Esko Salminen

How do artists view their own work? How does actor Esko Salminen immerse himself in his roles, how does the writer/director Saara Turunen create a whole new world for the stage, and why does musician PK Keränen pick up his guitar time and time again? Is creativity a conscious or subconscious process, a pleasure or a compulsion? Veikko Aaltonen’s documentary takes us straight into the heart of creativity with artists from different fields and generations. Celebrating the various forms of passion and creative work, the film presents a compelling case for the significance of art.

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Aarne Tarkas was a wunderkind of Finnish cinema, a director and screenwriter, a genius who possessed not only an infinite supply of ideas but also a photographic memory. In the 50s and 60s he had a profound impact on Finnish movies and TV.

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Rousku and Raninen are fleeing their unemployment by setting up a construction company. Occupational illiteracy is not an obstacle and accounting is fine when Rouskun's mate deals with things. The entrepreneurs know that the poor can be, but not artificial. But what's the point for the scratchy women? Especially when Rousku gets to look in the mirror again and find out what kind of father, such a daughter.

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Emilia is a suburban kid. She goes to school, lives with her Mom and sometimes her Dad, and her life couldn’t be more ordinary. But one day Emilia’s pet hamster bites her finger. Emilia gets a secret superpower to transform into Super Furball, who can fly and solve problems with her superpowers. At the same time, the herrings in the nearby Baltic Sea bay are screaming for help because of poisoned water. As the Super Furball, Emilia takes it upon herself to fix the situation and finds ways to be more courageous in her own life.

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In Soviet-era Estonia, three young mavericks drop everything and flee to Sweden, but soon learn the free world is not all it's cracked up to be.

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A private detective engages in a sexually-charged relationship with a real estate broker.

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A Finnish dramedy about an 11-year-old boy dealing with the loss of his parents.

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An adult love story – as wistful as a Finnish tango.

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An comedy set in 1960s Helsinki. The story revolves around Elsa, a resolute hatmaker who is in complete control of her life. Besides running her shop, she sometimes doubles as a fortune teller. When Jan, a Czechoslovakian jazz musician and Elsa's old lover comes to town to perform at a "peace and friendship festival", her well-organised life is jolted out of balance.

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Juha Berg is a 30-year-old hopeless drunk in the Kallio neighborhood of Helsinki. Juha doesn't have the first intention of changing his way of life - just the opposite. He really enjoys sundry sexual relationships, adrenalin-inducing violence and, of course, alcohol for which he gets money even if by collecting bottles. But the hilarity in a drunken haze soon gets a run for its money as the passionate Juha falls in love with his AA group leader. The relationship with Tiina progresses quickly to dating and Juha has to make pivotal decisions. Juha has to begin balancing between maintaining a functional intimate relationship and his old lifestyle. Juha's best friend Kristian does his best to sabotage the relationship, and Juha's shaky decision to stay sober is further hindered by Mikael, an expert on German erotica. But how far can you go before there is only one solution left?

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19th century drama set on the plains of Ostrobothnia, western Finland, which are controlled by groups of knife-wielding thugs, the toughs. Traditionally, the first-born son inherits everything, so when Esko – a bum and a gang leader – learns that his father will leave the Välitalo estate to his younger and exemplary brother, all hell breaks loose.

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Antero Rousku is a storeman in a paint store. His job requires raw muscle power, mixing paints and carrying house repair materials around to earn his daily bread. But the basic salary is not enough for Rousku. He also sells a lot of stuff on the side from the storeroom directly to Jylhäkorpi, a frequent visitor, bypassing company bookkeeping. Rousku's colleague in the cellar storeroom is Raninen whose life consists of work, quarreling with his wife, and lottery. Raninen wants to win the main prize but he wants to have the right numbers in exactly the order in which they appear from the lottery machine. Raninen is not the sharpest pencil in the pencil box. Rousku's freedom is threatened by his relationship to the saleswoman Karita. Rousku wants to keep a distance to the woman except in bed. Karita has decided otherwise.

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Three brothers from three different mothers meet for the first time since years for their mutual father’s 70th birthday: nihilistic writer Ivar, failed film producer Mitja, and resentful caretaker Torsti.

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"Vesku from Finland" is a film about Vesa-Matti Loiri alias Vesku, probably the most popular film and TV comedian in Finland. He has created a significant career also as a singer, performer, writer and as a sportsman. He has recorded several albums, from folk songs and couplets to tangos. Some of his recordings are based on the lyrics of Hermann Hesse or Eino Leino, the infamous Finnish poet. During his unique career he has played in more than 60 films and recorded 30 albums.

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11-year-old Unna travels in time to the stone age with the help of a magic drum.

