Documentaries
Kelet
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Susani Mahadura
- Screenwriters
- Susani Mahadura
- Producers
- Baba Lybeck
- Release year
- 2020
- SES grant
- 60 000 €
- Budget
- 141 000 €
- Production companies
- Baba Lybeck Productions Oy
Kelet is based in Finland, far away from her family in Manchester. Her life in Finland is sometimes lonely, in spite of Lola, another Somali transwoman who is her roomie, soulmate, and best friend. Being a black transwoman in Finland is not easy: racism and transphobia are deeply rooted in Finnish society.
Lost Boys
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Joonas Neuvonen, Sadri Cetinkaya
- Screenwriters
- Joonas Neuvonen, Sadri Cetinkaya, Venla Varha
- Producers
- Miia Haavisto
- Premiere
- 25.9.2020
- SES grant
- 140 000 €
- Budget
- 330 000 €
- Production companies
- Helsinki-filmi Oy, Tekele Productions Oy
- Distribution companies
- SF Studios Oy
Lost Boys is a documentary about damnation – about three men lost in a drug hell, defeated in the game of life, disappearing into the streets of Cambodia. Of the three, Jani is known as the main character of the documentary Reindeerspotting – Escape from Santaland (2010) and Joonas as its director. The main character of Lost Boys is Joonas himself.
The naked real life story full of sex, drugs and death tells us what happened ten years ago when these friends enjoying the never-ending after party following the success of the opening of the film Reindeerspotting that depicts drug users in Rovaniemi, change from immortal to mortal. The party comes to an end when Jani dies a violent death in Phnom Penh.
In the film Lost Boys, Joonas’ camera takes the viewer into the dizzying noise of Bangkok and the alleys of night-time Phnom Penh, to the last weeks of Jani’s life and the desperate search following his disappearance and death. What happened on the journey?
Can the answer be found in the videos shot by Joonas or in something that has yet to be investigated and faced, filmed or told? Is it all about drugs, women and money or does the trail lead somewhere deeper?
Someone knows something. Joonas is looking for his friends and the local women with whom they partied and with whom they shared whatever they had to share. Joonas must find his own truth about what happened among the drugs and the gloom. There are no heroes there.
Two Kids a Day
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- David Wachsmann
- Screenwriters
- David Wachsmann
- Producers
- Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir, Venla Hellstedt
- Release year
- 2022
- SES grant
- 30 000 €
- Budget
- 410 000 €
- Production companies
- Tuffi Films Oy
About 700 Palestinian minors are arrested and jailed every year by the Israeli security forces in the West Bank. They are taken from their homes at night and interrogated, with mental and physical pressure, which violate international law. Almost all of them are convicted and sent to prison. The most common offence is stone throwing; but behind the official reasoning, there’s an underlying systemic motive to these mass arrests of children: it’s the most efficient mechanism to deter the population and preserve Israel’s 50 years long occupation of the West Bank.
Little Red Bunch
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Jouko Aaltonen
- Screenwriters
- Jouko Aaltonen
- Producers
- Jouko Aaltonen
- Release year
- 2020
- SES grant
- 100 000 €
- Budget
- 198 000 €
- Production companies
- Illume Ltd. Oy
The thoughts of Mao Zedong were collected in the Small Red Book, one of the world’s most widespread publications. It was waved also in Finnish demonstrations in the 1960s and 1970s. The Maoist movement of the cold Finland was also small and red. This documentary digs into the thoughts and experiences of this enthusiastic group.
The Other Voice
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Annika Grof
- Screenwriters
- Annika Grof
- Producers
- Joon Tervakari
- Premiere
- 27.5.2022
- SES grant
- 105 000 €
- Budget
- 298 000 €
- Production companies
- Tarasow Films Oy
- Distribution companies
- Tarasow Films Oy
The Other Voice is Annika Grof’s collage film about four academics and one cinematographer. The film offers a view to Finnish democracy through a tragic story of university and a tragicomic story of governmental politics.
Eatnameamet – Our Silent Struggle
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Suvi West
- Screenwriters
- Suvi West
- Producers
- Janne Niskala
- Premiere
- 19.5.2021
- SES grant
- 125 000 €
- Budget
- 310 000 €
- Production companies
- Vaski Filmi Oy
- Distribution companies
- Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus
Since the white men came to Finland, the Sámi have only been losing their rights. And it seems to get worse year by year. The new laws of the National Board of Forestry, the definition of the Sámi people by the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland, the Parliaments failure to ratify ILO169 (international law package for improving the position of the indigenous people) and the new restrictions of the Sámi’s fishing rights show how the Finns are treating their small minority. These decisions harden the daily life of the Sámi, who mostly live out of the nature. The Sámi are ignored while making these decisions.
The Reporter
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Ari Matikainen
- Screenwriters
- Ari Matikainen
- Producers
- Liisa Karpo
- Premiere
- 25.9.2020
- SES grant
- 195 000 €
- Budget
- 300 000 €
- Production companies
- napafilms oy
- Distribution companies
- Finnkino
The Reporter makes a reassuring picture of how the powerful reporters have been influenced in a democratic country, where they are not killed. What have they have been allowed to say and what happened if they gained much power.
The Other Side of the River
- International co-production DE-SI-FI
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Antonia Kilian
- Screenwriters
- Antonia Kilian, Jakob Weidner
- Producers
- Merja Ritola
- Release year
- 2021
- SES grant
- 25 000 €
- Budget
- 364 000 €
- Production companies
- Greenlit Productions
Hala, a young Arab woman from a traditional, conservative city in North Syria, wants to be free and find love.
Broken Dreamland
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, Khalid Laboudi
- Screenwriters
- Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, Khalid Laboudi
- Producers
- Marianne Mäkelä, Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
- Premiere
- 15.4.2022
- SES grant
- 129 500 €
- Budget
- 251 000 €
- Production companies
- Zone2 Pictures Oy
- Distribution companies
- Zone2 Pictures Oy
They were similar kind of drifters: young, restless with no direction or solid plans. Europe was their dream to live careless and free. Until one of them started to change and did a murderous attack in Turku, Finland.
By following two friends of the attacker, the film widens the world behind headlines. It looks at the feeling of emptiness and psyche of one generation of young Moroccan men.
The Red Ring
- Category
- Documentaries
- Directors
- Joonas Berghäll
- Screenwriters
- Joonas Berghäll
- Producers
- Satu Majava, Joonas Berghäll
- Premiere
- 14.5.2021
- SES grant
- 268 480 €
- Budget
- 530 000 €
- Production companies
- Oktober Oy
- Distribution companies
- Baloa Pictures Oy