange light phenomenon in the sky. Oskari thinks it's luck and they go in search of it.

Da Capo

Interwoven with scenes that are meant to grab attention by their stunning composition, this biographical look at Finland's violinist Arto Arsi is not so much a narration of his childhood and early years, as an attempt to artistically show what was happening inside his psyche during that time. Literally sold to a master teacher, Sergei Rippas (Tarmo Manni) by his mother when he was still a child, the violin prodigy was forcefully and strictly raised to practice, practice, and perfect his technique. Once an adult, Arsi finds a way to escape the rigors of a U.S. tour and drowns his overworked self in drink, or seeks out one-night stands, or otherwise lets off steam. The tightly-wound spring that has been coiled since he was forced into his grueling training and work sessions -- shown through symbolic images -- eventually snaps in a healthy way, freeing Arsi at last to continue on, simply for the love of music.

Hylätyt talot, autiot pihat

In summer 1944 Finnish Karelia, Martta hastily marries Aarne before evacuating alongside newborn Hilkka’s family, Helmi Elisa and their grandmother as Soviet forces advance. Amidst chaotic retreat, the women struggle to stay united and fatefully intersect with Aarne and Arttu, but the relentless offensive exacts heavy suffering and loss on both civilians and soldiers.

A Winter's Journey

A documentary film about singing and a young man in search of himself and his voice.

Prinsessa joka nukkui 100 vuotta

Poetic short film

Fragments of Humanity

In the Kosovo War, human dignity was shattered by the terrors of the Serbian government and the Albanian liberation army. Truths about the victims’ fates faded away, which is why a Finnish forensic research group led by Helena Ranta got a mission to act as an unbiased agent and investigate the real course of events.