Box office hit "Frozen Land" gathers eight Jussi movie awards

Sunday evening's gala presentation of this year's Jussi Awards (the Finnish equivalent of the Oscars) proved to be an artistic triumph for producer Markus Selin. The huge box-office hit Paha maa (Frozen Land), directed by Aku Louhimies and produced by Solar Films, gathered eight Jussis - more than any single movie has ever done before.
      Director Aku Louhimies collected the top prize for Best Director, and Samu Heikkilä got the Best Editing Jussi. Initially, Louhimies had severe disagreements with production company Solar Films on the final cut of the film, but the dispute was eventually settled in a way that satisfied all parties.
      Markus Selin went up to collect the top prize for Best Picture of 2005 for Paha maa. Nevertheless, the biggest applause was given to Sulevi Peltola, who snapped up the top prize for Best Supporting Actor in Paha maa. The audience comprised mainly members of Filmiaura, an association of film professionals who decide on the annual Jussi awards.
      "Frozen Land" is a sad and realistic depiction of today's Finland. The movie has a loose connection to one of the short stories by Leo Tolstoi, and its characters are linked to each other by a chain of bad deeds.
      Having gathered a number of awards and prizes in several international film festivals, the film was also Finland's most-viewed movie in 2005.
     
The People's Choice Award went to Tyttö sinä olet tähti (Beauty and the Bastard). The film took another prize for its music.
     
Hannu Pekka Björkman took the Best Actor award for his performance in Eläville ja kuolleille (For the Living and the Dead), which was produced by Sputnik. The movie tells about the feeling of deep distress caused by the death of a small child.
      Äideistä parhain (Mother of Mine), produced by MRP Matila Röhr Productions and directed by Klaus Härö, picked up three Jussi awards. The Jussi for Best Set Design went to Swedish Cian Bornebusch, and another Swede, Maria Lundqvist, was awarded the Best Actress prize for her role as a Finnish war child's Swedish foster-mother during the Second World War, when over 70,000 war children were evacuated from Finland to other Nordic countries.
      Previously, Maria Lundqvist has already collected a Swedish Guldbagge Award for the Best Leading Actress role in the same movie.
      Äideistä parhain is Klaus Härö's second film. The first was Näkymätön Elina (Elina). The film tells about Finnish-speaking Elina who lives in Northern Sweden, missing her dead father and feeling alone in her grief. Näkymätön Elina picked up the Jussi for Best Cinematography won by Jarkko T. Laine.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Movie theatres look to rescue by autumn domestic first-runs (23.8.2005)
  "Frozen Land" to facilitate promotion of Finnish film exports (8.2.2005)
  Director Markku Pölönen collects main Jussi 2004 awards (7.2.2005)

Links:
  Solar Films
  Finnish Film Foundation: Paha maa (Frozen Land)
  IMDB: Jussi Awards (will be updated with 2005 shortly)