Finnish film

Finnish film director Mika Kaurismäki (2009)

The Finnish film has a long history. The first film production in Finland was made in 1907. Highlights included the “golden age” of the 1930s, the “New Wave” of the 1960s and the “young and wild” of the 1980s - including the well-known filmmakers Mika Kaurismäki and Aki Kaurismäki .

The Finnish Film Foundation (Suomen Elokuvasäätiö) plays an important role in Finnish film by providing funding for the production of films in the sparsely populated country (5.4 million inhabitants).

history

1896–1920: Before independence

The Lumière brothers' company in Helsinki gave its first public film screenings as early as 1896 - one year after the invention of filmmaking .

In 1904 the first film recordings were made in Finland. It is unknown who made the first film in Finland. The first Finnish film company Atelier Apollo was founded in 1906 by the engineer K. E. Ståhlberg . She mainly produced short documentaries , but she also produced the first Finnish feature film Salaviinanpolttajat ( Die Schwarzbrenner ) (1907) (director: Teuvo Puro ). The Finnish film industry was based in the capital Helsinki from the start. Nevertheless, for a few years from 1907, there was a notable film company ( Oy Maat ja Kansat ) in Tampere that produced short documentary films.

After 1907 there was a period (1909–1911) when no Finnish films were produced - in part because of the political situation in Finland, which at the time as an autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland was part of Russia and was thereby influenced by global political circumstances.

Teuvo Puro also directed the first full-length Finnish feature film Sylvi - based on the play by Minna Canth . The film was shot in 1911 alongside two other full-length literature adaptations, but was not shown for the first time until 1913. The filmmakers didn't have enough money to immediately send the films to the nearest laboratory in Copenhagen for development . As a result, the footage stayed too long and two of the three films were ruined.

In the years that followed Sylvi , the first film companies emerged that produced feature films (such as Hjalmar V. Pohjanheimos Lyyra-Filmi ), which produced both funny short films and art films. Erik Estlander also tried to make larger-scale film productions and built a glass-walled and roof-mounted studio in Helsinki in 1916. At the end of the same year, the Russian authorities banned all cinematic activities in Finland. In 1917 Finland declared itself independent and in 1918 the Finnish civil war broke out . Films were not made again until 1920 - after the political turmoil surrounding the country's independence had ended.

The Finnish film industry in the first two decades of the 20th century lagged behind the creativity of its Scandinavian neighbors Sweden and Denmark . In addition, most of the pre-independence footage was lost. Only 13 minutes of Sylvi's feature films have been preserved.

1920–1930: Silent film years

When the political situation slowly calmed down and stabilized after the Finnish civil war, Finnish society and its culture were able to develop again. This also applied to the art of film : more and more films were made again, which became an important part of cultural life in Finland.

Suomi-Filmi

Thanks to the successful film production company Suomi-Filmi (founded under the name Suomen Filmikuvaamo in 1919) and its creative director Erkki Karu , film production got going again in the 1920s. He directed the most important films of the time and was the main character in Finnish cinema before he died in 1935 at the age of 48. His film Nummisuutarit is considered a decisive masterpiece of the silent film era. It is a freshly told comedy about people from the country based on the play by Aleksis Kivi with slightly experimental camera work by the German cameraman Kurt Jäger . He also made the first film to be distributed internationally ( Koskenlaskijan morsian from 1923). To this day, Karu is considered to be the most influential and important director of the Finnish silent film era.

Viewers of the rural rural regions liked stories about the people of the countryside from Suomi-Filmi. During the silent film era, Suomi-Filmi stayed true to these themes. Every now and then there were attempts to make more urban or “European” films - but these flopped.

Another important director at Suomi-Filmi was Teuvo Puro, who made the production company's first full-length film and one of the few Finnish horror films. One of the curiosities of the last two years of silent film was Carl von Bäumenman , a soldier and adventurer who had worked as a military advisor in Hollywood. That's why it was believed that he could make films. However, his two upper-class espionage dramas of 1929 and 1930 fell through with the audience.

Other production companies

Suomi-Filmi clearly dominated Finnish film production in the 1920s. Suomi-Filmi produced 23 of the 37 full-length feature films between 1919 and 1930. Other film production companies that were founded every now and then disappeared from the market after one or two films.

The most important film company besides Suomi-Filmi appeared in the second half of the 1920s when the German cameraman Kurt Jäger left Suomi-Filmi and founded his own company ( Komedia-Filmi ). Komedia-Filmi was associated with the film distribution company Ufanamet , which was dominating film distribution in Finland at the time. This combination was serious competition for Suomi-Filmi, so Suomi-Filmi began to defame its new competitors: They accused Komedia-Filmi and Ufanamet of being foreign intruders. Eventually, both competitors went bankrupt.

