Veikko Aaltonen

Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.

Manne, Harri, and Ville Alfa are rootless twenty-somethings in search of purpose for their banal lives. After Manne steals a priceless painting from a group of petty criminals, Manne and Harri flee from the gangsters across Finland, while Ville goes to Paris. On the road they meet Veera, an old girlfriend of Harri's, and try to avoid the gangsters in pursuit.

After Nazi Germany invades Poland in September 1939, Russia attacks Finland two months later. Finnish reservists leave home and go to war. Brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala, farmers from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia, serve in a Finnish platoon.

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Second silver screen adaption of the Finnish war book by Väinö Linna. The story is based on Linna's experiences as an infantry man in the Finnish army during the so called "Continuation War" (1941-1944).

Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.

Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.

For the past 20 years, a cleaner Anna has been living an honest life. She takes charge of the life of her alcoholic lover, a retiree Harri. Chased by the loan sharks, Harri has one more heist to pull off. Like two old thieves.

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.

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.

Based on a novel by the late Finnish writer Timo Mukka, this simple story focuses on what happens when Milka (Irma Huntus), a girl barely out of childhood, gets pregnant by Ojanen (Matti Turunen) a rustic fieldhand. Her own mother had been hoping to marry Ojanen, and her daughter's pregnancy turns their lives around. Set in the Lapp country of northern Finland, the scenery is breathtaking, made even more so by the isolation of the region. A sense of natural solitude is underscored by a slow-moving dialogue interspersed with long silences, and the connection between nature and the dialogue is underscored as the young Milka recites poetry while out in the countryside. The fate of Milka and her mother, however, is connected to the decision that Ojanen makes at the end.

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.

After his wife leaves him, a man becomes obsessed getting his family back together by buying an old house.

After his wife leaves him, a man becomes obsessed getting his family back together by buying an old house.

This documentary revolves around the work of the priests of the Kallio parish in Helsinki.

This documentary revolves around the work of the priests of the Kallio parish in Helsinki.

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.

Two men, Nieminen and Varjola, commit a mail van robbery. Varjola betrays his friend: shoots him and takes the loot. Nieminen is arrested, but he refuses to reveal his accomplice's name. On his first leave on prison Nieminen finds Varjola in a small town, where he has became the mayor. Varjola, of course, is shocked to see his old friend again.

Two men, Nieminen and Varjola, commit a mail van robbery. Varjola betrays his friend: shoots him and takes the loot. Nieminen is arrested, but he refuses to reveal his accomplice's name. On his first leave on prison Nieminen finds Varjola in a small town, where he has became the mayor. Varjola, of course, is shocked to see his old friend again.

Eco-terrorists attack a ship carrying toxic waste.

How do artists view their own work? How does actor Esko Salminen immerse himself in his roles, how does the writer/director Saara Turunen create a whole new world for the stage, and why does musician PK Keränen pick up his guitar time and time again? Is creativity a conscious or subconscious process, a pleasure or a compulsion? Veikko Aaltonen’s documentary takes us straight into the heart of creativity with artists from different fields and generations. Celebrating the various forms of passion and creative work, the film presents a compelling case for the significance of art.

How do artists view their own work? How does actor Esko Salminen immerse himself in his roles, how does the writer/director Saara Turunen create a whole new world for the stage, and why does musician PK Keränen pick up his guitar time and time again? Is creativity a conscious or subconscious process, a pleasure or a compulsion? Veikko Aaltonen’s documentary takes us straight into the heart of creativity with artists from different fields and generations. Celebrating the various forms of passion and creative work, the film presents a compelling case for the significance of art.

A documentary about industrial workers and their culture in Finland.

One of Finland's most respected filmmakers, Veikko Aaltonen directs his first documentary about the changes of his home country since its admittance into the European Union in 1996. Most Finns are only one or two generations removed from farming. Even today, the country remains sharply bifurcated between traditional rural communities and cosmopolitan, urban society. The five years since Finland's entrance into the E.U. has been marked by a radical shift in its population -- largely to the detriment of its traditions and values. Aaltonen focuses on five people from three different areas, documenting their attempts at maintaining their traditional lifestyle. Some give up trying to improve and enlarge their farms after beating their heads against successive walls of bureaucratic indifference. Others score small, if temporary, victories, such as rescuing their traditional schoolhouse from destruction.