Liisa Karpo

With the Soviet Union’s dissolution dragging down the economy of neighboring Finland, the Scandinavian country was plunged in a period of protracted recession. And with no recovery in sight, a soap opera offered Finns a respite from the grim reality; the debut of The Bold and the Beautiful on television quickly amassed a vast and dedicated following, whereas the arrival of American idols in the country, on tour, elicited unprecedented frenzy.

When Finnish-Somalian Mustafe discovers his ancestors’ land in the horn of Africa is full of copper and gold, he decides to swap his family’s safe but boring life in the Nordics for Somaliland, a self-declared state in East Africa. As Mustafe struggles to lift the treasures from underground, his children embark on a bumpy journey to uncover where they really belong.

War and Peace of Mind explores what war does to the human mind and how both, the individuals and the nation as a whole, survive it psychologically. Finland and WWII, locally known as continuation war, is the backdrop of this documentary.

Last winter Russians got tired with Putin's autocratic actions and went out into the streets to demand change. A hope for more righteous Russia has awakened, but the journey is a long one, and the weight of history exceptionally heavy. However, an idea for new Russia has been born, and continues to grow even at this very moment. One of the people fighting for change is a Russian author and dissident Victor Erofeyev. He loves his country and wants it to be more tolerant and open-minded. For decades now, he has been criticising the people in charge of Russia. He has also been in trouble with the state since the Soviet times, but does not let the fear hold him back. With his work he wants to encourage the Russians to take a critical look around and try to actively improve their own situation. Now this is finally happening.

The adventures of three female wanderers on their journeys thorough the United States of America, who hop on freight trains to travel free. The particular reasons of each one of them for living this life of perpetual motion are unique, a life that gains sense in the wide open empty space of an immense country, historically marked by the mythical rail roads.

NASA roboticist and Curiosity rover driver Vandi Verma works on Mars on a daily basis from her desk at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Los Angeles. Her work is entirely reliant on images and the technologically advanced use of them. The film creates a philosophical journey into the intriguing world of Mars science. Through the lenses of various experts, we learn how NASA’s images are made, used, and manipulated for the sake of science, but also public information. Mars is the ideal place for an investigation into our paradoxical relationship to photography. Do images reflect reality or shape it?

With the Soviet Union’s dissolution dragging down the economy of neighboring Finland, the Scandinavian country was plunged in a period of protracted recession. And with no recovery in sight, a soap opera offered Finns a respite from the grim reality; the debut of The Bold and the Beautiful on television quickly amassed a vast and dedicated following, whereas the arrival of American idols in the country, on tour, elicited unprecedented frenzy.

When Finnish-Somalian Mustafe discovers his ancestors’ land in the horn of Africa is full of copper and gold, he decides to swap his family’s safe but boring life in the Nordics for Somaliland, a self-declared state in East Africa. As Mustafe struggles to lift the treasures from underground, his children embark on a bumpy journey to uncover where they really belong.

War and Peace of Mind explores what war does to the human mind and how both, the individuals and the nation as a whole, survive it psychologically. Finland and WWII, locally known as continuation war, is the backdrop of this documentary.

Last winter Russians got tired with Putin's autocratic actions and went out into the streets to demand change. A hope for more righteous Russia has awakened, but the journey is a long one, and the weight of history exceptionally heavy. However, an idea for new Russia has been born, and continues to grow even at this very moment. One of the people fighting for change is a Russian author and dissident Victor Erofeyev. He loves his country and wants it to be more tolerant and open-minded. For decades now, he has been criticising the people in charge of Russia. He has also been in trouble with the state since the Soviet times, but does not let the fear hold him back. With his work he wants to encourage the Russians to take a critical look around and try to actively improve their own situation. Now this is finally happening.

The adventures of three female wanderers on their journeys thorough the United States of America, who hop on freight trains to travel free. The particular reasons of each one of them for living this life of perpetual motion are unique, a life that gains sense in the wide open empty space of an immense country, historically marked by the mythical rail roads.

NASA roboticist and Curiosity rover driver Vandi Verma works on Mars on a daily basis from her desk at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Los Angeles. Her work is entirely reliant on images and the technologically advanced use of them. The film creates a philosophical journey into the intriguing world of Mars science. Through the lenses of various experts, we learn how NASA’s images are made, used, and manipulated for the sake of science, but also public information. Mars is the ideal place for an investigation into our paradoxical relationship to photography. Do images reflect reality or shape it?

A Russian mother and her queer son try to cope with their new situation, as the son, a political activist and radical artist, applies for political asylum in Europe.

Documentary about a Finnish reporter, Hannu Karpo. The movie follows Karpo's decades-long career as a journalist, and how he became a phenomenon and known by the whole nation.

He always comes in second in Counterstrike. But now 17-year-old Finnish super-gamer Verneri wants to be number one with the help of an e-sports psychologist. A shoot ’em up film about self-esteem, ambition and digital dreams.

My parents were real estate developers and dealers in the 1980s. They achieved the ‘middle class dream’ thanks to the development boom. However, the Asian financial crisis swept everything away.

Documentary about father coaching his teenage son in skiing.

Jasmin gazes in delight at the screen of the laptop she uses to make video calls with her father in faraway Somaliland. She asks him if there are hedgehogs there—an important question, because soon she and her brother and sisters will be living there. Her father once fled the war in his native Somaliland. In Finland, he found a second home, and his four children were born there. But he missed Somaliland, and was tired of the racism in Helsinki, so he decided to return with his family.