A Short History of Finnish Cinema

Sodankylä 6.5.2010Juha OravalaElävää Kuvaa -projekti

• THE EARLY DAYS IN FINNISH CINEMA

• First public projections in the 1890’s with the Lumiére -brothers’ cinematographe

• The first filmed movie in 1904

• The first drama film Salaviinan polttajat (1907) by Teuvo Puro and Frans Engström

• Not any of the films made 1910 or earlier have preserved

• In the development of making of films Finland was a few decades behind the other Nordic countries

• But in organizing the film-screenings Finland was well developed. In 1917 there were 29 film-theaters in Helsinki

• The most known silent films Ollin oppivuodet (1920, dir. Teuvo Puro), Nummisuutarit (1923, dir. Erkki Karu)

• Two major film-companies in Finland: a) Suomi-Filmi - founded 1919 by Erkki Karu b) Suomen Filmiteollisuus 1933

• Begun from the ‘30s and continued up to the 1950’s

• The era of two big film-studios, which functioned likewise in Hollywood - film-making was under producers’ supervision

• Suomen Filmiteollisuus were managed by T.J. Särkkä (1890-1975) who was also the most productive Finnish film-director, overall 52 feature films

The golden era of Finnish film

• The first sound film, Sano se suomeksi (Say it in Finnish, 1931)

• Influences from abroad - genre-films, but nationally characteristic themes

• Popular genres - romantic comedies, log floater-films, melodramas

• Valentin Vaala (1909-1976), director - 45 feature films

• Vaimoke (Substitute wife, 1936, dir. Valentin Vaala) - the most loved Finnish movie-stars Tauno Palo (1908-1982) and Ansa Ikonen (1913-1989)

• Kulkurin Valssi (The Vagabond’s Valse, 1941, dir. T.J.Särkkä)

• Also independent film-makers outside the big studios

• Nyrki Tapiovaara (1911-1940) - 5 feature films

• Teuvo Tulio (Theodor Tugai, 1912-2000) - was born in St. Petersburg, spent his childhood in Latvia

• Tulio - a master of fateful melodramas and film noir - begun to work with Valentin Vaala - made 17 feature films of his own

• sample 1: Teuvo Tulio: Levoton veri (Le sang sans repos, 1946)

• In the 1950’s was made many golden classics

• Tuntematon sotilas (Unknown Soldier, 1955, dir. Edvin Laine) - Berlin International Film Festival (OCIC award), 6 Jussi awards (Finnish Film award)

• Valkoinen peura (The White Reindeer, 1951, dir. Erik Blomberg) - International Prize in 1953 Cannes Film Festival, 1957 Golden Globe award

• The golden era of Finnish cinema turned down in the late 1950’s

• Film-companies begun to produce more folksy comedies

• Rillumarei - musical-comedy -genre

• Rovaniemen markkinoilla (1951, dir. Armand Lohikoski)

• Pekka and Pätkä -comedy-series - for both children and grown-ups

• Sunday -afternoon matineas - the beginning of a child-audience

The Finnish New Wave• The new generation of film-critics

and cinefiles - the auteur-policy

• The crucial meaning of film-clubs and the Finnish film-archive (f. 1957) - One of its founders was Jörn Donner (b. 1933) - a writer, film-director, producer, former politician (parliamentarian, a member of European Parliament, diplomat) - writen 49 books, 28 short-, TV- and feature films - has achieved the only Oscar-award in Finland - as a producer of Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander (1982)

• Risto Jarva (1934-1977) - a director (22 films), script-writer, producer and cultural-politician - a co-founder of film-company Filminor

• Strong influences from the French New Wave and Jean-Luc Godard

• In his films Jarva dealt with the current social problems and explored many sociological questions

• sample 2: Risto Jarva: Onnenpeli (Les jeux du hasard, 1965)

• Mikko Niskanen (1929-1990) director, actor, writer, producer - directed 27 feature and tv-films

• Kahdeksan surmanluotia (Eight Deadly Shots, 1972)

Successors of the 1970’s and 80’s • Pertti ”Spede” Pasanen

(1930-2001) - a comedian, actor, writer and producer

• Uuno Turhapuro -series, acted by Vesa-Matti Loiri (b. 1945)

• Uuno Turhapuro armeijan leivissä (Numbskull Emptybrook in the army, 1984) - the most succesful Finnish film in the number of spectators

• The government support for cinema grew up and a new generation of filmmakers made their debuts

• Tapio Suominen (b.1946) - director, writer, editor, producer - directed 14 feature films and tv-series

• Täältä tullaan, elämä! (Right on, man!, 1980) - a youth-film

• Mika Kaurismäki (b. 1955) - director, producer, writer, editor - directed 30 feature and short films, debute Arvottomat (The Worthless, 1982)

• Aki Kaurismäki (b. 1957) - director, writer, producer, editor, actor - directed 28 short and feature films - debute feature Rikos ja rangaistus (Crime and Punishment, 1983)

• sample 3: Mika Kaurismäki: Arvottomat (The Worthless, 1982)

• sample 4: Aki Kaurismäki: Varjoja paratiisissa (Shadows in Paradise, 1986)

The new boom of Finnish cinema

• The wide audience found cinema again

• The filmmakers took nationally meaningful subjects and characters for the narration of films

• ”nostalgia boom”

• Markku Pölönen: Onnen maa (The Land of Happiness, 1993)

• Tradional Finnish elements as symbols

• The difference between ”high and low” have blurred

• The difference between critics and the ordinary spectators have grown?

• Critical films or the ones with a social message are not produced in the new feature films - without a few exceptions (Auli Mantila, Jarmo Lampela)

• With the new boom the field opened for female filmmakers - for example Auli Mantila, Kaisa Rastimo and Taru Mäkelä made their feature debuts

• sample 5: Auli Mantila: Pelon maantiede (Geography of Fear, 2000)

• The new generation of filmmakers who got their influences from the contemporary cinema and american action movies

• For example Aleksi Mäkelä (b.1969) - 25 tv-series and feature films and A.J.Annila (b. 1977) - 2 feature films

• sample 6: A.J.Annila: Jadesoturi (Jade Warrior, 2006)

• Markus Selin (b. 1960), a producer and founder of Solar Films

• Renny Harlin (b. 1959), a director, producer - directed 22 feature and tv-films, for example Die Hard 2 (1990) and Cliffhanger (1993)

• Solar Films is specialized in genre-films - especially in American action movie

• Aleksi Mäkelä: Häjyt (The Tough Ones, 1999)

• Härmän häjyt -legend: bunch of ruffians who wandered the Ostrobothnian villages, carried a knife and wore traditional ostrobothnian outfit - waistcoat (its later referent Jussi-sweater), hat and boots

• sample 7: Aleksi Mäkelä: Pahat pojat (Bad Boys, 2002)

• In Finnish cinema exists a long tradition of documentary film

• Mainstream cinema nowadays doesn’t allow a different kind of stories and point of views

• Documentarists use also critical, socially commentative and experimental visions, which would be difficult to produce with feature film

• Documentary cinema has a wide markets of its own - films are also usually co-productions

• In the contemporary Finnish documentary there is a lot of blurring of boundaries - for example between document and fiction - also experimental and aesthetic cinematography

• sample 8: Mika Ronkainen: Huutajat - Screaming men (2003)