At Sunday night's gala presentation of this year's Jussi Awards (the Finnish equivalent of the Oscars), director Markku Pölönen and producer Kari Sara went up together to collect the top prize for Best Picture of 2004 for Koirankynnen leikkaaja (Dog Nail Clipper). Pölönen also collected personal awards for Best Direction and Best Script. In 1999 Pölönen received three Jussis for the film Kuningasjätkä (A Summer by the River).
The film Koirankynnen leikkaaja is based on author Veikko Huovinen's novel of the same name. It tells of a Finnish lumberjack and his mates in the countryside. Peter Franzén took the Best Actor prize for his leading role in the same film, and the Jussi for best cinematography went to Kari Sohlberg. Previously Sohlberg has collected half a dozen Jussis already.
The Best Actress award went to Outi Mäenpää for her role in Kukkia ja sidontaa (Flowers and Binding). This was Mäenpää's third Jussi.
The Jussi nominations were evenly distributed over the whole annual output of Finnish film. In 2004 a total of 13 full-length feature films were produced in Finland. Eight of them received Jussi nominations. A great many of the nominations went to Aleksi Salmenperä'sLapsia ja aikuisia (Producing Adults), but it picked up only the award for Best Supporting Actress (won by Minttu Mustakallio).
Another big winner on the night was Pirjo Honkasalo'sMelancholian 3 huonetta (3 Rooms of Melancholia). Honkasalo received the reward for Best Documentary Film. In addition Sanna Salmenkallio picked up the award for Best Music.
At the same time, the Finnish release Paha maa (Frozen Land) won the top prize at the Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden on Sunday. Director Aku Louhimies received the Nordic Award, with a prize of over EUR 11,000.
