
Acting
Pihla Viitala
Born 1982-09-30 · Helsinki, Finland
She studied acting at the Helsinki Theatre Academy and began her career in the late 2000s with feature films such as Ganes (2007) and Tears of April (Käsky, 2008). In 2010, she was named one of Europe's Shooting Stars at the Berlin International Film Festival. She subsequently developed an international career, notably appearing in the American fantasy action film Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) and the Italian comedy-drama Latin Lover (2015). On television, she achieved widespread international recognition for her leading role as Detective Sofia Karppi in the crime drama series Deadwind (Karppi, 2018–2021), a performance that earned her the Kultainen Venla Award for Best Actress. She has also featured in the drama series Arctic Circle (Ivalo) and Cold Courage (2020). In cinema, she portrayed the title role in the historical drama Maria's Paradise (Marian paratiisi, 2019).
Acting credits
6.1After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel and Gretel have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell-bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches... their past.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
2013
NRThe town of Hömpstad is once again under threat from criminals and Vinski's help is needed. When the criminals manage to steal the invisibility powder for themselves, Vinski has a real showdown on his hands.
Vinski 2
2026
6.0The story of an overly protective and controlling father who suspects incest is taking place between his own son and daughter. These growing suspicions and concerns cause the father to become delusional and unrelenting in his quest to end the love affair between his children.
Bad Family
2010
6.3Eero’s career as an author is spiraling down: he just can’t get started with his new novel. The ambitious actor Pihla is about to get her international break. Neither of them is willing to sacrifice their career even though their relationship is doing worse than ever. Void is a comedy-drama about the price of success and the agony of failure, and about situations where your partner just doesn’t get it.
Void
2018
4.6A private detective engages in a sexually-charged relationship with a real estate broker.
Honeybunnies
2017
5.7The five daughters of a famous actor, all from different mothers and different nationalities, get together on the 10th anniversary of his death for a celebration of his career.
Latin Lover
2015
NRTherapist Leena and her soon-to-be ex-husband Pekka run a relationship camp in the midst of their own painful break-up. The participants are all very different: an actor who has lost himself and his memory, his spouse, a police officer who cannot let go of his loved one, and a couple whose open relationship is not quite as open as they think. Through surprising twists, painful encounters, and humor, the campers discover new perspectives on each other—and themselves. Perhaps not everything can be fixed, but there is still much to learn.
Therapy
2025
4.9Dramatic comedy about having fun, throwing yourself into life without inhibition, overcoming the feeling of shame and accepting that few things in life go as planned.
Off Key
2016
4.6The director Lauri Nurkse tells that Veijarit is a film about "arjensietokyvyttömyys" (= inability to tolerate everyday life) and about the Peter Pan complex. The main actor Mikko Leppilampi says it's about "kolkyttoistavuotiaat" (= thirtyeenagers = people of thirty behaving like teenagers). An immediate reference point is the commedia all'italiana of the 1950s and the 1960s, the black comedy often exposing the infantile stage of development of the Italian male. Saku and Ässä are anti-heroes, but we never fail to sense the humanity behind their shallow and crazy ways. Veijarit is a satire and a parody of a superficial way of life, but there is a vitality in the protagonists that we feel can lead them to a more meaningful stage of existence after the prolonged youth full of sound and fury. There is a motif of transcendence in the imagery of flying: will the balloons carry me or will they burst.
Hustlers
2010
5.4A teenage orphan girl Salome lives within a sect lead by charismatic and ruthless Maria Åkerblom. During a pivotal summer, Salome is faced with standing up against Maria, the woman who had saved her.
Maria's Paradise
2019
5.9In a conservative and religious small town in Northern Finland during the late 1970s, the arrival of the sexual revolution disrupts the balance of two architect families. The plot follows two 13-year-old boys, singers in the traditional Star Boys Christmas procession (Tiernapojat), who closely witness their parents' sexual liberation and the resulting marital tensions. Confronted with the adults' behavior and the breakdown of their family structures, the teenagers face upheavals that impact their own transition into adulthood.
Star Boys
2017
5.6When 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
5.8There is civil war in Finland between "Whites" and "Reds". A woman soldier of the Reds is captured by the Whites. She is ordered to be executed. A lieutenant is enforced into a homosexual relationship with his commanding officer to save the Red female with whom he is infatuated.
