Once Upon A Time There Was A Utopia

Observational documentary recording everyday life in Finland in 1983.

The Kiljunen family wins a holiday trip to Helsinki and the city will never be the same again.

A documentary film about a tour of three Finnish rock bands around Saimaa lake system in a steam boat in 1981. The bands (Juice Leskinen Slam, Eppu Normaali and Hassisen Kone) are shown playing songs in their gigs and, in between, the members give intimate interviews or just act plain silly and have a good time.

The futuristic aesthetics of Computers Serve offers an illustrative account of the history of computers, their prospects and the risks within, as seen in 1968. The voice-over accentuates the highly topical promulgation set against the dangers of monotonous office work and computer totalitarianism.

Juhani, a welder and Ritva, a right-wing backgrounded, future clerk get married. Soon we see that their marriage seems to be all about long business trips, housing problems, concerns about the money and political disagreements.

Young photography model Susanna and her alienated teenage brother Veli spend the summer of 1969 travelling around Finland, mostly with another girl and her boyfriend. Sporting the latest fashions and trendy hairdos, they naïvely observe and criticise the modern consumer society, advertising, fancy boats and summer cottages, country dances, barbecues, and any other phenomena that were supposed to bother angry young intellectuals in those days. The plot and the political agenda are delivered with a cheerful, tongue-in-cheek mixture of documentary observations, fake TV commercials, fake interviews, philosophical voiceovers and titles, and a jazzy soundtrack by the progressive rock group Wigwam.

A lonely young suburban housewife participates in a radio interview survey while simultaneously engaging in an extramarital affair.

Pertti Ylermi Lindgren was engaged to 76 women, married none, but took the money of all. Lindgren is the real thing, as far as swindlers go. Peter von Bagh asked him to play himself in a film that would reconstruct some of his greatest moments, i.e. the most flamboyant stunts – and he agreed.

The sculptor and protector of finncattle Miina Äkkijyrkkä is a person who provokes strong passions. Miina is an exceptional woman who has done both exceptionally courageous and exceptionally strange deeds. She is passionately hated - but also admired and loved. At the Skatta farm in Helsinki, Äkkijyrkkä breeds finncattle and fights for the existence of the farm. In addition to conflicts over livestock, Miina’s disagreements with animal welfare authorities and police are escalating. Miina is arrested and her dogs are taken into custody. Miina faces charges about opposing the police and a trial is ahead. At the same time as Miina is struggling with the authorities, she is building a sculpture of a Holy Cow from car wrecks, which she is erecting in Helsinki's Ruoholahti.