Kulttuuriviennin tukiverkko 25.9.2009 Director of the Year: Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää, Producers of the Year: Petteri Pasanen and Hannu TuomainenJukka-Pekka Valkeapää has been awarded as Director of the Year by The Association of Finnish Film Directors, and Petteri Pasanen and Hannu Tuomainen as Producers of the Year by The Central Organization of Finnish Film Producers. These honorary mentions were announced on Thursday September Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää is the director of The Visitor (Muukalainen), which is his debute feature. According to the The Association of Finnish Film Directors, this film shows the director´s uncompromising vision and courage to make non-mainstream cinema. The Visitor had its world premiere at the Venice Days of the Venice International Film Festival in 2008. Pasanen and Tuomainen are the producers of the feature-length animation film Niko and the Way to the Stars (Niko - lentäjän poika, 2008). According to the Central Organization of Finnish Film Producers, the success of this film clearly proves the professional skill of the producers in terms of coming up with vast international financing and global distribution. This Finnish-German-Danish-Irish co-production has been sold to over 100 countries, and already during 2008 it got an audience of around 1,5 Million admissions in international distribution. In The professional skill of Pasanen and Tuomainen has been acknowledged abroad as well. They were nominated for the best producers at Cartoon Movie in International sales of The Visitor are handled by Wild Bunch, and those of Niko and the Way to the stars by Telepool.
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