Films from Finland 2010

FFSC presents Finnish films at the Swedish Cultural Center on the fourth Wednesday of each month (except July and August) at 7:30 PM. The films shown this year are listed below. For more information about the Films from Finland series or any individual movies, please send email to FFSC@finns.org.  All films are at 7:30 p.m. in the Swedish Cultural Center, 1920 Dexter Ave. N. in Seattle.

A $5.00 donation is requested at the door to cover the cost of "Films from Finland". Refreshments are available, and there is ample free parking near the Swedish Cultural Center.

January 27/29. Putoavia enkeleita (Falling Angels), 2008, 96 minutes, K-13.            

This movie offers a window into the life of Helena Viita (Elene Levee), the daughter of two famous Finnish writers, Aila Merenluoto and Lauri Viita, played by Elina Knihtilä and Tommi Korpela.  All three were honored with Jussi Awards for their work in this rich and complex family drama.

 February 24/26.  Hurmaava joukkoitsemurha (A Charming Mass Suicide), 2000, 113 minutes, S.

Two men who have chosen to commit suicide accidentally meet and decide to form a suicide association to provide peer support for self-destructive people in this film adaptation of a novel by internationally-successful Arto Paasilinna.  Part mass road trip, part satire, all provocative.  

March 24/26.  Varjoja paratiisissa (Shadows in Paradise).  1986, 71 minutes, K-3.

This Aki Kaurismäki classic offers a romantic story with the director’s typical dark humor.
Kaurismäki regulars Kati Outinen and Matti Pellonpää play a supermarket check-out clerk and a lonely garbage man who find each other.  Jussi winner for Best Film in 1987.

April 28/30.  Kulkuri ja joutsen (The Swan and the Wanderer), 1999, 113 minutes, K-3.

Finns made a huge box office success of this film about beloved singer/songwriters Tapio Rautavaara  (Tapio Linoja) and Reino Helismaa (Martti Suosalo).  In addition to charting the rise of these two celebrities, this film also reveals much about Finland in the years after the war. 

 
May 26/28.  Elää ja palaa (You Live and Burn), 2007, 69 minutes, K-3.

Writer/director Iiris Härmä offers a documentary view of growing up part of the Roma minority in modern-day Finland.  Viewers peek into a year in the life of a young brother and sister searching for their identity and a mother trying to help and support them. 

June 23/25.  Umur, 2002, 102 minutes, S.

Based on a novel by Petter Sairanen, this film tells a simple, but profound, tale of a soldier who falls in love with the mysterious Umur of the title, only to find her coming in and out of his life, bearing a painful secret.  An incredibly beautifully-captured northern Lapland is the setting.

July and August.  Contact Swedish Cultural Center at www.swedishculturalcenter.org.  

September 22/24.  Suden vuosi (The Year of the Wolf), 2007, 95 minutes, K-13.

In this film by award-winning director Olli Saarela and drawn from a novel of the same title, a talented but introverted student meets an older lecturer and finds in him a similar remoteness.  The two of them seek to forge a relationship as those around them doubt their compatibility.

October 27/29.  Postia Pappi Jaakobille (Letters to Father Jacob), 2009, 75 minutes, K-7.

Director Klaus Härö, whose films have been among the most popular in this series, continues his success with this touching story of a blind priest (Heikki Nousiainen) who hires a released convict (Kaarina Hazard in a breakthrough performance) to tend his household and read his mail.

November 24/26.  Itsenäinen Suomi (Independent Finland), 2007, 90 minutes, S.                             

This documentary, written by Antti Tuuri, views the evolution of the sovereign Finnish nation through the eyes of Aino, born in 1917 – the year Finland gained its independence. Unique, authentic materials from the Finnish Archives add to the strength of this stirring tribute, just in time for Finland’s 93^rd birthday.

December 22.  Risto Räppääjä (Rick the Rapper), 2008, 79 minutes, S.

This pre-Christmas treat is about Risto, a ten-year-old boy who likes to play drums but finds his attentions divided when Nelly moves into his building.  Risto’s life is complicated when he is put in the care of a relative whose drive for cleanliness and order threatens his passion for his drums.  Nelly stands by him.