Karukoski’s Lapland Odyssey begins

by Annika Pham

04/11/2009 - Dome Karukoski’s fourth feature film, Lapland Odyssey, will start filming in a week’s time in Finnish Lapland for producer Aleksi Bardy (Helsinki Filmi). Co-production partners on the €2m film are Anagram Film in Sweden and Ripple World Pictures in Ireland.

Bardy and Karukosky previously collaborated on two commercially and critically acclaimed films: the director’s feature debut Beauty and the Bastard [trailer] (2005) and Forbidden Fruit [trailer], the third most successful Finnish film of 2009 so far.

Lapland Odyssey is both a comedy and a romantic road movie through Lapland and the soul of the Finnish man. The leads are played by local star Jasper Pääkkönen (Bad Boys [trailer]), Timo Lavikainen (8 Days to Premiere), TV actor Jussi Vatanen (in his first major film role) and Pamela Tola (Beauty and the Bastard). The film will be released by Sandrew Metronome on October 15, 2010.

Among Helsinki Filmi’s other recent productions, Toni Laine’s feature debut Playground [trailer], starring Germany’s Sibel Kekilli (Head On [trailer]), was released on Finnish screens on October 23 and garnered 9,000 admissions from 16 screens. Meanwhile, Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää’s feature debut The Visitor [trailer] (see news) premiered in Germany at Cologne's KunstFilmBiennale on October 29 and will reach German cinemas on November 5.