Matti Onnismaa

Forest Giant

Pasi returns to his childhood town, asked to reconfigure the local plywood factory. With a child on the way with his upper-class wife, Pasi sees an opportunity – this is his ticket to climb the professional ladder in the company. On arrival, he bumps into his childhood friend Janne, who works in the factory he is about to downsize. Pasi begins to struggle with the fact that he is supposed to care for the profits – not for the people.

First World Problems

Losing a car in a car park can be the end of the world or the beginning of another.

The Classic

A self-loving fictional autobiography of author Kari Hotakainen.

Overseas and Under Your Skin

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?

Yellow Sulphur Sky

In his youth, the author Frej has already found a deep connection and passion with an upper-class girl, Stella Rabell, that has lasted between them through the decades. When Stella's older brother Alex falls victim to a stabbing attack, Frej begins to reminisce about the events of decades past. Frej's memories from the bright 1970s to the present day are filled with love, jealousy, betrayal, life and death.

Matti: Hell Is for Heroes

Four Olympic gold medals, seven World Championship titles, four World Cup tour championships, and forty six World Cup circuit victories. Once his career as a professional athlete ended however, the other side of his personality emerged into public view in all of its vulgarity. An alcohol dependency, several marriages accompanied by numerous marital problems, petty crime, uncontrolled acts of violence, and greedy hangers-on.

V2: Dead Angel

The tough Detective Vares, get hired by a friend accused of murdering a girl. His job is to find the real killer, but people aren't talking. Before he can get traction another homicide takes place- and things move toward a dire conclusion.

Snot and Splash: The Mystery of Disappearing Holes

Snot and Splash travel to their grandmother's house in the small town of Mouthwash for a winter holiday. Once there, they discover that everything is a little off in what used to be a very ordinary town. The strangest thing is that holes are disappearing from the town. Snot and Splash set out to investigate and manage to get on the trail of a local dentist, Migrén Junior. However, the investigation is in danger of failing when messy Snot and diligent Splash get into an argument with each other. How can Mouthwash be restored and the holes put back in place if the boys can't work together? The only way to restore the world is for the brothers to work together.

Debt

It’s the past that defines you, Kari tells his therapy group. And indeed, after serving a lengthy prison sentence, he wants to become a better person. However, his former life as a ruthless debt collector catches up with him in a nightmarish way.

Eros and Psyche

This is a sad story of Eros and Psyche. Sadder than the ancient myth that was only a dream after all. In my story, the characters learn nothing.

Vares: The Girls of April

Tough Finnish detective Jussi Vares gets hired by a friend at a newspaper to investigate a 15 year old mystery regarding the disappearance of 3 girls.

Vares: The Kiss of Evil

A young college student is found stabbed to death,and private detective Vares life takes an interesting turn when the girls family asks him to investigate the case.

Siriuksen vieraat

Anders flees his drug debts to his former home village. Once there, he must come to terms with his past.

Armomurhaaja 2: Elämän koulu

Veijo Haukka, who has mended his ways during his murder sentence, has to face against the offspring of his victims. At the same time closeness of death threatens his relationship.

Lakeuden kutsu

Businessman Erkki Hakala returns to Ostrobothnia after years in Florida and buys a metal workshop in Jalasjärvi from the unknown Partanen brothers with his business partner Taisto Matsomppi. Erkki misses his wife Kaisu, who back in the day stayed in Finland, and his child, but will the man be forgiven for years of absence?

Vääpeli Sadon tapaus

A TV movie based on Pentti Haanpää's novel, which tells the story of the power struggle between Sergeant Sado and Corporal Kärnä.

The Hijack That Went South

Aarno Lamminparras hijacked an airplane with a gun in 1978. A true story.

Hellsinki

In the mid-1960s, three small-time Finnish bootleggers seize control of their Helsinki neighborhood's black-market liquor business.

Fallen Leaves

In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles – from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog.

Stars Above

Stars above follows the stories of three women from the same family across three different decades. The main characters – Saima, Tuulikki and Salla – each lives in the same country house. Saima´s story takes place in the war time 1942, when Finland fought against Soviet Union, Tuulikki´s story in colourful year 1978 and Salla´s story in the present day. Each woman is between 30 and 40. This deep and beautiful, yet humorous film pictures the encounters between people and the possibilities for choice. How much does the time we live in affect us - and our ability to hold on to our dreams? What are those things which we pass on from one generation to the next? What changes, what remains the same? And to what extent do mothers´ choices, let alone their unspoken secrets, affect their daughters´ lives?

