Finnish movie industry expecting a record number of premieres this autumn

Producers suspect that too many films are being made too cheaply

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By Veli-Pekka Lehtonen
     
      The Finnish movie industry is having a record year: the number of premieres of full-length films released in cinemas during the calendar year will reach 30.
      As many films as this year were previously made only in the golden age of Finnish cinema. According to the statistics, the previous peak occurred in 1955, when the number of national premieres was also 30, among them Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) directed by Edvin Laine. The Olympic year of 1952 also saw a total of 30 premieres.
      In 1954 and 1986 we came close, with 29 new releases screened in each case.
     
This historic movie log-jam is now being untangled on screens, when one gala premiere follows hard on the heels of another. Today - Friday 26th - starts a run of ten domestic first-nights to be given over ten weeks.
      According to Toni Lähteinen, Head of Programming at the Finnish cinema chain Finnkino, the threshold for Finnish movies to get screened is lower than that for foreign films.
      ”A domestic release is likely to gather more viewers than the average”, Lähteinen notes.
     
Actually smashing the record set back in the era of Tauno Palo and Ansa Ikonen - the most loved couple ever seen in Finnish movies - is also a close call, with only two minutes standing in the way.
      In 2011, the number of premieres would be an all-time high of 31, if Ella & Aleksi were to be included.
      The children’s animation has not been completed yet, but its cinema opening is nevertheless scheduled for September.
      At the moment, the film’s length is 50 minutes, and according to the producer, it is not likely to be lengthened by the required two minutes in the final phase of production.
      A full-length movie differs from a short by its minimum duration of 52 minutes. This is also a requirement for the annual Jussi Awards, the Finnish equivalent of the Oscars.
     
There are several reasons for the present spate of premieres. After gaining successes in recent years, the moviemakers' faith in themselves has increased, and the film industry has received more funding.
      Today, the Finnish Film Foundation also grants funding for small and inexpensive contemporary films.
      There is admittedly also an element of coincidence and luck in it: two Vares thrillers were originally slated to come out as DVDs rather than on the big screen, and the 3-D Santa-themed animation Maaginen kristalli (The Magic Crystal) should have been completed and screened in 2010 rather than in October of this year.
     
On the documentary front, the number of new productions this year has already risen to eight, thanks to digitalisation of cinemas.
      For example the documentary Tuntematon emäntä (”The Unknown Woman”), directed by Elina Kivihalme, would not have managed to get as many as 20,000 cinema viewers without digitalised film copies. Neither would it have been shown in 100 localities”, says Juha Elomäki from the Pirkanmaa Film Centre (PEK), the distributor of the film.
     
The record figures may seem like a positive sign, but the ketchup effect of the moment is being hotly debated within the Finnish film industry itself.
      According to Jarkko Hentula, President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Film Producers, there are two sides to the situation.
      ”It is great that it is possible for more people to make films; there will be variations, and the richness of domestic cinema grows”, Hentula says.
      ”Then again, it would be also relevant to say that by making a large number of movies, one can water down the market value of the homegrown productions. Movies tend to eat each other”, Hentula argues.
      In 2010, there were 23 domestic premieres, while the attendance numbers for Finnish releases topped two million.
      Only the most optimistic film-makers believe that the number of cinema-goers for domestic releases could amount to anything more than 1.5 million in 2011.
     
According to Hentula, many people in the Central Organisation of Finnish Film Producers regard the growth in the number of premieres as absurd.
      They do not express criticism against the number of films as such, but against the average size of budgets for movies.
      ”If production budgets are reduced, the difference between the domestic cinema and its archrival, the movies coimng out of America, will only grow in the eyes of the audiences”, Hentula charges.
      Some people also fear that films madeon the cheap will only increase the amount of work being done by staff in the branch for next to no reward.
     
This autumn’s 17 domestic premieres include for example cult auteur Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, a candidate to represent Finland at next year’s Oscars, the children’s animation Ella & Aleksi by director Juuso Syrjä, Matka Edeniin (Journey to Eden) directed by Rax Rinnekangas, Maaginen kristalli (The Magic Crystal) by Igor Boris Bertolucci and Antti Haikala, as well as The Italian Key, directed by Rosa Karo.
     
     
More details from the Finnish Film Foundation site
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 26.8.2011


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Aki Kaurismäki abandons his long boycott against Academy Awards (12.8.2011)

Links:
  Finnkino
  Finnish Film Foundation (see Upcoming Releases)
  The Central Organisation of Finnish Film Producers
  Tuntematon sotilas - The Unknown Soldier (1955) (IMDb)
  Le Havre (IMDb) - opens 9.9.2011
  Ella & Aleksi (IMDb) - opens 16.9.2011
  Matka Edeniin - Journey to Eden (IMDb) - opens 30.9.2011
  Maaginen kristalli - The Magic Crystal (IMDb) - opens 14.10.2011
  The Italian Key (IMDb) - opens 16.12.2011

Helsingin Sanomat