Best Finnish documentary movies

A personal and captivating account of the extraordinary life and work of Ingrid Bergman (1915-82), a young Swedish woman who became one of the most celebrated actresses in world cinema.

After a terrible accident deep inside an underwater cave, the survivors are forced to risk their own lives to bring the bodies of their friends home.

Reindeerspotting is a documentary film of a group of young guys living in Rovaniemi, Arctic Circle, dabbling in petty crime and hard drugs. One of them, Jani, has lost five years of his life and two fingers to his debotators. He wants to leave Lapland and his old life behind. Robbing a supermarket is a start for his getaway. A few years back a documentarist, Joonas Neuvonen, was a young men living on social welfare, using drugs on daily basis. He started to film his friends and their life. This is the story of Jani.

Finnish men in sauna, speaking straight from the heart.

Lost Boys tells the true, undisguised story of what happened ten years ago, after group of friends continued their eternal afterparty following the success of their movie premiere, Reindeerspotting: Escape From Santaland, which depicted group of drug users from Rovaniemi, Finland. The partying ends when friends of Joonas goes missing and Jani dies violently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Joonas takes his camera and sets out to find out what happened to his friend. Was it all about drugs, women and money or do the traces lead somewhere deeper?

The Punk Syndrome is a film about Finland’s most kick-ass punk rock band, Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät. The band members, Pertti, Kari, Toni and Sami, are mentally handicapped and they play their music with a lot of attitude and pride. We follow these professional musicians on their journey from obscurity to popularity. We watch them fight, fall in love and experience strong emotions. We witness long days in the recording studio and on tour. They laugh, cry, drink and fight over who gets to sit in the front on the tour bus. Then it’s time to make up and go talk to people in the audience and tell them how great their band is.

Selänne is a documentary about Teemu Selänne—the best Finnish ice hockey player of all time. It's directed by JP Siili, whose previous films include such hits as Härmä and Ganes. We've followed the heroic tales of Selänne for over two decades. His exploits are famous, but now we get to know Selänne the man. In this documentary Teemu lets the viewer get close and under his skin. The film follows Selänne's journey from childhood to the latest NHL season. We see the life story of an exceptional athlete inside and out, not only through Teemu's words, but through the views of his loved ones and colleagues. Selänne is charismatic, social, irritating, charming, happy and always late. Welcome to the life of Teemu Selänne!

Helsinki, Forever is a montage film about the city of Helsinki by the award-winning Finnish film director and academic Peter von Bagh. The film draws a portrait of Helsinki and also acts as an essay on Finnish culture in a wider sense. It shows Helsinki as captured by leading Finnish feature film and documentary makers over a period of one hundred years.

Tale of a Lake is a film about the thousands of lakes that Finland is known for. It takes the viewers on an unprecedented adventure, ranging from the crystal clear springs all the way to the basins of the big lakes. It opens a whole new world of underwater nature for the viewers, and tells about the many old tales and beliefs in the land of thousands of lakes. The story of the film is told through tales that are based around the myths, legends and old beliefs that are part of the Finnish mythology.

Twentysomething Petri got over a break-up by pushing his credit card limit in order to buy stuff. Still, after three years, the anxiety remains, so all things must go into a storage container. For a year, Petri allows himself to retrieve only one item per day. New life begins naked next to a radiator.

The warden of Halden, Norway's most humane prison, tours the U.S. prison system to urge a new approach emphasizing rehabilitation.

Once upon a time there was a large Finnish company called Nokia that manufactured the world’s best and most innovative mobile phones. Nokia’s annual budget was larger than that of the Government of Finland and their phones spread everywhere and changed the whole culture of communication. But then something changed. Film portrays the rise and fall of Nokia and the Finnish mobile phone industry. Nokia engineers, designers and managers tell their story about the creation, success and downfall of the Finnish mobile phone.

Kuwait’s constitution says that every person has the right to a job, so in some places 20 people are employed for one person’s job. In South Korea, they work so much that a policy has been introduced to turn off computers at the end of the day so that employees can’t work any more. In the US, they give up over 500 million holiday hours each year, while Amazon’s drivers are trying to form a union. Meanwhile, robots are poised to take over most jobs and put the rest of us out of work. Work is so crucial to our identity and what we spend our waking hours on that it is barely noticed anymore. A lot has happened since a group of Puritan priests invented the concept of work ethic in the 1600s, and in the 21st century the very concept of work is in many ways disintegrating. A perfect situation for a filmmaker like Swedish mastermind Erik Gandini, who travels the world to explore what the concept of work means today – if it means anything at all.

