Production

Ilkka Mertsola

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Jalil poster
6.0

Jalil is 17-year-old boy living with his Iranian family in a suburb near Helsinki. Though he has lived in Finland all his life, it seems hard for him to find acceptance among the "native" Finns. At home he faces the opposite problem. His parents demand him to respect Iranian cultural traditions. Jalil is about one day in the life of a boy standing on the edge of two cultures. On this summer day big things are bound to culminate; religion, identity, love.

Jalil

2009

A City Symphony poster
8.0

The Helsinki of the 1990s, longed for by many, comes to life in Heikki Ahola's City Symphony. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, this classic montage film offers a unique glimpse into the pulsating life of the capital at all hours of the day. More than 30 young filmmakers worked on the documentary. Filmed between September 1993 and February 1995, City Symphony encounters the contrasting spirits of Helsinki – including unemployment and luxury, homeliness and internationalism. As the title suggests, music plays a central role in the film, with Tuomas Kantelinen responsible for the score. You won't find a more comprehensive journey through 1990s Helsinki than Kaupunkisinfonia. The world just before the breakthrough of the internet and the economic boom already looks very different.

A City Symphony

1995

A City Symphony poster
8.0

The Helsinki of the 1990s, longed for by many, comes to life in Heikki Ahola's City Symphony. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, this classic montage film offers a unique glimpse into the pulsating life of the capital at all hours of the day. More than 30 young filmmakers worked on the documentary. Filmed between September 1993 and February 1995, City Symphony encounters the contrasting spirits of Helsinki – including unemployment and luxury, homeliness and internationalism. As the title suggests, music plays a central role in the film, with Tuomas Kantelinen responsible for the score. You won't find a more comprehensive journey through 1990s Helsinki than Kaupunkisinfonia. The world just before the breakthrough of the internet and the economic boom already looks very different.

A City Symphony

1995

A City Symphony poster
8.0

The Helsinki of the 1990s, longed for by many, comes to life in Heikki Ahola's City Symphony. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, this classic montage film offers a unique glimpse into the pulsating life of the capital at all hours of the day. More than 30 young filmmakers worked on the documentary. Filmed between September 1993 and February 1995, City Symphony encounters the contrasting spirits of Helsinki – including unemployment and luxury, homeliness and internationalism. As the title suggests, music plays a central role in the film, with Tuomas Kantelinen responsible for the score. You won't find a more comprehensive journey through 1990s Helsinki than Kaupunkisinfonia. The world just before the breakthrough of the internet and the economic boom already looks very different.

A City Symphony

1995

Harvest poster
NR

For the longest time, Anja Huovinen has been putting up with her husband’s (Juuso Hirvikangas) drinking and slackness. But she has reached the limit. Elonkorjuu is a tragicomedy about what happens when a person stops being useful to anyone. The story is black and warm as freshly brewed Finnish coffee.

Harvest

2006

The Foundry poster
7.4

Workers of a foundry eat their lunch and watch Lumiére brothers film Leaving the Factory (1895).

The Foundry

2007

Sepelimurskaamon kauniin Jolantan ihmeellinen elämä poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Sepelimurskaamon kauniin Jolantan ihmeellinen elämä

1996

For the Living and the Dead poster
6.5

An ordinary suburban family is shattered when their youngest son is killed in an accidental fire while locked inside the family's car on their yard. Mother Marja can't stop crying, father Jaakko can't cry at all but blames himself for the fire. Their remaining son Timo develops problems at school because of his constant worries about his parents' safety. In their grief, Marja and her sister Leena have to confront an old family secret, their little sister's accidental death for which Leena has quietly blamed herself through decades.

For the Living and the Dead

2005

Conversations Between Men poster
NR

After being struggling to finish his ninth book, an irrelevant author decides to try change his methods.

Conversations Between Men

2013

All My Mom’s Phone Calls poster
6.0

In this warm-hearted puppet animation documentary, we get to know the filmmaker’s 54-year-old mother Maija through her phone calls. We see how she copes with the difficult things in her life, like alcoholism and autism, demanding family members, and various absurd situations that seem to follow her.

All My Mom’s Phone Calls

2021

The Classic poster
6.9

A self-loving fictional autobiography of author Kari Hotakainen.

The Classic

2001