Content from Aalto University

A boss invites an underling and his family for dinner.

Sari is a high school principal with high standards but no idea of what to do with them. In the teachers' lounge her nitpicky style hasn't won her popularity. When Sari hears that the teachers are organizing a get-together and she's not invented, she decides to act: get an invitation and win everyone's hearts. There is nothing standing in the way of her and popularity - except one broken mug.

In this short, shown in the student category at IDFA, the compelling, dramatised story of a pedophile is told. He hasn’t opened up about his orientation to even those closest to him, nor would he ever hurt a child.

In this warm-hearted puppet animation documentary, we get to know the filmmaker’s 54-year-old mother Maija through her phone calls. We see how she copes with the difficult things in her life, like alcoholism and autism, demanding family members, and various absurd situations that seem to follow her.

Hound tells the story of a young child who is desperately trying to survive in a dark, abandoned city. Huge dog as her only comfort the duo not only need to find food but also have to escape the monster that is trailing them.

The warmth of moments captured on a family’s home video merge with the mystical discovery of bear bones and archival footage resurrecting a bear hunt.

On the basis of anonymous telephone calls made to a helpline for teenagers, On Hold makes us hear a dissonant speech. Recounted here by older people, these testimonies are the occasion to question the construction of masculinity and its generational heritage. Between humour and dread, the film unveils what remains unsaid in a sick society.

Sometimes a trip to the mall is more than just that.

A world-weary reality TV host (Alma Pöysti) is given one last chance by her producer. Accompanied by a cynical filming crew, she goes to find out what happened to a celebrity who wet himself in a dance show on live television.

The summer ahead is long and hot but the burden of shame from the past is haunting Joonas, 24, and driving him to solitude. A sudden phone call changes the direction of his summer and brings Joonas to an old manor for a summer job, forcing him to open up to his new workmates and to face his shame. Joonas works hard under the burning sun, driven by his past mistakes, whilst the others lounge under the calming shade of trees. On the last day the group loses track of time and misses the last bus home. They are left at the old manor and a magical midsummer night begins.

A wetland archaeologist tracks groundwater levels in a drained swamp. In a quiet village, the emergency call center receives reports of a drifting island. This kaleidoscopic tale takes us on a journey across time and place, exploring the tense relationship between humans and wetlands from surprising perspectives that blend science and oral folklore.

Beautiful and melancholic movie from Finland. Love is strong. Home of the presidents. Let’s smile.

Tommi, a shy hotel cleaning boy, cleans the room 409 night after night. To him it seems like every one of the hotel guests has found a connection with their partner, which makes him feel lonelier than ever. When is the right time to let go? 409 – Please Make Up My Room is an anthology film that contains four intimacy-related stories from different directors all set in the same hotel room.

A poetic horror drama about Irina, a young mother on the run from her poisonous relationship, and her grandmother who has her own wounds too.

“A person has to have something to live for”. Pentti is a 94-year-old widower who steps into a new phase in his life having found filmmaking – and the feisty Lea.

A visual exploration of the personal memories of coming of age during the so-called “war against narco” in Mexico.

A young woman dealing with her childhood's trauma in the form of a folktale. She always runs away from a big black wolf untill she reminds of her grandmother's advice.

We tend to see our geographic map as static. On the contrary, this work full of subtlety shows us that life in an archipelago is by nature affected by the winds and tides which constantly change its shape. As the film says, "the sea will be land, and the land was once sea."

A self-ironic portrayal of a young woman and her secret cigarettes.