FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[Send Date]
MEDIA CONTACTS
Charles Coleman, charles@facets.org
Paul Gonter, paul@facets.org
FACETS Announces Finntastic: New Films from Finland series July 14 & 16, 2023
Press Release
CHICAGO— FACETS is excited to announce a new film series for July spotlighting award-winning Finnish female filmmakers. Finntastic: New Films from Finland runs July 14 & 16, 2023 and the series features one-day-only screenings of Hanna Bergholm’s Hatching preceded by her short film Puppet Master (7/14, 7:00 pm), Jenni Toivoniemi’s Games People Play preceded by her short film The Date (7/16, 1:00 pm), and Miia Tervo’s Aurora preceded by her short film Clumsy Little Acts of Tenderness (7/16, 4:00 pm). Series passes and single tickets can be purchased in advance through FACETS’ website and cost $30 /series pass, $12 /single tickets, and $10 /FACETS Members and students.
Full synopsis, trailer, and ticketing can be found on FACETS’ website here.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Thanks to Cannes, the names of Finnish filmmakers Aki Kaurismäki and Juho Kuosmanen are well-known to cinephiles. But they aren’t the totality of Finnish filmmaking… not by a long shot. Our series “Finntastic” puts the focus on a young generation of prize-winning female directors. By combining their first feature with one of their shorts, viewers can witness the formation of these new auteurs visual style and subject matter.
The Sundance hit Hatching, directed by Hanna Bergholm, offers an inventive new take on body horror as a teen gymnast starts to crack under pressure. It screens with Puppet Master. Games People Play, directed by Jenni Toivoniemi, is a smart dramedy about the surprise reunion of old friends in which past secrets and longings come to the surface. It features top Finnish stars Eero Milonoff (Border) and Laura Birn. It shows with The Date. Aurora, directed by Miia Tervo is an enjoyable dramedy from Finnish Lapland that uses location and characters to add something fresh to familiar romantic comedy beats as a Finnish party girl falls in love with an Iranian refugee. It stars force-of-nature Mimosa Williamo (who can be seen in a sassy cameo in the action pic Sisu). It shows with Clumsy Little Acts of Tenderness.
Series programed by Alissa Simon.
HATCHING + PUPPET MASTER
Friday, June 14 at 7:00 PM
HATCHING / PAHANHAUTOJA
Twelve-year-old gymnast Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) is desperate to please her image-obsessed mother, whose popular blog Lovely Everyday Life presents their family’s idyllic existence as manicured suburban perfection. One day, after finding a wounded bird in the woods, Tinja brings its strange egg home, nestles it in her bed and nurtures it until it hatches. The creature that emerges becomes her closest friend and a living nightmare, plunging Tinja beneath the impeccable veneer into a twisted reality that her mother refuses to see.
Hatching is a fascinating portrait of the nature of maternal instinct, as Tinja battles to come to terms with the genuine emotional bond with her grotesque and bloodthirsty new-found family member while contending with the fraying connection to her own demanding mother. (Description courtesy of IFC Films.)
Hanna Bergholm, 2022, Finland/Sweden, 91 min. In Finnish with English subtitles.
Preceded by:
PUPPET MASTER / NUKKEMESTARI
A lonely woman, yearning to be caressed, allows a man to transform her into a puppet. But when the man loses interest, the puppet won’t let go. Filmmaker Hanna Bergholm infuses this short fantasy drama with horror elements, combining actors and puppets in a poetic story about longing for love, living in an objectifying relationship and clinging to another person.
Hanna Bergholm, 2018, Finland, 15 min. In Finnish with English subtitles.
Showtime
Friday, July 14, 7:00 pm
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY + THE DATE
Sunday, July 16 at 1:00 PM
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY / SEURAPELI
Eight friends gather to celebrate Mitzi’s (Emmi Parviainen) surprise 40th birthday party over a nostalgic weekend at an idyllic seaside villa, just like they used to do as teenagers. The party gets off on the wrong foot immediately, as the birthday girl is none too pleased with the surprise. But tensions cool when Mitzi’s best friend Veronika (Laura Birn) arrives with her new boyfriend Mikael (Christian Hillborg, FLEABAG, THE LAST KINGDOM), a Swedish Hollywood star. Old habits rear their ugly heads as familiar surroundings and old party games upset the group dynamic, making them reassess the past as well as the present. Writer-director Jenni Toivoniemi crafts a bittersweet comedy about the tragedy of being forever young. (Note adapted from LevelK.)
Jenni Toivoniemi, 2020, Finland, 177 min. In English, Finnish, and Swedish with English subtitles.
Preceded by:
THE DATE / TREFFIT
Teenaged Tino’s manhood is put to the test in front of two women when he has to host a date for Diablo, the family’s stud cat. Official Selection, 2013 Sundance, AFI FEST, Sundance and Berlin film festivals.
Jenni Toivoniemi, 2013, Finland, 7 min. In Finnish with English subtitles.
Showtime
Sunday, July 16 at 1:00 pm
AURORA + CLUMSY LITTLE ACTIONS OF TENDERNESS
Sunday, July 16 at 4:00 PM
AURORA
One night at a hot dog stand in Finnish Lapland, commitment-phobic party animal Aurora (Mimosa Willamo) meets Iranian refugee Darian (Amir Escandari). Darian needs to marry a Finnish woman in order to get asylum for himself and his daughter, so he proposes marriage. Aurora turns him down, as she is busy working as a nail technician and plans to move to Norway, away from her unhappy life. However, after meeting his sweet daughter, Aurora agrees to help him find a wife. As Aurora introduces numerous women to Darian, the two of them grow close. When the perfect wife candidate comes along, Darian and Aurora are faced with a difficult choice: to pretend to be happy or to finally stop running. Writer and director Miia Tervo stated that she wanted her unconventional rom-com to “salute the biggest force of nature: love.” (Note adapted from LevelK.)
Miia Tervo, 2019, Finland, 106 min. In English, Finnish, and Persian with English subtitles.
Preceded by:
CLUMSY LITTLE ACTS OF TENDERNESS / PIENIÄ KÖMPELÖITÄ HELLYYDENOSOITUKSIA
In this short comedy, a weekend father wants to show his teenage daughter his love by taking her to a car wash, but instead they end up on a life-changing adventure in the supermarket, at the endless sanitary napkin shelf.
Miia Tervo, 2015, 9 min. In Finnish with English subtitles.
Showtime
Sunday, July 16, 4:00 pm
About FACETS
Established in 1975, FACETS expands perspectives and affirms a shared humanity through inclusive engagement with film. FACETS‘ mission is to create cinematic experiences for youth and adults that foster vital conversations and community action through film exhibitions, media education, and film resources. Learn more at facets.org
FACETS presents the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF), the largest children’s film festival in the world and an Oscar®-qualifying children’s film festival. Learn more at facets.org/cicff
###