Producing Adults

Longtime couple Venla and Antero come to a serious impasse. After years with Antero, Venla wants to start a family, but her boyfriend, worried that parenthood will stifle his speed-skating career, secretly gets a vasectomy. Determined to have a child, Venla seeks help from a female fertility doctor, a decision that breeds new possibilities for the prospective mother when she falls in love with the doctor.

Bad Luck Love

A shocking crime forces a man to re-evaluate his life, only to find that going straight is more complicated than he imagined. Ali is a low-level criminal who spends much of his spare time working out at a gym with his brother Pulu. Ali spends most of his day stoned on marijuana, while Pulu is known to drink cleaning products when he's run out of booze. Ali has fallen in love with Inka, a bright woman with a mind of her own, and her independent nature occasionally throws him into a fit of jealousy.

Silence

A drama between people under unconventional circumstances. In the Second World War Finland was the only nation who brought casualties killed-in-action back to be buried at home. These actions were carried out by men and women working in assembly centres near enemy lines. Silence is a story of a group of people in a limbo between life and death, in a mental no-man's- land, where heaven and hell, horror and joy, love and fear touch each other.

Highway Society

The mechanic Jack tries to get rid of his criminal background.

Laundry

Humorous fragment of starting over, struggles with life and neighbours. A story of the time when even washing the undies seems difficult.

Taarka

The first film in the Seto language in the world speaks about the brightest heroine of a small people, the folk singer Hilana Taarka, a woman who lived her whole life as an outcast in a small chimney-less hut; as an unmarried mother of children in poverty, begging her bread, doing odd jobs and singing. She always sang the truth, sometimes bitter, sometimes funny, sometimes cruel. She was feared, despised and coveted. Taarka sang throughout her remarkable life, throughout her fate, from a small Seto village to international fame. And she sang well. Really well. Taarka became the Mother of the Song, a legend. But as a woman, as a member of the community, the Seto people never really accepted her. Taarka - a despised woman and a worshiped singer.

White Marble

Half-senile Ossi and his wife travel to celebrate Ossi's 75th birthday at an old people's home where most of their friends are already staying. Just before the festivities Ossi suddenly disappears and goes on tour to 'make an inventory of his life'. He checks into a hotel, poses as a publishing director to lure an aspiring female novelist, next travels to bother his old mistress and her new husband with his surprise visit and obnoxious comments, then goes to see his son for the first time in 34 years just to receive an even colder treatment. Meanwhile, his equally demented wife goes looking for him with a local policeman.

Death Is a Problem for the Living

The cheapest drivers in the hearse business, gambling addict Risto Kivi and his friend Arto Niska, an 85% brainless man, have found themselves in a situation where everything has gone wrong and a fresh start is needed.

A Mate

Pera wants to try something kinky in the bathroom, so he asks his mate to help him. However, Pera’s wife comes home a bit too soon…

Georg

Unforgettable melodies, unique timbre and a memorable, soul-stirring voice. A mystery for women and authority for men, his talent was revered by the highest ranks of the Soviet Union and millions of ordinary people. Georg Ots took the stage when a huge country was recovering from the horrors of war, and his voice returned them faith in a bright future. Few people know what his life was really like.

Rock'n Roll Never Dies

The story of a simple and good-natured rocker in his late thirties who has a homemade electric guitar and loving parents.

Everything In Between

"Everything In Between" follows a group of filmmakers that are passionate about their work. An intimate portrait of film making and the deep trust that develops in these exceptional circumstances.

Family Time

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.

Oh No, Lasse Falls!

The Munich Olympic Stadium, 1972. Athletes and officials are preparing for the 10,000 metres final. Lasse Virén is warming up on the track. It is not a big day only for Virén but for the whole nation. But one man cannot win alone. It takes a dedicated group of hardworking, reliable people. In a desolate bunker near the track, six Finnish men are preparing to help Lasse achieve the run of his life. A run that changes history. All for the small, relentless nation from the dark cold North.

The Hullabaloos!

The birthday of twin boys, Mökö and Luru, takes the family Kiljunen to Helsinki, where their dog gets accidentally switched with the president's dog. Mökö and Luru rush to save their dog, while mother and father Kiljunen take over the city from land, sea and air.

Kaikki pelissä

A film group is making movie in the little town. Writer Pentti Töysä interrupts film group's press conference and claims that script is written by him and it is based on true story. Töysä also says that he has written a new ending to the movie and that it reveals an old murder. Not everyone is happy about the new twist.

