The Kiljunen family wins a holiday trip to Helsinki and the city will never be the same again.
The Leningrad Cowboys, a group of Siberian musicians, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band.
Lasse is an old racist who has lives in an apartment block filled with a selection of refugees and immigrants. Kamal is a 16-year old boy who's fed up in his life in Finland, and dreams of moving to Nairobi to live with his father. Only problem is that he doesn't have the money to buy the ticket.
The extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black that catapulted Winehouse to global fame. Told through Amy’s eyes and inspired by her deeply personal lyrics, the film explores and embraces the many layers of the iconic artist and the tumultuous love story at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time.
In this pitch black comedy the rivalry between two neighbors escalates into an all out war. Through a maintenance error on a tractor they both end up, paralyzed, in a wheelchair. It seems they are doomed to stay together. They no longer focus their rage on each other but on the manufacturer of the tractor, in Helsinki. So get ready for a hilarious wheelchair road movie.
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
A profile of composing team John Kander and Fred Ebb, who have written many Broadway musicals. Highlights include interviews with Lauren Bacall, Joel Grey and others, as well as the two men themselves, plus clips of performances of their songs.
In 2015, Roman Catholic priest Rob Galea joined the Australian version of The X Factor but, due to his holy duties, had to withdraw. But this didn't stop him from becoming a widely beloved contemporary Christian singer-songwriter.
A vacuum repairman moonlights as a street musician and hopes for his big break. One day a Czech immigrant, who earns a living selling flowers, approaches him with the news that she is also an aspiring singer-songwriter. The pair decide to collaborate, and the songs that they compose reflect the story of their blossoming love.
Three families struggle to find their true selves and their soulmates in a world full of expectations, pressure and obstacles. Inspired by real events, this film shows how they pursue their dreams and potential without losing themselves.
In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, under the sway of a controlling therapist, he finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.
A young actor from Texas tries to make it in New York while struggling in his relationship with a beautiful singer/songwriter.
Following folk musician Joan Baez on her extensive 2008-2009 tour, this film commemorates her career, which has spanned five decades. It includes concert and archival footage as well as interviews with such disparate colleagues, friends and admirers as Bob Dylan, Jesse Jackson and David Crosby. In addition to the music, it also touchs upon Baez's long history of global social activism.
A letter, received by the Finnish National Radio’s phone-in program, hopes that in this era of #metoo and many other well-meaning campaigns, attention will be drawn to an unpleasant phenomenon, the use of the name Urpo as a synonym for idiot. In this warm-hearted and humorous documentary, four men called Urpo gather to reflect on the meaning and impact of their name on their lives. Is the use of Urpo still decent in 2023?
Heli Valkonen is desperately in love with her husband. But Matti is just not in the mood. He is only interested in playing computer games, dressed in worn out fleece pants. For him, a shoulder massage is the highest form of intimacy. When subtle hints, nice words and fetching clothes won't help, Heli resorts in direct, and increasingly direct action - in vain.
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.
A People’s Radio – Ballads from a Wooded Country is a carnivalesque portrayal of the Finnish landscape of the soul and abode. The short film is based on the iconic YLE programme “People’s Radio”, and its visual material has been created by the road movie method of driving across summery Finland. The film paints a panorama of what Finland looks like today. Its narration progresses through humour into civic anarchy, ultimately also towards the longing for human connection.
Reconstruction tells about a certain night in 1982, reconstructed in 2020 by the people who lived it through together. The film combines dance, drama and documentary, but most of all is a story of a friendship of a boy and a girl, and how jolly situations can turn sour and how, even though close, friends do not share same experiences – and that can have an effect on their friendship.
Filmed with four cameras, over two shows at Union Hall, Brooklyn, on October 27th, 2008, this film is especially for those of you who miss the live experience: the sweat, the proximity, the forgotten lyrics. This is far better than a Zoom show with me sitting at my desk: it looks and sounds beautiful. It’s what you really want to see (as opposed to being the only thing we can bring you) and it’s the absolute closest thing to being at one of my shows. And - as luck would have it - I’m playing all your favorite songs. How do I know? Because we asked you to choose the setlist way back then, and you did.
Through the eyes of two 12-year-old boys, the sexual revolution arrives in a conservative and religious small town in Northern Finland.