Topical in Finnish Film 3/2010

This is the March 2010 edition of the Topical in Finnish Film newsletter of the Finnish Film Foundation, published in the beginning of each month. The aim of this newsletter is to present a short summary of current national news, such as the next premieres and local audience figures, as well as to give you some advance information of internationally important events and dates coming up during the next few weeks.

Almost half a Million Finns have bought a ticket to a local film during January-February

By February 28, local films in Finland have reached a total of 487 833 admissions during the year 2010. The market share of local films is ca. 31%.

Releases in March: three documentaries and one fiction feature

Heartbeats (Kohtaamisia) by Saara Cantell, Freetime Machos by Mika Ronkainen, Looking for the Lost Tango (Stadilaista tangoa etsimässä) by Tahvo Hirvonen and Steam of Life (Miesten vuoro) by Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen are the local premieres of March.

New Finnish cinema travels to Israel

Finnish film week in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and Betlehem opens on March 9.

Tampere Film Festival celebrates its 40^th anniversary

Tampere Film Festival in Finland celebrates its 40th anniversary this year (March 10-14, 2010). The most important short film event in Finland expects 30 000 visitors. In addition to the local audience, approximately 800 professional guests will be present at the festival, 140 of them international guests, according to the festival.

Over the Fence and Letters to Father Jacob awarded in February

The novella film Over the Fence (Viikko ennen vappua) by Hamy Ramezan was awarded at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. Letters to Father Jacob (Postia pappi Jaakobille) by Klaus Härö won awards at Gothenburg International Film Festival in Sweden and Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California, US.

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