Sámi artefacts from the Finnish National Museum are returning home to Sápmi, while the holy drums of the Sámi people are still imprisoned in the basements of museums across Europe. The returning objects symbolise the dignity, identity, history, connection to ancestors and a whole world view that was taken from the Sámi people. Director Suvi West takes the viewer behind the scenes of the museum world to reflect on the spirit of the objects, the inequality of cultures and the colonialist burden of museums.

Documentary about Finnish film theaters - about their past, disappearance and future. And at the same time universal story how cinema is undeniably connected with life.

Republic of Finland is promoting clean technology by organizing Green Mining seminars where foreign experts tell us how the development of the world is becoming increasingly expensive by 2050. The Earth is running out of resources and mining companies have to use increasingly low-grade metal deposits. Finland aims to be a model country for environmentally friendly mining. Its pioneer project is Talvivaara, which uses new biotechnology to extract nickel, zinc and uranium. Through several charismatic characters, the documentary film The Land Of Mine follows the rise of the biggest nickel mine in Western Europe and the ensuing disasters whose effects continue to reverberate in the nation.

Documentary about the environmental policies and tree-planting campaigns of the Chinese state, and the eucalyptus plantations of the Finnish forestry company Stora Enso in Guangxi province and their impact on the lives and livelihoods of local residents.

This experimental nature documentary by Minna Rainio and Mark Roberts depicts climate change and the wave of extinction from the point of view of our near future. Actually, it depicts the age we live in now, or rather its fateful consequences.

A documentary from Erkki Karu, one of the earliest pioneers of Finnish cinema: This government-produced propaganda film introduces the nature, sports, military, agriculture and capital of Finland.

What started as a drama about a Russian police plot to steal a billion dollars from a US financier and to murder his faithful tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, has become a real life investigation of contradicting versions of the crime.

A look behind the scenes of the Czech gay porn boom.

In the middle of the Siberian taiga, 450 miles from the nearest village, live two families : the Braguines and the Kilines. Not a single road leads there. A long trip on the Ienissei River, first by boat, then by helicopter, is the only way to reach Braguino. Self-sufficient, both families live there according to their own rules and principles. In the middle of the village: a barrier. The two families refuse to speak. In the river sits an island, where another community is being built : that of the children. Free, unpredictable, wild. Stemming from the fear of the other, that of wild beasts, and the joy procured by the immensity of the forest, unravels a cruel tale in which tensions and fear give shape to the geography of an ancestral conflict.

The narrator collides with animal-shaped shooting targets in the woods. She sets out to unravel a breathtaking and fascinating cultural-historical tangle of animal and human rights: the power of a gaze, the objects of exhibition, and the secondary power of being under scrutiny.

Nearly 2, 00, 000 farmers have committed suicide in India over the last 10 years. But the mainstream media hardly reflects this. Nero´s Guests is a story about India’s agrarian crisis and the growing inequality seen through the work of the Rural Affairs Editor of Hindu newspaper, P Sainath. Through sustained coverage of the farm crisis, Sainath and his colleagues created the national agenda, compelling a government in denial to take notice and act. Through his writings and lectures, Sainath makes us confront the India we don’t want to see, and provokes us to think about who ‘Nero’s Guests’ are in today’s world.

A 57-minute documentary of a Helsinki concert featuring the Leningrad Cowboys and the Alexandrov Red Army Choir and Ballet, who collaborate on a number of US Rock songs sung in English (like "Sweet Home, Alabama") as well as more traditional Russian songs like the "Volga Boatman."

On November 7 2007, eighteen year old Pekka goes to school armed in Jokela, a quiet town North of Finland’s capital, Helsinki. On that tragic day, he kills eight people. The director reconstructs Pekka’s story through conversations with his parents, classmates and teachers. The oppressive circumstances that brought on the young man’s tragic action are slowly revealed clearer and clearer and the spectator realizes that these situations are not unique to Pekka from Jokela.

A girls' basketball team in Iceland push against societies expectations under the guidance of an unconventional coach, Brynjar Karl Sigurðsson. The team are ready to change the world, but is the world ready for them?

Finnish black metal is known for its extreme views and merciless no-compromise approach. As a music genre, black metal often has a strong ideological aspect. Satanic values, glorification of evil and unsolidarity, as well as pure hatred towards Christian and multicultural society, are more than just childish rebellion for the people involved. Eternal Flame of Gehenna examines the phenomena through interviewing the key figures of the moment. It gives a face to a subculture seen as a threat to common safety by Finnish Security Intelligence. In this movie, one will find out about the thoughts of a grave violator, grave robber, and hear what they feel when an old wooden church is burning down. Eternal Flame of Gehenna is also a view on the history and the current state of Finnish black metal, featuring bands like Azaghal, Azazel, Barathrum, Beherit, Enochian Crescent, Goatmoon, Horna, Satanic Warmaster etc.

