Compartment No6 producers to compete at Critics Week with The Woodcutter Story

The Woodcutter Story might be Myllylahti’s feature length debut, but the poet and filmmaker is a Cannes habitué.

In 2016, the 42-year-old Finn, born in the small town of Tornio in Lapland, celebrated with director Juho Kuosmanen the Un Certain Regard Prize for The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, penned by Myllylahti.

In 2018, his short film The Tiger was selected for the Critics’ Week and in 2019, he was back on the Croisette with The Woodcutter Story, selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation’s Atelier and winner of the Critics’ Week Next Step Prize and filmmaking lab.

Set in a small idyllic small Finnish town, The Woodcutter Story centres on Peppe (played by Jarkko Lahti from The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäkki) an optimistic woodcutter. In the span of a couple of days, a series of tragic events gradually destroys his quiet and happy life. But Pepe seems to be fine with it all. As if he held a secret to existence that is hard to grasp.

The Critics’ Week artistic director Ava Cahen described the film as “a shrewd, yet playful tragicomedy, with flawless mise-en-scène, that asks the question: is there a meaning to life? ”It’s a splendid film brimming with twists and turns.”

The film was produced by Aaamu Film Company’s Emilia Haukka and Jussi Rantamäki, with co-production partners Keplerfilm from The Netherlands, Beofilm from Denmark, Achtung Panda! from Germany, support among others from the Finnish Film Foundation.

The domestic release via B-Plan is set for October 7. Totem Films handles world sales.

Commenting on The Woodcutter Story’s selection, Lasse Saarinen, Head of the Finnish Film Foundation said: “The Finnish presence in Cannes continues in a wonderful way, as this is the second year in a row that we have a film at the Critics’ Week [after The Gravedigger’s Wife 2021 entry]. “It is an honour to be among only seven films selected for the Critics Week competition.”

The Critics’ Week selection is also another milestone for Aamu Film Company which picked up a Cannes Special Jury Prize last July with Kuosmanen’s Compartment No6.

Producer Emilia Haukka told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “We are really thrilled for the Critics' Week selection and proud on behalf of the whole cast and crew who have crafted the world of The Woodcutter Story. Mikko is a filmmaker with a distinct voice and the film gained tremendous recognition already during scriptwriting and development. In the past year, we've seen an explosive success of Finnish films internationally. We are really excited to be a part of this new wave of brave and versatile films from our small country starting to find audiences around the world.”

A total of 1,100 feature length films were viewed by Ava Cahen and her team. Among the 11 feature films selected, nine are first films and two are second features.

The jury of the 61^st Critics’ Week will be presided over by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson (who attended the 57^th Critics Week with Woman at War), French/Greek actor/director Ariane Labed, Belgian cinematographer Benoît Debie and South Korean journalist and programmer of the Busan Film Festival Huh Moon Yung.

The Critics’ Week will take place May 18-26.