Axel Slangus

Based on a Finnish poem, The Kingdom of Rye is a gorgeous romantic drama set in rural northern Sweden during the harvest. It features a young couple whose love affair is fraught with Hardy-esque complications and an unhappily married wife of the landowner.

Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

It is in a battlefield in Karelia, Finland during the Continuation war (1941-1944). Intensive shooting between Finnish and Soviet troops takes place. The Soviet occupation is strong, and on the Finnish side it is ordered to withdraw. But Captain Viktor Aaltonen does not listen to the order but wants to shorten a wounded companion's suffering. Aaltonen is taken to the Soviet prison camp, Vorkuta, where he will spend a decade.

“Tukkijoella” (Log River – 1928). Films of this genre gave the Finnish cinema and the viewing public one of its most popular characters – the lumberjack (tukkijatka, tukkipoika, tukkilainen) who at his most heroic hour becomes the log-roller or the shooter of rapids (koskenlaskija). The significance of this character in Finnish film is comparable to that of the Cowboy on American cinema. He is the pioneer, the wanderer, the adventurer. He negotiates the frontier, he is an embodiment of the conflict between wilderness and civilization.

Portrait of the Swedish poet Dan Andersson (1888-1920). Brought up during poor conditions he finds work as a temperance preacher and educator. Bored by this he travels to Stockholm to try to get his poems published. On the train he meets a rich, sophisticated art patron who encourages him and grinds his literary and philosophical formation.

Tornionjokilaakso at the end of the 19th century, Paloniemi's landlord Heikki tries to get out of his financial difficulties with the help of his son Juhan and Nuottaniemi's only daughter Hanna. The happiness of Hanna, who has fallen in love with Antti of Rehti Koskenalusta, is threatened by the evil and dangerous Korpikoski.

A man stays with a fisherman and his adult daughter in coastal Finland, develops feelings for the daughter and begins to uncover a terrible secret haunting the family.

The Drakenhjelm family has lived in the Rautakylä manor for over 150 years. The current master of the house, elderly baron Magnus, has been living for a long time in an unregistered relationship with his housekeeper Lisette, with whom he also has a son, Sebastian. After the baron falls gravely ill Lisette starts getting worried about losing everything, so with Sebastian on her side she demands the baron to write a letter to the pastor and ask him to come over to perform a wedding ceremony. Right after Sebastian has left to fetch the pastor, a threesome seeking shelter from the storm comes to the manor and wreaks havoc on the marriage plans.