Content from ELO Film School Finland

Story about 29-year-old Krisu, who is quite lost in her life. Luckily, she has a indie band called Wendy and the Refugee Neverland.

The supermarket is nearing its closing time, and the last customers are queuing for their turn at the fish counter. The agonizing wait offers a chance for existential reflection and a little song.

Pirjo, still stuck in her past, gets kidnapped by her pet crab Sebastian who turns out to be an alien. Sebastian wants to save her since the world is about to end at 10 p.m. today. However, Pirjo refuses to leave the planet without a memento of her beloved Ester and Sebastian won’t leave without Pirjo. The clock is ticking.

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.

Road racing driver Juha Kallio sits on a leather couch with a beer in his hand, watching a DVD of one of the fiercest motorcycle races in the world. ‘Could you do that?’ asks his friend sitting beside him. ‘Yeah, I could,’ answers Juha calmly, even though the Isle of Man TT Race circuit is challenging for any driver. The dangerous route has over 200 turns that need to be memorized beforehand. Participation doesn’t hang on ability alone. It takes not only skills but also luck to get a spot on a team, not to mention cash to cover the expenses. The few tenners worth of gas vouchers won on Finnish circuits barely cover the ride back home to Imatra. Maybe the local chicken farmer would sponsor a familiar face? The road to the legendary race is bumpy. The Fast of the Forest is a film about the daredevil world of road racing. It is also a story about perseverance. Quitting is not an option, even if the dream starts crumbling only moments before it is to become a reality.

They are everywhere without us observing them. These ‘invisibles’ can only be seen on camera and only heard thanks to a microphone. Footage shot in public spaces shows people who seem non-existent to everyone else in the frame.

In the aftermath of a death, a home is cleaned out; the accumulation of a life is removed in bags and recycle bins. But what becomes of the collection of books? Laura Rantanen’s resoundingly moving and wistful documentary reflects on the end of life, what lingers behind, and the moments when a book breaks through the monotony to open the world around us.

A daughter writes a letter for her father, who she lost after he was sentenced on charges of blasphemy.

A short film by Olli Ilpo Salonen.

Rebekka and Aatos, stuck in the past, meet for the first time since their painful breakup at their treasured poetry slam. It’s easier to sing about longing than to talk about it.

Jakke is about to get married to a young and pregnant woman. When his friends find out, they drag him into a pub for a stag night.

TV astrologer Sigrid guides people through sleepless nights, but one caller seems worrying. Can Sigrid help them before Jupiter and Pluto align?

Young man loses his job as a recruiter at the network marketing hoax. Being forced to leave his employers quarters he ends up in the streets and bumps into a young girl, an outcast who has recently lost her mother. He moves in her shabby flat – just to get through the worst, with no romantic intentions. A fatal mistake, involving a middle-class suburbia, a time bank system and a battered couple change plans.

Sami directs a reality series but ends up as the main character.

Two people named Unto have reserved a session in the flotation tank at 1:00, but the system only has a reservation for one Unto. As the situation is investigated, it becomes clear that, in addition to the identical reservation, the Untos share more in common.

Short documentary about true bugs and humans. Short film is also a compassion practice and small journey from human perspective to other playful ways to see.

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.

On a quiet night with no audience but each other, four dancers pass a slow night revealing the quiet, messy, and surprisingly tender reality of life behind the glitter.

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.

Where light breaks into shards is a poetic short film about an encounter between a human and a bladderwrack on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The theme is intepreted through the memories of the sea and it invites the viewer to contemplate ones own relationship towards other species.