It’s Christmas time and the family has gathered. Everything goes on as it did the previous Christmases, with grandpa drinking too much and grandma trying to keep everyone in the mood. After the Christmas holidays, everyone returns to their own homes until it's time to gather again, this time for a funeral.
Family Stories Untold is an animated documentary, in which seven different women’s stories about family are woven into one life-long piece. It begins with Iida, 9, who after her parents’ nasty divorce helps Mummy find a new man on Tinder, and ends with Lisbeth, who has been forced into a retirement home by her children. It’s a story about a life in which we don’t have the courage to voice our opinions, desires and expectations.
Ida is a woman who was adopted to Finland from Africa as a child. Ida is an unemployed seamstress approaching her thirties and still lives at home with her activist mother Kati. Kati wants to fix her daughter's life and offers her a job at her work. Encouraged by her new friend Ville, Ida, however, sets out for Berlin in order to find a job and to prove to her mother that she can manage on her own. Meanwhile, Kati has been told that she is seriously ill, but she does not want to mention it to Ida in fear of standing in the way of her daughter's struggle for independence. Ida wants to have a life of her own, but what will she have left at the end of the day?
Reeta is on holiday with her baby brother and parents. When her parents fail to return to their isolated island house after going shopping, Reeta and her brother are marooned.
Seven stories of women. Occasionally intersecting with each other in everyday situations. Parallel episodes of hope and abandonment, addiction and infidelity, but also friendship and trust.
Baby Girl, 30, a poet with a bachelor's degree in arts, is anguished because of her relationship with Pirkka, a relatively smart, young man. Baby Girl's parents, Eila and Rampe, do their best to become friends with Pirkka and his elegant mother. Through coincidence and error Eila occupies her summerhouse neighbors' empty luxury villa. When Pirkka's mother drops by, Eila lies that she and Rampe own the fancy house. The showing off and lying escalate when Eila's mother and sister show up. The real owners of the house, an upper-class couple, Thomas and Monica, are driven away to Eila and Rampe's modest cottage.
In the mid-1960s, three small-time Finnish bootleggers seize control of their Helsinki neighborhood's black-market liquor business.
The cold and ruthless Bruno is married to Karen. Together they seek out poor and defenseless people offering them life insurance policies. Bruno and Karen make sure that it pays off. A movie about insurance scams. Inspector Susikoski investigates.
When the anarchistic princess of her own life, Princess Itty Bitty is told that her little brother, who still lives in her mother's womb, is about to move into her room, she's had enough. Drawing on the wisdom of her quirky neighbor, Auntie Jenssen, Itty Bitty devises a plan and conjures the bossy grown-ups to Hilldiggle with the help of her magical dog, Sausage.
When a new man appears in Tuula's life, Jorma does not tolerate the idea and begins to yearn back for his ex-wife. They drift into a situation where both face a big choice that has far-reaching implications for the rest of their lives.
For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.
A father who was absent for 30 years of his son's life returns and wants to set on a journey through Finland, so they can learn to know each other again.
Dramatic comedy about having fun, throwing yourself into life without inhibition, overcoming the feeling of shame and accepting that few things in life go as planned.
Krokelby in the 1920s. Sakris Kukkelman is a crippled, Nietzsche reading village idiot who believes himself to be a romantic hero.
Pekka Malmikunnas is a bankrupt, penniless man, who has convinced his family that he is still the CEO of a large IT company. Maintaining this façade in order to save face has become something of a full-time job for him. When Pekka’s parents unexpectedly come for a visit, he throws a lavish family dinner party in order to dispel any doubts. The soirée is a success until Pekka’s god-daughter gets run over by a car. The reckless driver becomes a mutual enemy for the family. The driver tries to atone for his actions, but the situation spirals out of control and Pekka attacks the man. Pekka realizes things have gone too far and decides to tell his family the truth. It does not hurt as much as Pekka thought, bringing the pieces of a once broken family back together.
On her way home from an evening shift at a men's clothing store, Saara Nevanen is raped by a man whom she recognizes as her regular but eccentric customer, Antti Kaironen. The doctor and policemen question Saara in an insensitive manner,and she breaks down with guilt. When the court releases the perpetrator inlack of evidence, Saara's aggressive brother Jari talks her mild-mannered husband Sakari into a self-made revenge plot. Armed with two rifles, Jari and Sakari take matters into their own hands.
Surrealistic black comedy about a safe insurance inspector looking into one company's fate.
Rousku and Raninen are fleeing their unemployment by setting up a construction company. Occupational illiteracy is not an obstacle and accounting is fine when Rouskun's mate deals with things. The entrepreneurs know that the poor can be, but not artificial. But what's the point for the scratchy women? Especially when Rousku gets to look in the mirror again and find out what kind of father, such a daughter.
Pekka tries to accomplish absolute equality in one day.