In 1929 two films by the new small film production company Fennica premiered, directed by Valentin Vaala , who later became the most important director of the golden age of Finnish cinema. When he made his first film Mustat Silmät , he was just 17 years old. His main actor Theodor Tugai (later Teuvo Tulio ) was only 14 years old. This film and its immediately following remake Mustalaishurmaaja were passionate dramas with an oriental influence. Unfortunately, only the remake survived as the filmmakers destroyed the only negative of Mustat Silmät by throwing it into the sea because they thought the remake was far better.

There were also companies producing films outside the capital - in Viipuri , Oulu and Tampere.

1931–1933: The first sound films

The heyday of Finnish film began with the sound film. The first experiments with sound were made by Lahyn-Filmi from Turku . The first sound long film with songs from 1931 was directed by company boss Yrjö Nyerg (later: Norta ): Sano se suomeksi . The film was more like a collection of musical revue numbers than a feature film .

Suomi-Filmi changed its film production from silent to sound film in the same year. The first Finnish film with soundtrack was produced by Suomi-Filmi in 1931: Aatamin puvussa ja vähän Eevankin . This was based on the popular play of the same name by Agapetus (pseudonym of Yrjö Soini ). The soundtrack consisted only of music and some sound effects. Suomi-Filmi's first real sound film was Tukkipojan morsian - a country drama from 1931 directed by Erkki Karu.

1934–1939: The golden age

The studio system

In 1933, the company's founder, Erkki Karu, was fired from Suomi-Filmi. He then founded a new film production company ( Suomen Filmiteollisuus ), which used the initials SF as its logo. This company did better than previous competitors with Suomi-Filmi, and after a few successful comedies directed by Karu, it became as important as Suomi-Filmi.

The competition between the two companies was fruitful: at the end of the 1930s, around 20 full-length feature films were being produced each year. The quality of the productions was high, the range of content increased and the popularity of films from their own country increased among Finns. This is how a mini-Hollywood was created in Finland with its own stars and creative producers. In addition to the two large studios, smaller production companies were also successful.

Sound films had also led to the Finnish population's interest in local films. The big breakthrough for Finnish sound film was Siltalan pehtoori from 1934 - a successful comedy by Suomi-Filmi that drew over 900,000 viewers to the cinemas. Other very successful films of that era were Aktivistit (1939) by Risto Orko , Juha (1935) by Nyrkii Tapiovaara and Juurakon Hulda (1937) by Valentin Vaala . But only the feature film Kulkurin valssi (1941) by TJ Särkkä was able to top the million mark in audience numbers .

Suomi-Filmi

After Erkki Karu was kicked out , he was replaced by Risto Orko as head of Suomi-Filmi. He ran Suomi-Filmi until the 1990s - long after the company stopped making films. Orko directed Siltalan pehtoori and then directed several more times - including two historical-patriotic dramas in the late 1930s: Jääkärin morsian (1938) and Aktivistit (1939). Most of the films he directed became classics.

The most important director at Suomi-Filmi was Valentin Vaala in the 1930s , who had a particularly creative period in the late 1930s. Before he came to Suomi-Filmi, he had made three more films for his first company, Fennica, after the silent film era. When he started with the fourth sound film, the company went bankrupt and he went to Suomi-Filmi. His first film on Suomi-Filmi was the rather humble comedy Kaikki rakastavat from 1935. Nonetheless, it was very successful and introduced two of the most popular Finnish movie stars: Ansa Ikonen and Tauno Palo .

Vaala's last Fennica films were big city comedies - a genre that he successfully developed further at the new Studio Suomi-Filmi with his two subsequent light films Vaimoke and Mieheke (both from 1936). Juurakon Hulda (1937) was a far more serious attempt by Valentin Vaala in the same genre: a socially critical story about a country girl who arrives in the big city and inevitably faces problems of gender inequality. The film and its theme were received with great enthusiasm by the audience.

Vaala was also a master at rural themes and romantic melodramas. In 1938 he made his first and probably best film as part of a film series of a rural family saga with Niskavuoren naiset .

SF

After the early death of Erkki Karu in 1935, Toivo Särkkä replaced him as head of the company. Särkkä ran the company until it went bankrupt in 1965. He is considered a very distinguished producer and director. His filmography includes over 200 full-length film productions. He also directed 51 of these films. He directed most of the company's films with Yrjö Norta in the 1930s - including the religious drama Kuin uni ja varjo (1937) and the patriotic-historical film Helmikuun manifesti (1939). Särkkä and Norta's works also include some highly popular country comedies such as Lapatossu (1937), starring popular Finnish comedy actor Aku Korhonen, and Rykmentin murheenkryyni (1938), which became the model for the military farce genre in Finland.