Tears of April
2008
5.0Liina lives together with her mother. Her mother is often working night shifts so Liina needs to get by alone. In the same building is an apartment where a man died some time ago. One morning Liina hears a dog barking inside the apartment. Liina makes up a story about the dog and tells it to everyone the following day. A nightly rendezvous in the dead man’s apartment turns Liina’s stories true.
Liar Girl
2017
4.5Visa Vuorio, a 35-year old team leader at the Helsinki city gardening department, is suffering from a terminal neurological disease and only has a few months to live. Because of this, he is a member of a therapeutical support group for people suffering from terminal diseases. Visa's life changes when a young female reporter, Hanna Manninen arrives at the support group offering to write a series of articles about Visa's life story.
One Foot Under
2009
4.5An epic tale about a group of whale watchers, whose ship breaks down and they get picked up by a whale fisher vessel. The Fishbillies on the vessel has just gone bust, and everything goes out of control.
Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre
2009
5.4Antti Pasanen is working as a journalist. His life is on the right tracks; his wife Pia is just about to give birth. Until - in the front of the Maternity Hospital everything changes. Antti, with the sniffling baby in his arms, sees the taxi´s taillights fading out. Pia is sitting on the backseat; their future as a nuclear family is disappearing. The new life with the baby´s terms begins and Antti has no idea what that’s all about.
Man and a Baby
2017
6.0A Finnish-Norwegian love story with an unexpected shape and development. Shot in Oslo, Helsinki, Istanbul and Berlin. The film focuses on showing the actual moments that lead to getting to know one another, building a relationship and to breaking up. The film takes part in Kaisa’s attempt of getting involved with two different men that look almost exactly the same, questioning where the thin line is between someone potentially being the love of your life or not. Shooting the film with the approach of a workshop and closely involving the actors allows the film to take shape as a unique, unpredictable cinematic expression touching the basis and complexity of human behavior.
Must Have Been Love
2012
NRTwo strangers meet at a Greek-Finnish wedding while going through their own breakups. Touko, a musician who has had little success and is still married, feels attracted to Eevis, who is in the process of getting divorced. Touko's wife, the famous singer Leena, is also a guest at the wedding and notices the attraction between Touko and Eevis. Amidst the stunning Greek seascapes, the conversations that take place over the course of one evening touch on parenthood, childlessness, sex, divorce, marriage, and, of course, love, while the guests celebrate a memorable wedding.
Hippo Love
2026
6.4In the mid-1960s, three small-time Finnish bootleggers seize control of their Helsinki neighborhood's black-market liquor business.
Hellsinki
2009
4.5Summer begins, Aku graduates high school and faces a great emptiness. As his girlfriend, parents and friends all leave the city, it looks to be the dullest summer ever. Everything changes at Midsummer when Aku meets Juli, a beautiful, strange and wild girl. Juli asks Aku for a ride to eastern Finland. Aku agrees – without any idea what he's getting himself into.
August
2011
4.9Two friends make a fresh start isolated in an abandoned place of Crete. The arrival of a German woman, awakens the erotic passion, and brings intense emotions.A friendship is tested, three lifes are mixed, in an erotic web under the Red Sky.
Red Sky
2007
4.0German Laura follows her husband and moves to Finland with their baby girl. Her days at home are lonely as her husband is constantly working.
Playground
2009
4.825-year-old Iiris and Karoliina have been best friends since childhood. Karoliina has been travelling and living abroad for some years now, but is coming back home for the summer as Karoliina has gotten them a job as waitresses in Hanko, the best summer city in Finland!
Summertime
2014
Behind the camera
A documentary about a young Finnish Romany Carmen, 11, who lives with her grandmother and aunt in the suburb of a small town in Northern Finland.
Carmen
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Karo and Risto have been nursing their strained marriage on holiday in Lapland. On their way back, they get into a car accident and are forced to stay at the only accommodation in the area to recover. In a frozen environment, Karo begins to doubt her own memory and does everything she can to get home from the snow-covered holiday village. Risto, on the other hand, begins to feel strangely comfortable at the luxury resort and refuses to leave.
Rajamaa
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5.0Friends meet after years apart and go on a road trip, to escape from their everyday lives. The trip takes some unexpected turns along the way, but will they find answers to the questions that are troubling them?
Elma ja Liisa
2011