Tove leads Jussi nominations

Zaida Bergroth’s biopic is dominating this year’s Finnish film award nominations, with 10 nods, followed by Jenny Toivoniemi’s Games People Play with 8 nominations.

Finland’s Oscar entry Tove produced by Helsinki-filmi is running in top categories such as Best Film, Directing, Script (Eeva Putro) and Lead Actress (Alma Pöysti). Released in October, under strict cinema restrictions, the film attracted 158,000 cinemagoers, making it the most successful Swedish-language Finnish film in 40 years. The film opens March 26 in Sweden via Non-Stop Entertainment.

Helsinki-filmi’s other production Ladies of Steel - top selling Finnish film of 2020 - is competing for Best Film, Supporting Actress (Saara Pakkasvirta) and Make Up (Riikka Virtanen).

Games People Play produced by Tuffi Films is running in eight categories such as Best Film, Directing, Script (Toiviniemi) and Lead Actress (Emmi Parviainen).

Hamy Ramezan’s debut feature Any Day Now, selected for the Berlinale’s Generation programme, received six nominations, notably for Best Film, Directing, Script (Ramezan, Antti Rautava) and Lead Actor (Iranian-born Shahab Hosseini, Cannes winner for The Salesman). The film was produced by Aamu Film Company.

Eden by debut director Ulla Heikkilä is running for Best Film, Supporting Actress (Satu Tuuli Karhu) and Editing (Hanna Kuirinlahti). The film was produced by Tekele.

The top selling Finnish documentary of 2020 Lost Boys by Joonas Neuvonen and Sadri Cetinkaya (independent sequel to Neuvonen’s 2010 hit Reindeerspotting) is vying for Best Documentary and Sound Design (Arttu Hokkanen), while Virpi Suutari’s portrait of the world celebrated architects Alvar Aalto and Aino Aalto in the film Aalto, has three nominations for Best Documentary, Music (Sanna Salmenkallio) and Editing (Jussi Rautaniemi).

Nordisk Film & TV Fond is associated to 13 nominations for the films Tove and Aalto.

A total of 26 films were eligible for this year’s Jussi nominations.

The Finnish organisation Filmiaura will announce the winners at an awards ceremony to be held later in the fall.

For the full list of Jussi nominations, check: www.ses.fi