Other production companies

Besides Suomi-Filmi and SF, there were a few companies that could produce many films during the golden age of Finnish cinema.

1940s and 1950s

The Finnish film industry reached another high point in the late 1940s and 1950s, when three large Finnish film studios competed and produced many feature films. In addition, a new generation of creative filmmakers who pioneered Finnish cinema established themselves in the 1950s - including directors such as Matti Kassila , Erik Blomberg , Ville Salminen or Edvin Laine , whose film Tuntematon sotilas (also: The Unknown Soldier , Crosses in Karelia or Barrel Fire over Karelia ) attracted 2.8 million viewers to the cinemas in 1955, making it the most successful film of all time in Finland.

1960 to 1980: The New Wave

Cinema in Ekenäs / Tammisaari, Finland

In the 1960s, films suffered from the increasing dominance of television in Finland. The established production companies such as Suomi-Filmi and SF lost their importance during this time.

From the 1960s onwards, some of the Finnish filmmakers made films with political or artistic claims, as they rejected commercial productions as no longer up-to-date and tasteless. However, these films no longer reached a large audience. This new generation of filmmakers gave Finnish film a decisive impetus in the context of the “New Wave”. Such was Risto Jarva of the French avant-garde - the so-called Nouvelle Vague (French "New Wave") - influenced their approaches Jarva further developed in Finland to a form of social realism '- such as in Työmiehen päiväkirja (1967) and finally in the Comedies Loma (1976) and Jäniksen vuosi (1977). This generation also included Mikko Niskanen , who began his career in 1962 with the film Pojat , in which the then unknown Vesa-Matti Loiri played. Niskanen also directed Käpy selän alla (1966) and Lapualaismorsian (1967). Rauni Mollberg , also a director of the New Wave, adapted two works by Timo K. Mukkas Lapland - novels for the screen: Maa on syntinen laulu (1973) and Milka - elokuva taboo ista (1983).

In addition, there were Finnish filmmakers who continued to make commercial films during this phase, which were well received by the audience but were panned by the critics.

1980s - Kaurismäki era

Aki Kaurismäki (left) and Ville Virtanen at the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä , Finland (2011)

In the 1980s, the Finnish film received more international attention. On the one hand, this was due to a new generation of filmmakers (including Aki Kaurismäki and Mika Kaurismäki ) who implemented new ideas and, on the other hand, because commercial success was no longer viewed as “non-artistic”. Commercial film projects were again publicly funded.

This generation of new filmmakers - the "young and wild" ones - gave Finnish film new impetus. Almost 30 directorial debuts have taken place during this decade - including the first films by Mika & Aki Kaurismäki , Markku Lehmuskallio , Taavi Kassila , Janne Kuusi , Matti Kuortti , Matti Ijäs , Olli Soinio , Lauri Törhönen , Claes Olsson , Veikko Aaltonen and Pekka Parikka . Also Renny Harlin , who now works in Hollywood, began in the 1980s as an advertising director in Finland.

This new era was initiated by the Finnish-Soviet co-production Tulitikkuja lainaamassa , followed by Tapio Suominens Täältä tullaan, elämä! .

The brothers Mika (* 1955) and Aki Kaurismäki (* 1957) are considered the most famous filmmakers in Finland - although they differ significantly in style. Mika Kaurismäki studied film at the University of Television and Film in Munich while Aki Kaurismäki studied literature and communication at the University of Helsinki and eventually taught herself to make films. At the beginning of their filmmaking career, the two brothers still worked together. Aki Kaurismäki wrote the script and starred in the film, while Mika Kaurismäki directed - as in the short film Valehtelija ( The Liar ) (1981) or the feature film Arvottomat ( The Worthless ) (1982). Both films that had a high level of creativity and a tight budget.

Together, the brothers founded the distribution company Villealfa and in 1986 the annual Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä , which is 120 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle . The sun never sets here in summer. This enables the films to be shown here around the clock, which creates a special atmosphere due to the midnight sun .

After that, however, they went different paths: Mika Kaurismäki's films are more oriented towards the mainstream and a traditional way of filmmaking - as in the films The Clan - The Story of the Frogs (original title: Klaani ) (1984), Reise in den Darkis (original title: Rosso ) (1985) and Helsinki Napoli All Night Long (1987). He has lived in Brazil since the 1990s and continues to make films - including road movies , documentaries and feature films such as LA Without a Map (1998).

