Markku Pölönen

The Last Wedding

Pekka arrives back to his home village of Jerusalem to celebrate the last wedding of the village. His own marriage seems to have reached a dead end. The people of the village gather to prepare for the event, and the bitter spectrum of all human life, with its joys and sorrows, is condensed into one summer's day.

Land of Hope

Anni, a daughter of a wealthy family and used to secure life, falls in love with Veikko, a war invalid of the Continuation War. Anni leaves her past behind her and starts leading the life of a pioneer, in the wild forests of northern Karelia, in a settlement farm. After a rosy start, the fate crushes Anni’s dreams and her love for Veikko is put to a test.

Badding

The life of Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki, a Finnish singer.

A Summer by the River

Kuningasjätkä is set in North Karelia in the mid-1950s and depicts the summer of 10-year-old Topi at the boating site with his widowed father Tenho.

On the Road to Emmaus

A cynical city dweller returns to his hometown to sell his family home, but becomes unexpectedly nostalgic.

Dog Nail Clipper

Bright young soldier Mertsi suffers a permanent brain injury in the Second World War. In the late 1940s he wanders around the Finnish countryside looking for simple work and relying on other people's help. A workmate, Ville, tells him about his clever Spitz dog back home and the problems with her overlong dew claws. Together with his helpful war buddy Eetvi, Mertsi joins a lumber camp in the middle of a freezing winter, tries hard but finds the work there too strenuous for his body and mind. While he still sees nightmares about the war, in the daytime he keeps dreaming and worrying about the dog...

The Matriarch

Martta and Otto are a pair of traveling tailors who claim to be bastard descendants of the Romanovs and wander from town to town in Finland seeking work, accompanied by their two half-witted adult sons, Hippo, Repe and equally silly son-in-law Ventti. The family occasionally turns to crime when they can't quite make ends meet, and the boys begin turning to violence with greater frequency when Otto weakens and Martta becomes the head of the family business. Their fortunes take an unexpected turn when the brothers assault and abduct a man they call Kaspar, who becomes the family's sidekick in their travels. Despite Kaspar's inability to speak, he attracts Martha's youngest daughter, an attractive young woman named Lara, but the family is in disarray when a long-lost half-brother, Laszlo, suddenly re-emerges and tries to wrest control of the clan away from his mother.

The Land of Happiness

Nostalgic comedy set in the early 1960s, when the tango was all the rage. The "prodigal son" Tenho returns from his unlucky adventures in the city back to his parents' farm. Tenho becomes the laughing stock of local men until he scores the hottest girl in the village. A hot romance flares up between Tenho and the sensuous milkmaid Virva, accompanied by popular Finnish tango tunes.

The Last Wedding

Pekka arrives back to his home village of Jerusalem to celebrate the last wedding of the village. His own marriage seems to have reached a dead end. The people of the village gather to prepare for the event, and the bitter spectrum of all human life, with its joys and sorrows, is condensed into one summer's day.

Land of Hope

Anni, a daughter of a wealthy family and used to secure life, falls in love with Veikko, a war invalid of the Continuation War. Anni leaves her past behind her and starts leading the life of a pioneer, in the wild forests of northern Karelia, in a settlement farm. After a rosy start, the fate crushes Anni’s dreams and her love for Veikko is put to a test.

Badding

The life of Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki, a Finnish singer.

A Summer by the River

Kuningasjätkä is set in North Karelia in the mid-1950s and depicts the summer of 10-year-old Topi at the boating site with his widowed father Tenho.

On the Road to Emmaus

A cynical city dweller returns to his hometown to sell his family home, but becomes unexpectedly nostalgic.

Dog Nail Clipper

Bright young soldier Mertsi suffers a permanent brain injury in the Second World War. In the late 1940s he wanders around the Finnish countryside looking for simple work and relying on other people's help. A workmate, Ville, tells him about his clever Spitz dog back home and the problems with her overlong dew claws. Together with his helpful war buddy Eetvi, Mertsi joins a lumber camp in the middle of a freezing winter, tries hard but finds the work there too strenuous for his body and mind. While he still sees nightmares about the war, in the daytime he keeps dreaming and worrying about the dog...

The Matriarch

Martta and Otto are a pair of traveling tailors who claim to be bastard descendants of the Romanovs and wander from town to town in Finland seeking work, accompanied by their two half-witted adult sons, Hippo, Repe and equally silly son-in-law Ventti. The family occasionally turns to crime when they can't quite make ends meet, and the boys begin turning to violence with greater frequency when Otto weakens and Martta becomes the head of the family business. Their fortunes take an unexpected turn when the brothers assault and abduct a man they call Kaspar, who becomes the family's sidekick in their travels. Despite Kaspar's inability to speak, he attracts Martha's youngest daughter, an attractive young woman named Lara, but the family is in disarray when a long-lost half-brother, Laszlo, suddenly re-emerges and tries to wrest control of the clan away from his mother.

The Land of Happiness

Nostalgic comedy set in the early 1960s, when the tango was all the rage. The "prodigal son" Tenho returns from his unlucky adventures in the city back to his parents' farm. Tenho becomes the laughing stock of local men until he scores the hottest girl in the village. A hot romance flares up between Tenho and the sensuous milkmaid Virva, accompanied by popular Finnish tango tunes.

Lyhyt elokuva Helsingistä

Hamsters

A poor wild-life writer named Hamsteri, who is obsessed with natural disasters, lives in a wooden cottage in the countryside with his only friend, Minnie the mouse. In the village he is considered a bit odd and he is indeed special! When a lottery-winning family moves in next door, Hamsteri gets the hoarding opportunity of his dreams and in the process changes the course of the lives of Rurik, a bookkeeper who has lost his will to live, his wife Tellu and their children. Thus begins hoarding for what Hamsteri imagines will be "the cruellest winter ever".

Rally On!

This rollicking sports comedy from Finnish director Markku Polonen follows the exploits of Seppo 'Sladi' Pesonen, an ex-top-tiered race car driver now reduced to instructing students at a driving school. To relieve the monotony of this undesired career, Pesonen builds "Team Susan," a road rally team based at Pekkarinen's Garage in the Finnish countryside. Soon, Sladi's nephew Luumu arrives from Helsinki and learns of the team, his enthusiasm skyrockets and he hops on board with the assist of mechanic Suko. Yet the men encounter Machiavellian sabotage at the hands of the vile Torppo, the owner of the lot that contains Pekkarinen's Garage, who is determined to interfere with the plans of Team Susan.

Karjalan kunnailla

Kun Suomi muuttui - levottomat ajat 1961–1981