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1943: Nine-year-old Eero whose father is killed during the war is brought to Sweden to foster parents to his protection like thousands of other Finnish children. Eero feels lost, particularly as his foster mother Signe behaves very unfriendly. She was expecting a little girl and still mourns for her daughter who drowned in the sea.

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Rauno Rämekorpi is celebrating his 60th birthday. He has been awarded the title of Industrial Counsellor, and the company's management has commissioned a biography of him. After the celebrations, the industrial counsellor orders a taxi to take the flowers brought by the guests to the landfill. However, taxi driver Seppo Sorjonen convinces Rämekorpi to change his mind – the flowers are taken to a few female friends instead.

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Raid is based on detective stories by author Harri Nykänen and made into a 12-part series. The story tells about a police officer who has been investigating white-collar crimes is shot dead in a TV-studio. Another policeman takes his own life at his summer home. A young woman, an executive with a powerful electronics concern, also commits suicide. Her embittered father suspects foul play and he invites Raid, the woman's former boyfriend to "make inquiries". Meanwhile, the police are looking for the first killer - and the trail leads inexorably to Raid. Very soon, however, they realise that the guilty party is somewhere else, and the interests of the police and the avenging angel Raid converge. The unholy alliance shows that even those with morals may, to some extent, use immoral means to achieve an end. The Raid series was voted the best TV-programme in Finland year 2000. Tapio Piirainen received an award for best script and best direction.

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Middle-aged Maire's husband spends most of his time abroad on business. Alone in their large house, Maire fills her empty life by absorbing other people's tragedies from tabloid newspapers. Obsessed by the story about a young single mother whose husband was killed and the killer got away with it, she befriends the young widow who would rather forget the whole event and go on with her life.

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A fisherman's son accidentally ends up in a leper colony in 1742.

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The main characters of the film are two small boys who share the throne of Karmapa, the highest office of one of Tibetan Buddhism's main sects and the third in line after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. As with the Dalai Lama, Karmapa is the same soul which reincarnates in each successor to the office, who is identified by omens, portents and other signs. The Karmapa line actually pre-dates the Dalai Lama's, and their respective importance has alternated in the course of history with either the Karmapa or Dalai Lama holding precedence. Only one of the current Karmapas lives in Tibet, who is recognized by the Dalai Lama but controlled by the Chinese government for political ends. The second Karmapa lives in New Delhi, India and was selected by a Tibetan group in exile. The film was shot in India, Nepal and Tibet and features the Dalai Lama as narrator, providing an incisive spiritual and political view of occupied Tibet.

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Uuno Turhapuro's brother returns home from Sweden at the same time that Uuno has been seemingly kidnapped.

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Finland 1917. Aapo is a single peasantry who tries to live a good life before the finnish civil war begins.

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A film group is making movie in the little town. Writer Pentti Töysä interrupts film group's press conference and claims that script is written by him and it is based on true story. Töysä also says that he has written a new ending to the movie and that it reveals an old murder. Not everyone is happy about the new twist.

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One man's quest for revenge in a post-apocalyptic world

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Kari Syysmäki, a Finnish Businessman is on a vacation with his wife in Tallinn. When his wife is away a young man enters their hotel room with a gun. He tells to the businessman that he has just tried to rob a bank, but accidentally shot one of the clerks. Now he's hiding from the cops. But when the bank robber forgets his gun on the table, Syysmäki grabs it and shoots him in the back. After that Syysmäki refuses to travel back to Finland with his wife. He stays in Tallinn and soon he's about to face both the cops and the mob of Estonia.

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Esa is a small time crook who has been precisely released from prison. He starts to make money by mugging people. One day psychiatrist Lindström rings Esa's doorbell. He has a very strange request: he wants Esa to maltreat him. Esa accepts this request, but he is not aware of Lindström's bad intentions.

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After Nazi Germany invades Poland in September 1939, Russia attacks Finland two months later. Finnish reservists leave home and go to war. Brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala, farmers from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia, serve in a Finnish platoon. A five-part television miniseries extension of Pekka Parikka's 1989 film of the same name.

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Sergeant Friman is developing an automatic submarine detector that piques the interest of both, Swedish and Russian spies.

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After Nazi Germany invades Poland in September 1939, Russia attacks Finland two months later. Finnish reservists leave home and go to war. Brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala, farmers from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia, serve in a Finnish platoon.

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A lawyer pays a visit to Matti Ojanperä, a bum living under a bridge in the Helsinki harbour, to inform him that he is about to inherit an American aunt of his. The sum 1,000,000 Fmk would be his, if only he meets the qualifications set by his aunt. He must show that he is capable of 'living properly' and possessing a 'respectable occupation and a family he can support'. Otherwise the money would go to a foundation the chairman of which the lawyer himself happens to be!

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