Winning Ticket

Eevi works in a beauty parlor, leading a humdrum life in the suburbs of Helsinki with his husband Kari, a wannabe rocker. After the jackpot, the couple agrees to carry on with their lives as before, without telling anyone about the stroke of luck. But the money is burning holes in their pockets and that’s hard to hide. Their opinions about themselves and their relationship are put to the test. Everyone seems now to have a strange attitude towards them – although they try to pretend to be the same people as before. Do the millions bring happiness after all?

The Woodcutter Story

An open-pit mine is unearthed in an idyllic town in Northern Finland. A strange chain of dreadful events affect the life of Pepe, a kind and optimistic woodcutter. But no matter what happens, Pepe seems to be fine with it, as if he holds a secret of existence that is hard to grasp.

Vares: The Sheriff

Jussi Vares find two bodies of Turku outskirts of women, which has been shot in the head, and the man whose body is full of runes similar to the cuts, which suggest that the murder would have been part of the dark ritual. A year later, Vares is hired to investigate these homicides. Cable Wires take Varesta towards Turku underworld dominant invisible godfather, sheriff. Sheriff is the man whom nobody knows and we do not discuss. Vares drifts dangerously close to the "jury", the secret underworld lord clubs, the members of the human spirit is a cheap commodity. Rummaging through the case Vares get too close to the truth.

Luottomies-elokuva: All in

When Tommi doesn't get the promotion he was hoping for from his father-in-law Johan, he decides to get into the investment business to buy his dream house with his wife, Harriet. However, things are complicated by the fact that Tommi is easily fooled and the money from the old apartment, more than half a million euros, disappears in a pyramid scheme. When Tommi is in danger of losing Harriet for good, his loyal friend Juhis takes the reins. Juhis plans a rescue operation that kind of works.

Thank You in Your Language

Actor Tiina Vainio has to make an audition tape in a hotel room as soon as possible for the role of her life.

It Is What It Is

A serious man heads into the woods as a moose.

Ken tulta pyytää

Firefighter Jesse heroically rescues ten children from a devastating fire. But it soon becomes clear that Jesse is not a hero after all, and a thrilling adventure begins, the outcome of which is difficult to predict.

Rendel

Rendel, a masked superhero, becomes blinded by his desire for revenge against a sinister criminal organization.

Guilt

Guilt is a high concept thriller that follows Tomas, a man who joins a violent criminal gang in an attempt to find his sister. As he delves deeper into his mission, his moralities waver and his obsession starts to consume him.

Vares: Gambling Chip

Jussi Vares falls in love with a beautiful brunette - only to lose her in a horrible way. After dating Sole a few weeks, her body is found in a bird-watching tower. The investigations come to a standstill, until Vares promises to solve a mystery of messy denunciation letters. Before the letters reveal their secret, a lot of things happen. A gun-for-hire, Stahanov, gets an assignment. Sole's brother finds his wife in the arms of a wrong man and goes on a rampage, accompanied by a black cat. In the end the clues lead to a familiar person and more death in unavoidable

Euthanizer

Euthanizer tells the story of a mechanic who euthanises sick and old pets as a side job. Despite the grim work, he has a soft spot for the animals. Trouble stirs when the owner of a dog he was supposed to end realises that the canine is still alive. The only innocent party in the drama that ensues is the dog itself.

The Winter War

Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.

Pearls and Pigs

When their bootlegging father ends up in jail, four twenty-something brothers need money to pay his debts to local crooks. Next, their 9-year-old half-sister is dumped on their doorstep by her prostitute mother. A karaoke set helps reveal that the little girl is quite a singer, just as a talent contest for children is coming up on national television offering more than enough money to the winner.

Super Furball

Emilia is a suburban kid. She goes to school, lives with her Mom and sometimes her Dad, and her life couldn’t be more ordinary. But one day Emilia’s pet hamster bites her finger. Emilia gets a secret superpower to transform into Super Furball, who can fly and solve problems with her superpowers. At the same time, the herrings in the nearby Baltic Sea bay are screaming for help because of poisoned water. As the Super Furball, Emilia takes it upon herself to fix the situation and finds ways to be more courageous in her own life.

Seasick

Eco-terrorists attack a ship carrying toxic waste.

Routasydän

In this gloomy scenario about Finland's upcoming membership in the European Union, the country has become a poor peripheral area plagued by energy shortages and civil wars. Escaping the city to his summer cottage with his children and a lady next door, a divorced university teacher is forced to pick up a young delirious woman from the roadside. He soon falls in love with her, only to find out she is a sought-after deserter from a violent guerilla army.

The Inspector

Surrealistic black comedy about a safe insurance inspector looking into one company's fate.

Legacy

The meaning of life is a piece of cake.

A Perfect Day

Police officer gets back to work after getting a wheelchair. Nothing is the same and even the gun must be given away.