Aki Kaurismäki's films, on the other hand, are characterized by their economical, non-verbal communication and dry, laconic-bizarre humor . His films often address the fate of social outsiders. This combination of melodrama and asceticism and various awards earned him the reputation of a very good filmmaker. In his film productions, Aki Kaurismäki repeatedly works with a circle of friends and actors and musicians . Sometimes he takes on an extra role in his feature films as a homage to Alfred Hitchcock .

Aki Kaurismäki is best known for his Suomi trilogy Clouds Passing ( Kauas pilvet karkaavat ) (1996), The Man Without a Past ( Mies vailla menneisyyttä ) (2002) and Lights of the Suburbs ( Laitakaupungin valot ) (2006), with his work also includes comedies such as Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989). With The Man Without a Past ( Mies vailla menneisyyttä ) won Aki Kaurismäki 2002 among others at the International Film Festival of Cannes to the Grand Jury Prize .

1990s

"Bio Rex" cinema complex in Kajaani, Finland (2004)

In the 1990s, Finnish film suffered from the economic crisis in Finland, as the crisis led to significant cuts in government funding from the Finnish Film Foundation ( Suomen elokuvasäätiö ).

At the end of the decade the economy picked up again, films were better funded again and Finnish cinema flourished again. In 1999 there were 30 premieres of Finnish films - including Tommy and the Lynx (original title: Poika ja ilves ), Häjyt and Kulkuri ja joutsen , which each had 200,000 visitors and helped to raise the popularity of domestic film productions back to the level that it was 10 Years earlier.

High profile directors who made their debut in the 1990s included Markku Pölönen , Auli Mantila and Jarmo Lampela .

2000s until today

Film director Klaus Härö

In the 2000s the Finnish economy continued to improve and film funding increased significantly. At the beginning of the new millennium, for example, a program was launched to strengthen Finnish film and, from 2002 to 2005, Finnish film productions were given more support. This engagement was extended in 2006.

The Finnish Film Foundation plays a crucial role in this. It reports to the Ministry of Education and receives film funding from the national lottery fund. This z. In 2008, for example, domestic film productions were funded with a total of 16.1 million euros - with the aim of increasing the funding amount to 27 million euros annually by 2010 in order to strengthen Finnish film nationally and internationally in the long term.

This was very fruitful for Finnish film, so that it was able to position itself lively and well: some films and filmmakers had international successes and many films met with a good response from both critics and audiences. The influence of this funding can also be seen in the number of films produced: While 14 to 19 feature films were produced annually between 2004 and 2008, the number rose to 31 in 2011, of which 24 were full-length feature films and seven were documentaries .

At the transition to the new millennium, some genres were particularly well represented. So sit Ambush 1941 - patrol to hell ( Rukajärven tie ) (1999), Little Nurse (1999) and Talot Hylätyt, pihat autiot (2000) to the Second World War apart. Kulkuri ja joutsen (1999), Badding (2000), Rentun Ruusu (2001), Sibelius (2003) and Aleksis Kiven elämä (2002) describe the life of well-known public figures in Finland.

The film Elina ( Elina - Som om jag inte fanns ) by Klaus Härö won numerous awards at international film festivals in 2002 and has also received several awards in Germany. It tells the story of nine-year-old Elina, who returns to school in the 1950s after a long illness in the countryside on the border with Sweden. There she messes with her teacher because she strictly forbids speaking Finnish in school, although many children of the Finnish minority cannot speak Swedish at all.

Filmmakers in Finland are now trying more and more new genres. For example, the film Jade-Krieger by Antti-Jussi Annila was based on the Chinese wuxia genre , which tells stories in the form of kung-fu fairy tales, and combined this narrative style with the Finnish national epic Kalevala . In addition, animation films have increasingly been made in recent years and Finnish documentaries have received international awards.

Film schools in Finland

You can study film at two Finnish universities: the Lahti University of Applied Science (Finnish: Lahden ammattikorkeakoulu) and the Aalto University - Helsinki University of Art and Design .

Film festivals in Finland

Almost 20 film festivals in Finland with different focuses enable a wide-ranging engagement with film - such as the Midnight Sun Film Festival , the DocPoint - Helsinki Documentary Film Festival for documentary films, the Tampere International Short Film Festival for short films (founded in 1970 - the oldest film festival in Finland) and the Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy for young independent cinema.

Individual evidence

↑ The Finnish Film Foundation (Suomen Elokuvasäätiö) (English)

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