Comedy series Sunday Lunch and crime shows Reindeer Mafia and Siege 55 won the main fiction awards at the Finnish Golden Venla ceremony.

Last Friday, when the Finnish industry celebrated the national TV Academy’s annual Golden Venla Awards, few were surprised when the 4th season of the comedy series Sunday Lunch (Sunnuntailounas) received its fourth Venla statuette. The popular show has a clear concept: A father summons his four adult children to lunch every Sunday. As the family discusses the past week’s events, current private and society issues are introduced, sometimes resulting in absurd twists. The original series is created and written by Atte Järvinen for MTV3, and produced by Yellow Film & TV.

The creator was also thanked by experienced actress Miitta Sorvali, who was selected Best Supporting Actor for her role in the 3rd season of the comedy series Duke of Sipoo (Sipoon herttua), produced by Yellow Film & TV for Elisa. In her speech she especially mentioned Järvinen’s writing, calling him ”incredibly skilled and gifted”.

The drama awards were dominated by two crime series commissioned by private broadcasters. MTV3 / C More had reason to raise more toasts as their humorous crime show Reindeer Mafia (Poromafia), produced by Kaiho Republic, was awarded in two categories. The series, set in Lapland, won the award for Best Finnish Drama Series, while its director Mika Kurvinen received the Best Director Award. This winning series also centres around a family. When the matriarch dies, power struggles begin, and secrets within her family and in the village community are revealed.

Among other talents celebrating at this year’s Venla gala were Hannu Kontturi and Antti Pesonen, who shared the Best Script Award for their true crime series Siege 55 (Piiritys). The series fictionalises the story of how taxi driver Ilpo Larha, known as the first hitman in Finland, caused a 50-hour hostage situation in the 1990s. Elias Salonen was awarded as the Best Actor in a Leading Role for his part as Larha. The series is produced by Mediawan Finland for Nelonen.

Katri Myllyniemi, the chair of The Writers Guild of Finland, was one of the 640 Finnish industry professionals who celebrated the Golden Venla Awards. She comments:

”Especially in these challenging times, I hope that commissioners and production companies will be proactive in seeking out talented screenwriters and new ideas. When examining the Venla shortlists and nominations, the significance of screenwriters and a well-crafted script is evident. It is notable that only one shortlisted series in the Best Fiction Director and Best Drama Series categories did not appear on the Best Script shortlist. It is also interesting to compare the Jussi and the Guild’s own recent Sylvi nominees for best scripts. Last year we had strong scripts from director-screenwriters: All three nominees in the Jussi and Sylvi script categories are written or co-written by director-screenwriters.”

A day before the Golden Venla gala, the national Jussi nominations were announced. The candidates for Film of the year include a wide range of genres, from touching romantic drama, family comedy, and war action, to films dealing with national recent history traumas, and the assimilation of the Sámi people.

Nominated for Film of the year are: Je'vida (Oktober Oy), Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet lehdet) (Sputnik Oy, Bufo Oy), Lapua 1976 (Blankface), Family Time (Mummola) (Aamu) and Sisu (Subzero Film Entertainment). Among the 15 nominated films, Family Time takes a lead with its 11 nominations, followed by Sisu (9), and Je’vida (7), the first feature in Skolt Sámi. Debut feature director Tia Kouvo is Jussi nominated in the Director category alongside with Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves and Jalmari Helander for Sisu.

Internationally celebrated actor Alma Pöysti received two nominations for two films. She is competing in the Actor in a eading role category for her role in Four Little Adults (Neljä pientä aikuista) and in the new category Audience Award for the Actor of the Year for her role in Fallen Leaves. Thus, the Finnish audiences can vote in a major category for the first time in the history of the 80 year old award. The first Jussi ceremony was held in November 1944.

NFTVFV interview with Alma Pöysti: CLICK HERE.

Finnish Film Foundation on all Jussi nominations: CLICK HERE.

All Golden Venla winners: CLICK HERE.