A Closet

Aerial photograph salesman travels the Finnish countryside. In one house he hears strange noises coming from the closet.

Drifting Clouds

The ever-poker-faced Ilona loses her job as a restaurant hostess, as her tram driver husband, Lauri, also finds himself out of work. Together they must hit the streets of Helsinki, facing up to hardship and humiliation in their quest for survival, guided through the gloom by a ray of hope.

Lights in the Dusk

Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.

95

Set in the final weekend of the year 1995 Ice Hockey World Championships, 95 tells through overlapping stories why Finland became a ice hockey world champion and how it affected the whole nation.

A Mother

After getting released from prison, Eeva returns to her old home town with only a shoulder bag, cellphone and the clothes she is wearing. She wants to find her grown-up daughter, but the townspeople soon make it clear that she is not welcome.

Play God

Play God is a humorous documentary that neither apologizes nor whines but simply recounts, with brutal honesty, the story of a failed splatter film project.

Kiss Me in the Rain

Middle-aged Maire's husband spends most of his time abroad on business. Alone in their large house, Maire fills her empty life by absorbing other people's tragedies from tabloid newspapers. Obsessed by the story about a young single mother whose husband was killed and the killer got away with it, she befriends the young widow who would rather forget the whole event and go on with her life.

The Prodigal Son

Esa is a small time crook who has been precisely released from prison. He starts to make money by mugging people. One day psychiatrist Lindström rings Esa's doorbell. He has a very strange request: he wants Esa to maltreat him. Esa accepts this request, but he is not aware of Lindström's bad intentions.

Tomato

Unemployed actor Kati gets a job as a tomato on a commercial. Turns out that the gig is not what she expected.

Nimby: Not in My Backyard

Mervi is a gay girl living in the hipster quarters of Helsinki. She has been together with Kata for a year, and now they are encouraged by the circumstances to come out from closet. When they do, Mervi realises that she is not the only one in her family with secrets – her parents have been living in an open-bisexual-swinger-relationship for 20 years. On the other hand Kata is pretty surprised that she might be living with a hetero girl that once was dating a neo-nazi. And the ex-boy friend cannot swallow that Mervi is now with a person both of wrong color, and sex. The real threat appears when Kata’s parents arrive from Berlin and the local skinhead chief finds out that a black muslim celebrity politician has arrived to town.

Tomas

An adolescent boy’s life is slipping into a vicious cycle of crime and school.

The Other Side of Hope

A restaurateur befriends a Syrian refugee who has recently arrived in Finland.

8 Days to Premiere

A love story set in the world of theater. Romeo and Juliet is to be the season's grand premiere. Noora, the female lead in the play, breaks her leg at the kickoff party, and Laura, an actress who due to her debilitating stage fright has ended up as the prompter for the play, gets a chance of a lifetime. There are 8 days to the premiere.

Lapland Odyssey 2

It’s been three years since we last met Janne and Inari. Since then, they’ve had a daughter named Lumi. Janne and his friends experience a new adventure, this time on an autumn night. The boys go to a party but end up chasing Lumi who has disappeared. Meanwhile, Inari enjoys a girls-night-out and has an adventure of her own.

If You Love

Ada, the pampered daughter of the Minister, crashes drunk with an immigrant and loses her memory. Ada starts dating the victim’s son, Toni, but the relationship is put to the test when the secret is revealed.

Promise

The film tells about members of Finnish women's Lotta Service during the Second World War through the eyes of three young women.

Wendy and the Refugee Neverland

Story about 29-year-old Krisu, who is quite lost in her life. Luckily, she has a indie band called Wendy and the Refugee Neverland.

Heartbeats

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.

Princess

Princess tells the true story of former cabaret dancer Anna Lappalainen's redemptive struggle with insanity, who checked in to Finland's Kellokoski Psychiatric Hospital in 1945.

Kauhun millimetrit

Marja Sauri, who lives in Helsinki at the end of the 1980s, is going to the store to replace defective garden shears with new ones. Along the way, she collides with a woman on the street who Marja insults in anger. Within a day, Marja begins to see strange delusions about the same woman she encountered earlier.

August Fools

An comedy set in 1960s Helsinki. The story revolves around Elsa, a resolute hatmaker who is in complete control of her life. Besides running her shop, she sometimes doubles as a fortune teller. When Jan, a Czechoslovakian jazz musician and Elsa's old lover comes to town to perform at a "peace and friendship festival", her well-organised life is jolted out of balance.

Bad Family

The story of an overly protective and controlling father who suspects incest is taking place between his own son and daughter. These growing suspicions and concerns cause the father to become delusional and unrelenting in his quest to end the love affair between his children.

