News

In Finnish director Miia Tervo’s new comedy drama Aurora, a young woman whose life is quickly spiraling out of control, finds an unlikely kindred spirit in a taciturn Iranian asylum seeker. Set in Lapland and starring prolific Finnish TV actress Mimosa Willamo, the film presents a fairly simple, yet deeply moving tale of love, loss and alienation in one of the most remote regions of Europe.

Aurora (Willamo)’s life is a mess. With her mother recently deceased and her alcoholic father drying-out once again at a rehab unit at the local hospital, the shambolic twenty-something woman has so far struggled to cope with life as an adult. Dreaming of moving to Sweden where she can earn more money practising her job as a beautician, Aurora has very little time for romance and even less time for deep meaningful conversations.

After a chance meeting with Darian (Amir Escandari), a...

A Finnish party girl falls in love with an Iranian refugee in “Aurora,” an enjoyable dramedy from helmer-writer Miia Tervo. Unspooling during snowy winter in rugged Finnish Lapland, the exuberant narrative cleverly exploits the location and unconventional characters to add something fresh to familiar romantic comedy beats. Despite its raucous surface and frequently risqué Finnish culture jokes, the film is suffused with tenderness and melancholy. Moreover, it poignantly addresses some big themes — including the plight of asylum seekers and female alcoholism — while capturing the feelings of restlessness derived from being stuck in a remote place with a lack of opportunity. After opening the recent Göteborg Film Festival, it will make its U.S. premiere at SXSW in March.

Like her namesake, the northern lights, the eponymous twentysomething is a force of nature. Aurora is a wild, commitment-phobic, good-time girl with a drinking problem that she denies. She’s fed up...

Miia Tervo’s Finnish romantic comedy “Aurora” has been acquired by international sales company LevelK ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Goteborg Film Festival.

Set to open the fest, “Aurora” marks Tervo’s feature debut. The film, a comedy-drama set in the snowy Finnish region of Lapland, tells the story of a commitment-phobic, heavy-drinking party girl, Aurora, who meets Darian, an Iranian refugee seeking asylum for him and his daughter. The two of them agree to help each other in unconventional but vital ways that will shape their respective futures.

“I wanted to do a quality film with silly and warm humor…with some honest dark shades and romantic comedy…to show the inner reality of a young woman in the Arctic ghetto coping with inherited barriers against love and life,” said Tervo.

The director said she also aimed to show “Northern magic instead of superimposed exoticism...

Other winners at Brazilian festival include An, Pixadores, The Violin Teacher, Wrestlers.

Runar Runarsson’s Sparrows took the jury prize for best fiction at the São Paulo International Film Festival, which ended Nov 4. It also won the best screenplay prize for its writer/director Runarsson.

Sao Paulo’s New Directors Competition is for first and second features (Sparrows is Runarsson’s second after Volcano.)

Sparrows, an Iceland-Denmark-Croatia co-production, is about an Icelandic teenage boy who has to leave Reykjavik to go back to live in his remote hometown with his estranged father.

Sparrows premiered in Toronto and also won the Golden Shell in San Sebastian.

The jury gave an honorable mention to Jacek Lusinksi’s Polish feature Carte Blanche.

The audience award for best foreign fiction went to Japanese auteur Naomi Kawase’s An and for best foreign documentary to Amir Escandari’s Pixadores (Finland, Denmark, Sweden).

Audience awards for Brazilian films went to Sergio Machado’s The Violin...

With all the Hollywood glamour and star-studded red carpets that awards season entail, sometimes the craft and talent behind the films get overlooked. Last week, the Asc handed out their annual awards celebrating the most impressive achievements in cinematography, and we were happily surprise to see Peter Flinckenberg win the Asc Spotlight Award for "Concrete Night." Showcasing flawless, expressive, black-and-white cinematography, recognizing this intimate film was definitely a wise decision.

Read More: Interview with Dir. Pirjo Honkasalo on the Visually Stunning "Concrete Night"

The film was directed by Pirjo Honkasalo and it was chosen as Finland's Oscar entry in the Best Foreign Language Film race. This is the first time that a Finnish DoP was nominated, let along won a major tech award from an American association. The American Society of Cinematographers created this award last year to recognize new or forward thinking talent. The other nominees were Darius Khondji, Asc, Afc, for "The Immigrant" and Daniel Lavin, Bsc, for "Under the Skin."

“These nominees have created some of the more inspiring and imaginative visuals our members have seen recently,” said Asc Awards Chairman Lowell Peterson. “We’re proud to recognize their innovative work, and we hope at the same time to raise the profile of these films, so more audiences have a chance to see them.”

Read More: Tribeca Review - "Love and Engineering"

Flinckenberg is one of the most courageous and experienced cinematographers of the younger film generation in Finland. He has worked both in documentaries and features, and his latest works include the Oscar® nominated short "Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?"(by Selma Vilhunen, 2012), "Miss Blue Jeans" (by Matti Kinnunen, 2012), "Love and Engineering" (by Tonislav Hristov, 2014, Tribeca Film Festival) and "Pixadores" (by Amir Escandari, 2014, Idfa).

"Concrete Night" marks Finnish director Pirjo Honkasalo’s return to fiction, following years of internationally acclaimed documentaries. This boldly shot drama about the fateful misinterpretation of brotherly advise continues Honkasalo’s equally strong hand in fiction. The film clearly builds on her earlier features that premiered in Cannes, Venice and Locarno, which landed Honkasalo a spot in Tiff’s prestigious Master Series in 2013, which in previous years included Bernardo Bertolucci, Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Haneke

Based on a 1981 novel by leading author and Pirjo's life partner Pirkko Saisio, "Concrete Night" charts the last day and night of two young brothers as they roam around dreary high-rises and a hot, unforgiving Helsinki. Honkasalo envelops their dynamic in a dream-like noir tension, which leads Simo, the younger brother to emulate his brother Ilkka, who is due to start his prison sentence the next day. A boundless admiration for Ilkka, his only available role model, leads Simo to look for his identity in all the wrong places.

The film was produced by Bufo. Founded in 2007 by producers Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff and screenwriter Vesa Virtanen, Bufo has produced a number of fiction films of which many have received international recognition.

Despite all the acclaim and recognition, "Concrete Night" is still looking for a U.S. Distributor to bring this hypnotic coming-of-age tale to American screens. World sales for the film are handled by nm5579306 autoXavier Rashid[/link]'s Film Republic.