A documentary that unveils the primeval forests of Northern Finland, some of Europe's sole remaining, old-growth forests. The main characters of the film are the various inhabitants of the forest: the bears and the elk, the snakes and the owls, the ants, the frogs and the flying squirrels, the ancient soul birds such as the Siberian Jay, the Lapland Owl and many, many others.

Aalto is one of the greatest names in modern architecture and design, Aino and Alvar Aalto gave their signature to iconic Scandic design. The first cinematic portrait of their life love story is an enchanting journey of their creations and influence around the world.

Tokyo. A metropolis filled with sound, movement and culture. Through interviews with some of Tokyo's inhabitants, such as world-renowned photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, game designer Shono, musician Mayuko Hino and others.

The film examines the painful relationship between fathers and sons through the eyes of one family. Four generations of men are featured in the film. Father to Son deals with the conflict between generations and their subjective memories, and the way different methods of raising children pass from one generation to the next. How often and to what extent do we repeat the behavioural patterns of our fathers; can we change or break these patterns or is repeating them inescapable, and how many generations are needed for change to occur? Are the values we have inherited from our fathers still valid in the modern world? One of the leading themes of this film is the sensitivity of a man and a boy, and its preservation and suppression.

The adventures of three female wanderers on their journeys thorough the United States of America, who hop on freight trains to travel free. The particular reasons of each one of them for living this life of perpetual motion are unique, a life that gains sense in the wide open empty space of an immense country, historically marked by the mythical rail roads.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th century Finnish philologist G. J. Ramstedt travelled around Mongolia and Central-Asia. In this documentary Ramstedt’s memoirs are heard in the modern day setting, where tradition is replaced with hunger for money, and deserts give way to cities.

A documentary about the practice of piercing and body modification in western cultures.

Canned Dreams shows the multi-branching network of the modern food industry. The Finnish consumer buys a can in the grocery store, but where from far away do the raw materials and packaging materials for the preserves come from - and through how many hands? The film not only traces the various stages of the production process, but gives a voice to the people who work as part of it.

‘An animal simply is,’ nature photographer and writer Heikki Willamo says as dazzling black-and-white images segue from a forest bear to a seagull gliding over the sea. The animal images are themselves captivating, without any need to ask what is happening next. Directed and shot by Perttu Saksa, a well-known photographer, Animal Image borrows its form and speech from the reputed existence of animals: there is only here and now.

An intimate, two-hour documentary of Nightwish’s innermost-workings – included in their upcoming Showtime, Storytime DVD – is a story about what happens when persistence and desire pushes towards dreams. Directed by Ville Lipiäinen (30 Seconds To Mars, HIM) and shot with seventeen cameras at the Wacken Open Air Festival in front of 85,000 fans, the 110-minute live performance by Finland’s most beloved rockers Nightwish was the first of three final shows of the band’s 2013 “Imaginaerum World Tour” which consisted of 104 concerts in 34 countries and a total audience of over 1.5 million fans around the globe.

Behind the scenes documentary of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest

Ukonvaaja - The Hammer of Ukko - is a documentary film that focuses on ancient Finnish folklore and mythology.

A lonely 40-year-old man sits on the balcony of a Finnish apartment building. Joonas Berghäll has learned that he will die in 14 years’ time, unless he changes his way of living or attitude towards life. Joonas wants to make a film about the state of wellbeing of Finnish men, drawing from his own experiences and mirroring the society at large. The film is built around six stories. It starts with the context of school and proceeds through the contexts of military service, custody battle, burnout and substance abuse to end on the subject of premature death caused by health problems.

Rocker Kai Latvalehto has a wife and a son, almost everything a man could wish for. Still, he feels that something is missing. Accompanied by his father, he drives across Sweden to refresh his childhood memories of life in Gothenburg in the 1970’s. This journey of identities brings the two men closer.

The film aims to reveal what the general public has been unable to see: the modest and mysterious inner world of Jari Litmanen. In addition to reviewing the stages of the great soccer player and "artist's" own life, the film also examines the experiences and thoughts of other people connected to his life, such as his teammates and supporters, about Jari Litmanen, soccer, and life itself.

Twenty-two-year-old Oleg doesn’t live up to his mother Marina’s idea of a real man. She thinks he’s an autistic loafer. He’s enrolled at the University of Nizhny Novgorod and is supposed to be watching online lectures, but his mother says all he actually does is hang around watching TV. Oleg doesn’t have any need for friendships, either. Marina wants him to improve his life and subjects him to a series of unconventional treatments. In one particularly uncomfortable scene, we see the therapist riding him as if he were a horse. Another psychiatrist tells Oleg how useless he is and that he will always be alone. Strangely enough the camera seems to be welcome everywhere, and it closely follows these dramatic developments.