Missä on suuri pohjoinen

Two completely different people meet on a journey from Helsinki's West Harbor to the Arctic Ocean.

Simo Times Three

A caper comedy about two friends, Simo and Lasse, who try to earn their living as burglars. But now there's also Baby Simo.

Mausoleum

Pathologist Abrikosov gets a phone call that a fly has taken a refuge inside Lenin's sarcophagus. No one knows how to get rid of it. Its Mayday 1936 and Stalin himself is about to come to inspect the body prior to Mayday festivities.

Three in Love

Tomi finds himself in love with two women and his wife Maria finds herself in a situation where she has to deal with the fact that Tomi is the love of her life.

Carrier

Janika takes advantage of her pregnancy by smuggling amphetamine from Tallinn to Helsinki with her brother.

Pieni pyhiinvaellus

In a religious rural community in the 1950s, Ritva, a young woman has kept her pregnancy a secret. Helped by her sister, she gives birth but soon abandons the baby. The next day the infant is brought to the hospital where Ritva works. Troubled with shame, Ritva finds consolation from a dying priest.

Romanovin kivet

This action packed Finnish thriller tells the tale of two friends who get their revenge against the millionaire who double-crossed them. Patrick and Tony are hired by the wealthy gambler to steal the priceless Romanov stones, Russian jewels. They do it, but almost lose their lives when he double-crosses them. They turn around and get revenge, his money, his wife, and his daughter.

Vares: Garter Snake

In the heat of the night, a man from faraway plays the piano. In the local hillside prison, a bitter double-crossed convict stares at the city life over the roofs. A revenge is brewing in his mind; the blood-thirsty killer prepares his escape. Vares gets a client who needs private investigations. Despite the beautiful wife, Vares smells a rat... In the middle of the summer night, a shot rings out. One life comes to an end and Vares finds changes in his assignment. The clues lead him to first-hand encounters and second-hand bookshops; a visit to the gym reveals a drug-smuggling route from Stockholm... Vares finds himself entangled in hot money and cool silk. In the background slithers a cunning garter snake.

The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic

Jaakko and Sirpa have never met face to face, but talk on the phone every day. When Jaakko hears news about Sirpa's declining health, he decides to go meet her in another city. It's not the easiest decision, because he's blind and paralyzed from the chest down - and he has to make the journey alone. To get there, Jaakko must rely on the help of five strangers. What could go wrong?

Vares: The Path of the Righteous Men

The body of a young woman whose heart has been ripped out of her chest is found in a remote are in Finland. The finder of the body, a dismissed pastor, hires private investigator Jussi Vares to investigate the crime. Vares uncovers a criminal ring involved in extortion, religious scams, exploitation of minors and stock market speculation.

Vares: Tango of Darkness

The tango king Harry Koivikko was found dead six years ago in a sleazebag motel, with a knife is his back. The biggest manhunt in the county faded away without results. Jussi Vares gets a phone call from a down-and-out journalist; the informant tells Vares he knows the murderer. Then the journalist disappears without a trace and Vares has to face the biggest challenge of his career. To add insult to the injury, an old acquaintance Veikko Hopea gets his first prison furlough…

Lovemilla

Aimo and Milla live together at her alcoholics-turned-zombies parents' place, while saving money to move out. Due to his lack of self confidence, Aimo wastes their savings to turbo-boost his muscles, and eventually to turn himself into a robot. Milla doesn't like this new Aimo and leaves him. Aimo's heartache leads him to give up his heart for a metal one, one that doesn't hurt. Milla decides to steal Aimo heart: after all, a woman needs to have a man's heart. Lovemilla is an anarchic comedy trip, a story about love, robots and bodybuilding.

Our Father…

Juhani Haavisto returns to his childhood home from the seas and is confronted by his wheelchair-bound, demented father Eino and the traumas of sexual abuse and violence he experienced as a child.

Pidetty hiljainen mies

A short film about Kaista, his son Pasi, his ex-wife Elina, and Elina's brother Aleksi, whose spring is dragging on. Kain's words ended when his wife announced that she wanted to be alone for a while and then started dating a man who is fair but dances.

Kolme suudelmaa

A comedy about lecturer Sakkas, who devotes himself to history in order to find meaning in the world. What happens when a man's frozen heart begins to thaw?

Viisasten kivi

A young woman has to attend a self-improvement camp

Lunastus

In a small village in Eastern Finland in 1918, Patrick, who has taken care of the chaplain, teacher and physician, has been filled with loneliness and brutal spirit of work for five years.