A total of €4,195,000 was allocated to seven feature films, three documentaries and two short films. Four titles with strong commercial potential benefitted from the 50/50 production support, including the franchise films The Grump 3, Lapland Odyssey 4 and a new comedy by Ladies of Steel’s Pamela Tola.

Here is the list of full-length supported projects:

  • Bubble (Kupla) by Aleksi Salmenperä (White Wall, A Man’s Job) received the largest grant of €800,000. The project produced by Minna Haapkylä for Rabbit Films, centres on Eveliina (16), whose world collapses when she finds out about her mother’s extramarital affair with a woman. Eveliina supports feminism, open sexuality and body positivity, but her views don’t apply to her parents.
  • The Grump 3 (Mielensäpahoittaja Eskorttia etsimässä) by Mika Kaurismäki (Three Wise Men, Gracious Night) was granted €770,000. In the third film about the grouchy old man The Grump (Heikki Kinnunen), we see him trying to reconnect with his elder brother, now living in Hamburg, Germany, whom he hasn’t seen in over 40 years. In the director’s statement, Kaurismäki said the film examines the core values of life, as the brothers are forced to address their preconceptions and choices in life. Filming is set to start mid-May until end of June.

    "The first two weeks will be shot in Finland, then the rest in Germany, where Grump travels to buy himself a vintage Ford Escort car as his one and only Escort from 1972 was destroyed by his sons to prevent Grump from driving anymore,” said Solar Films’ Jukka Helle who serves as producer with Markus Selin and Hanna Virolainen. The film is co-produced with Germany’s Aspekt Telefilm, with co-financing from Nordisk Film and C More/MTV3 among others. The first film in the franchise posted 500,000 admissions and the second film 340,000 admissions.
  • Hamsters (Hamsterit) by Markku Pòlönen (Land of Hope) was granted €680,000. It’s the director’s second adaptation of a best-selling novel by Veikko Huovinen after the acclaimed Nail Dog Clippers. The main character Hamster, a poor writer, loves to fantasise about nature disasters, and decides to rescue a lottery winner’s family from a boring life. The film is produced by Hanna Kauppi and Marko Röhr for MRP Matila Röhr Productions.
  • Lapland Odyssey 4 (Napapiirin sankarit 4) by Juha Wuolijoki (Hella W, Christmas Story) was granted €700,000. Writer Pekko Pesonen returns for the fourth time to the group of friends who “are looking for tofu one night in Lapland”, according to the logline. Olli Haikka and Marko Talli are producing for Yellow Film & TV.
  • Something Blue (Merivuokot) by Pamela Tola (Ladies of Steel) was granted €650,000. Helsinki filmi’s CEO Aleksi Bardy, producer of the film, said “it’s comedy about friendship that sometimes gets too intense, set in the world of successful 40-year-olds in the gaming industry." The script is written by Sussu Laaksonen (Secret Lives). Filming is set to start late this year.
  • The Twin by Taneli Mustonen was granted €200,000. The English-language horror film is produced by Aleksi Hyvärinen of Don Films with the UK’s Constellation Film who handles world sales. Australian actor Teresa Palmer plays the title role as a young mother, plagued by the violent death of one of her twins. The film has already garnered strong international interest, with pre-sales closed with the genre platform Shudder for the US, UK, Ireland, Australia/New Zealand and Nordisk Film for Scandinavia. Filming starts March 18 with a premiere pencilled for end of 2021.
  • W, written and directed by versatile artist Anna Eriksson (M) was granted €179,000. The film produced by Matti Pyykkö for Ihode Management is a hybrid work, dealing with immortality, decay and memory.

Three documentaries backed by the Finnish Film Foundation include:

  • Resistant (Nimetön Antisotaelokuva) by Ville Suhonen (Tale of a Forest) about Arndt Pekurinen and the peace movement in the early 20th century. The film produced by Oktober, was granted €121,000.
  • Claes Andersson – When You Least Expect Happens What Happens (Claes Andersson – Kun vähiten aavistat tapahtuu mitä tapahtuu) by Pentti Kasurinen. The film produced by BenCine was granted €20,000.
  • The Night My Brother Disappeared (Natten då min bror försvann) directed by Anna Blom for Impressio Films was granted €8,000.