A Finnish family gathers together to spend time at grandparents’. When the night goes on, we realize that this is how things always go. With a warm and subtly humorous gaze, the film looks closely at the unspoken structures and norms inside a family.
The King Without a Heart is a fairytale about of a happy king who has a young daughter and a lovely wife. After the sudden death of his wife, the king becomes so sad that he wants his heart taken out of his chest. The kingdom is turned into an effective society based on reason, and there is no longer place for emotions. When she grows up, the princess tries to make her father see the importance of play and emotions.
A week-long glimpse into the wretched existence of Ripa, a long-haired, hard-drinking lug. He is also a filmmaker-wannabee, whose last two projects were condemned for their sex and violence. A Parasite Deluxe, who barely recalls his previous night, Ripa cruises the bars and meets bank-teller Tiina.
Matti Hunttala is a businessman who buys, sells, exchanges, and steals—whatever best suits his plans. The men of Hukansalmi municipality do not suspect Hunttala's grand promises. Business representative Koistinen, municipal manager Kiiskinen, and bank manager Ruotsalainen believe they have met someone who can boost the municipality's poor economy and factory projects. Hunttala buys Hukanharju from the municipality for free, promising to build factories there to create jobs for the municipality, but Hunttala sells the ridge to the gravel magnate and flees Hukansalmi himself.
Inkeri, 75, has hit her husband on the head with a solid iron frying pan and is planning to bury him in their garden. Before facing the rest of her life in prison, there may yet be a moment left to really live. Inkeri makes her sisters Sylvi and Raili join her on a trip to the Koli National Park. Will Inkeri find in her that free young woman who desired a feminist revolution in the 70s?
A young and promising Russian figure skater is found beaten and frostbitten in a lay-by of a motorway in Finland. In the hospital, the officials find a letter from her belongings and are able to reconnect her with her Finnish grandmother, whom she has not seen for years. With the help of her grandmother, who offers her the shelter of her home, the figure skater tries to re-establish herself and recover from the trauma and inhumane circumstances that forced her to flee from Russia. She finds a new chance with top figure skating, but despite the bright future, new friends and possibilities, her past won’t let go of her. The figure skater realizes facing her troubled past is the only option to make it to the top.
Uuno Turhapuro has lost his memory and thinks he's a woman. His friend Sörsselssön has lost his memory too and Härski Hartikainen tries to help them.
Hanna is a 30 something single woman from Helsinki. She has a good job and great friends and has almost given up on finding the Mr. Right. One night, Hanna meets Markus, a dark stranger who sweeps her off her feet.
Jill and Joy (both 9) live in their own house like any other little girls, except that they might be a little happier than most little girls, as they get to live in their own house specifically designed for the two. One December evening a small car, barely the size of a shoebox, pulls up in front their house, and a teensy-weensy family gets out; it's the McTiny family. The family has become homeless after a road roller smashed their home. Planning to live with the girls temporarily, the family moves in with Jill and Joy but soon finds out that not all big people have good intentions towards them. Jill and Joy's Winter is based on a beloved book by the same name, written by a Finnish writer named Marjatta Kurenniemi.
Midsummer in Sweden; somewhere above the Arctic Circle. Many curious stories unfold in a small Finnish-speaking village, while the sun never sets.
Documentary on the history of Ryhmäteatteri theatre company.
A story about one man's success and another's demise. Algoth Mäki, who moved to southern Finland in search of work, encounters the harsh world of gravel mining, where others succumb, but Hurme, the Sand King, continues his rise up the social ladder.
Actress Roosa Heinonen is heading for her first lead role in a historical drama film called The Pastor. Arriving to the film set, she confronts an unpleasant surprise.
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.
Three young women are having hard time, each of them having their own struggles. They share kindness, compassion, hope. Then suddenly one loses their phone and the girls are pulled into a sudden chase around Helsinki.
Tinke, who has been drinking his health away, lives in a care home, where his dark humour and his friend Veikko keeps him going. When Saimi's teenage twins, whom he vaguely remembers from years ago, decide to find out about their father, their search leads them to Tinke. Saimi is determined to prevent the twins from meeting Tinke, but Veikko, who has been caught up in the mess, disagrees.
Rebellious and upcoming filmmakers make their biggest film to date. Witness how the ambitious and topical film Free Skate came to life.
While at the reception, Inkeri overhears the doctor telling the nurse behind the corner that there is no life expectancy or hope left. Inkeri's daughter Maija takes it upon herself to care for her mother, even if it means forcing her, but Inkeri has other plans. As her last act, she intends to save Maija from repeating her own mistakes and then throw herself into the Arctic Ocean. Inkeri escapes from the nursing home for her final journey with her steel-haired friends and Matti, who has tagged along. Before reaching the Arctic Ocean, Inkeri throws herself into life: painful memories, intense emotions, and forest rave.