A father of four children gets brutally stabbed several times, with the children present in the family home. During the brutal action, his wife – Anneli Auer – is on the phone to the emergency center. Emergency Call – A Murder Mystery is a documentary film tracking down the story that unfolds after the fatal night. We hear from all emerging sides as the prosecution builds its case against the mother of four. A behind the scenes look into one of the most bizarre unsolved court cases in recent Finnish history.

Tuomas, a man in his thirties, has lost everything in Thailand – his family, his possessions and the trust of his friends. Hoping to qualify for an early age pension in his native Finland, Tuomas is in such a bad shape that even his legs can’t support his skeletal body anymore. Will anything change when Tuomas’s friends decide to help the man with a drinking problem for one last time and set out to get him home from the streets of Thailand?

The national ski jumping team of China is trained in Finland, starting from scratch three years before the Beijing Winter Olympics, in an unprecedented project where young athletes strive to represent their country on the world stage.

Wed Al-Asadi, having fled the civil war in Iraq, applies for asylum in Finland. Although his lawyer is confident that he will receive a residence permit, his request is rejected.

Short documentary about life in a little town called Bico in the northern Portugal.

An exhaustive explanation of how the military occupation of an invaded territory occurs and its consequences, using as a paradigmatic example the recent history of Israel and the Palestinian territories, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, from 1967, when the Six-Day War took place, to the present day; an account by filmmaker Avi Mograbi enriched by the testimonies of Israeli army veterans.

Boiling Point (original title Kiehumispiste) describes the different reactions the Finnish people had to the large immigration amounts in 2015-2016.

Sirkka-Liisa died alone with no one left to miss her. Elina happened to buy her home after her death and ended up with all Sirkka-Liisa's possessions from books to photos. What would happen If Elina threw all her things away?

A journey into four classical elements through the four main characters of the film. The main characters in the movie represent each of their own elements.

Tale of the Sleeping Giants is a movie filmed entirely in Lapland in the most mythical wilderness: the mountains, lakes and rivers of Lapland. It is a journey into the rich mythology of ancient Scandinavians and Lapps told in the form of a nature movie.

On December 6, 1917, Finland declared its independence from Russia. A detailed chronicle of the major events in the history of this young European nation.

A tender portrayal of four stubborn brothers becomes a touching contemporary Swedish family chronicle about dreams, class, heritage, and the difficulty of connection. The Andersson brothers grew up in a working-class home in Gothenburg. Roy became an internationally acclaimed filmmaker while Ronny ended up as a homeless man. Kjell became a documentary filmmaker, and Leif lives as a disability pensioner.

The documentary tells the story how Matti Fagerholm became Michael Monroe. It all began in the late 1970s with Hanoi Rocks, and over 40 years later, Michael Monroe, who still performs solo around the world, is a well known rock icon. The film features not only Monroe but also many international rock superstars and Monroe's mother. The movie covers Monroe's entire career, from tragic turning points to shining moments. In the documentary, Monroe openly talks about his journey towards his dream, the challenges in his career, and the setbacks he has experienced. He has given his all to the genre, never giving up or succumbing to difficulties and misfortunes.

Over 90 years old Ellen Vuosalo has lived many lives. First as a Finnish immigrant in Canada, then as a zoology student in California and finally as a mother of snow cranes in Iran. Iiris Härmä's Mother of Snow Cranes tells the story of an incredible woman's extraordinary life, from love to tragedy to revolution. It is a story about nature, humanity, and the role of women in both the West and Iranian culture. Or as Ellen herself says " What a life! What a world!"

A documentary about two cities, Turku past and present. They are united by a constant struggle over who owns the city and how and under what conditions it will change. What was Turku like before it disappeared when the cityscape was modernized and the old was destroyed? How did that happen? Who benefited from it? What kind of disease was the Turku disease? And how are young people today trying to take control of urban space? Why are they occupying buildings? Who does the built environment belong to and who decides on it?

Documentary film about love, relationships and sexuality of elderly men and women. Five couples show how intimacy is still strong even though age and body has changed.

Finnish award-winning barista Kalle Freese travels to San Francisco with his girlfriend to start an instant coffee start-up with big goals. At stake are Kalle's health, relationship and the newly formed start-up.

Pixadores are a group of young men from the São Paulo favelas. They paint their message on incredible locations to fight the society that’s suppressing them. An invitation to the Berlin Biennale changes everything for the outcasts. Their art, however, won’t fit the frames provided by the establishment. As the men’s world expands outside the favelas, their friendship is put to test.