Finland’s national film awards held on Friday were a celebration of new Finnish talents such as Juho Kuosmanen, recipient of eight Jussis for The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki.

Kuosmanen’s romantic boxing feature won Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Jarkko Lahti), Best Supporting Actress (Oona Airola), Best Editing (Jussi Rautaniemi), Best Cinematography (JP Passi), Best Costume Design (Sari Suominen) and Best Make-Up (Salla Yli-Luopa).

The Jussis come on top of several international awards racked up since the film’s successful launch at Cannes 2016 such as Un Certain Regard Prize and European Discovery of the Year at the European Film Awards. The Finnish Oscar entry film was produced by Jussi Rantamäki (Aamu Filmcompany).

The second biggest winner was The Mine by Aleksi Salmenperä which picked Best Script (Pekko Pesonen) and Best Supporting Actor (Jani Volanen). Selma Vilhunen’s critically-acclaimed feature debut Little Wing allowed the 13-year old Linnea Skog to receive a Best Actress award, while Taneli Mustonen’s horror film Bodom picked up Best Sound Design (Panu Riikonen), Katja Gauriloff’s Kajsa’s Enchanted Forest Best Documentary and Antti J. Jokinen’s Flowers of Evil Best Set Design (Santtu Toivola).

The Audience Award was handed out to the biopic Born in Heinola by Tuukka Temonen featuring the rise of the punk band Apulanta, one of Finland’s most famous bands in the 90s. The debut feature was the seventh biggest Finnish film of 2016.

Finally this year’s Hulda Award or Finnish Audiovisual Export Award was given to Rovio Entertainment blockbuster The Angry Birds Movie, the biggest commercial success ever for a Finnish film.

An Honourable Mention was handed out the TV drama Bordertown and the Finnish TV format Soundtrack of Love.

Nordisk Film & TV Fond was associated to 12 Jussi awards. The awards ceremony in Helsinki was organised by the trade association Filmiaura.