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Weekend Wrap

Eurovision fever, vertical storytelling and Nordic Noir

Violinist, conductor and composer Pekka Kuusisto is renowned for his fresh approach to classical music.

Felix Broede

Finnish documentaries and TV series reach international audiences, Sulapac offers eco-friendly and re-fillable packaging and musician Pekka Kuusisto teams up with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Click on any photo and take a look at recent creativity from Finland.

12 points! The Rasmus won the UMK2022 new music competition and will represent Finland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. According to the band, their competition song, Jezebel, is a song for strong, independent women who blaze their own trail. Watch their performance on the Eurovision World website. (Photo: Miikka Varila / Yle)

Finnish TV drama makes waves at the Berlin International Film Festival. The Nordic country’s programming was showcased at the festival’s Series Market Focus event. Variety highlights several Finnish series from the event, including Mobile 101, Next of Kin and Zone B. (Photo: Elisa Viihde)

Refillable lip balm. UK-based beauty brand above & beyond has chosen Sulapac’s bio-based and biodegradable material for its new lip balm cases. The lip balms also come in lifetime-use aluminium cases, with refill pods made out of Sulapac’s material for those who rather hold on to their cases for years. Read more on the company’s website. (Photo: Sulapac)

Metaverse startups take note. The London and Helsinki based VC firm FOV Ventures has launched a 25 million-euro fund to invest in early-stage companies building the metaverse, writes UK Tech News. (Photo: Adobe)

Finnish folklore has a strong presence in the work of designer and illustrator Klaus Haapaniemi. Vogue Scandinavia’s interview with Haapaniemi, “one of Finland’s greatest design exports”, covers everything from herb collecting witches to multi-millionaire art collectors. (Photo: Facebook / Klaus Haapaniemi & Co)

Albert Edelfelt’s work lands in Paris. Some 100 pieces by the Finnish artist will be on show at Petit Palais until 10 July. The exhibition is organised in partnership with the Ateneum Art Museum of Helsinki. Read more on the museum’s website. (Photo: Stockholms-Auktionsvork / Helsinki)

Three Finnish documentaries get their international premiere in Copenhagen. The CPH:DOX documentary festival, held in the Danish capital, will screen Just Animals, Karaoke Paradise and The Happy Worker – or How Work Was Sabotaged as part of their Nordic competition series, writes the Finnish Film Foundation. (Photo: Tuffi Films)

Finnair has revealed premium new plane cabins. The airline, majority-owned by the Finnish government, is launching a new premium economy cabin and a completely refurbished business class. Sam Chui interviewed Finnair CEO Topi Manner about the plans. (Photo: Finnair / Mikko Ryhänen)

Finnish “violin wunderkind” Pekka Kuusisto and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra team up. The new collaboration brings three concerts, which mix the classical and the contemporary, to Edinburgh in March. Kuusisto, whom The Skinny describes as “something of a rock star in this world, someone who seems unbeholden to norms, tradition, genre or style”, will direct the concerts. (Photo: Maximillian Krome)

Gigglebug takes a new direction in storytelling on TV. The Finnish animation studio’s new series, The Super Epic Tadpole Journey to the Surface of Croak Creek, breaks from the norm by telling its story in a vertical aspect ratio, with the story scrolling upwards. According to Kidscreen, the series “follows a pair of tadpoles as they make their way from the bottom of the pond to the surface”. (Photo: Facebook / Gigglebug)

Rising Nemesis Records signs Enragement. The record label is preparing to release the Helsinki-based brutal death metal band’s third album in spring 2022. Chaoszine has the story. (Photo: Facebook / Enragement / Petri Sara Photography)

By: Eeva Haaramo
18.03.2022