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Finnish film having a good run in the Americas
Finnish comedy Heavy Trip (Hevi reissu) has hit cinemas across the US. Meanwhile in Brazil, several Finnish films will feature at the São Paulo International Film Festival.
Directed by Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio, Heavy Trip is the most expensive comedy in Finnish film history, with a budget exceeding three million euros.
After receiving its world premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) in March, the film has picked up several awards, including the Fresh Blood Award at Germany’s Fantasy Filmfest, an audience award at Hungary’s Jameson Cinefest, and the award for best film in the Taste of Europe series at Belgium’s Ostend Film Festival.
Heavy Trip hits cinemas in a dozen US cities on 5 November, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and Austin.
Meanwhile, several Finnish films have made the programme at the São Paulo International Film Festival, which is being organised between 18 and 31 October.
Included in the New Directors series are Inka Achté’s documentary Boys Who Like Girls (Miehen Malli), which first screened at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in June, and Heikki Kujanpää’s war drama Laugh or Die (Suomen Hauskin Mies).
In the New Films series, Simo Halinen’s drama East of Sweden (Kääntöpiste) will compete alongside Jean-Michel Roux’s documentary Angel of the North (Pohjolan Enkeli).
The late Finnish film influencer Peter von Bagh’s 1983 short documentary A Day at the Grave of Karl Marx (Päivä Karl Marxin haudalla) will be screened at the festival to help commemorate German philosopher Karl Marx, who would have been 200 years old today.
Two Finnish collaborative productions to also feature in São Paulo are Swiss-Croatian-German-Finnish collaboration Chris the Swiss and Mexican-Finnish boxing drama Bayoneta.