Mika Melender

Acting

Mika Melender

Born 1967-09-22

Acting credits

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki poster
6.6

Summer 1962 and Olli Mäki has a shot at the world championship title in featherweight boxing. From the Finnish countryside to the bright lights of Helsinki, everything has been prepared for his fame and fortune. All Olli has to do is lose weight and concentrate. But there is a problem – he has fallen in love with Raija.

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki

2016

A Moment in the Reeds poster
6.2

Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi's father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and embark on a romance set against the idyllic Finnish summer. However, looming over this chance encounter, is the father's imminent return to the lake house, the continuation of Leevi's studies abroad as well as Tareq's complex relationship with his family in Syria.

A Moment in the Reeds

2018

Just Sami poster
NR

Helsinki museum aide Sami idolizes visiting art star Camilo Delgado, but a night of volatile connection pushes him toward truths about ambition, devotion, and the dangerous light that powers genius.

Just Sami

2025

Virality poster
5.0

Set in modern day Helsinki, Finland, Virality portrays the lives of several main characters confronted with viral themes. The film links emerging viral aspects in our modern day societies, such as the spreading of news on the internet, with the viral nature of life itself, as in the storyline of a cancer patient being treated with virotherapy. Being primarily a crime film, the main storyline centers around a bitcoin heist that connects the lives of the main characters. Character storylines involve a young rapper searching for a breakthrough, a policeman who falls for an aspiring musician with a promising international career, a hacker choosing his own path and a cancer patient and a banker who reconcile ten years after the end of their marriage.

Virality

2017

Free Skate poster
3.5

A young and promising Russian figure skater is found beaten and frostbitten in a lay-by of a motorway in Finland. In the hospital, the officials find a letter from her belongings and are able to reconnect her with her Finnish grandmother, whom she has not seen for years. With the help of her grandmother, who offers her the shelter of her home, the figure skater tries to re-establish herself and recover from the trauma and inhumane circumstances that forced her to flee from Russia. She finds a new chance with top figure skating, but despite the bright future, new friends and possibilities, her past won’t let go of her. The figure skater realizes facing her troubled past is the only option to make it to the top.

Free Skate

2022

Stupid Children poster
NR

A man ends up seeking a violent solution to his relationship issues after encountering an aggressive dog.

Stupid Children

2026

Deadbeat's Diary poster
NR

Deadbeat's Diary tells a story of Teemu, a well-educated man in his 30s who had a burnout a few years ago. Now he is jobless and his days are filled with idleness, beer and music. To regain a direction, Teemu begins to keep a diary.

Deadbeat's Diary

2024

For Boys poster
NR

Seriously ill Mikael, who is living his last days, needs acceptance and lures young men into his apartment with a fake profile. When Paul arrives and shows unexpected warmth towards him, Mikael's world begins to collapse.

For Boys

2024

Rôtisseur poster
NR

An overconfident chef makes wrong accusations of sabotage when a critic praises his colleague instead of him. The chef stays overnight in the kitchen to prove his work is perfect, but as the night goes on his ego and self-doubt begin to haunt him.

Rôtisseur

2017

Stupid Young Heart poster
5.6

When carefree, young Lenni and his girlfriend find themselves expecting a child, he ends up looking for a role model in all the wrong places as he becomes involved with local right-wing activists.

Stupid Young Heart

2018

To Thy Rest poster
8.0

Arthur Sydenham Sharp, a travelling spiritual medium, arrives in Finland for the final seance of his tour. Immersed in the oppressive atmosphere of an unwelcoming hotel, Arthur's sense of reality becomes increasingly distorted by eerie visions and unsettling encounters as he struggles with his dependence on medication. As Arthur delves deeper into his psychometry and research into the hotel's sinister past, he uncovers disturbing truths that challenge his sanity and push him towards a harrowing confrontation with both the past and the present.

To Thy Rest

2025

How We Made Free Skate poster
NR

Rebellious and upcoming filmmakers make their biggest film to date. Witness how the ambitious and topical film Free Skate came to life.

How We Made Free Skate

2023

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

(Pri)sons: Making of

2024