09/03/2017 - The Finnish Film Foundation is also backing Happier Times, Grump, the sequel to the 2014 local blockbuster The Grump

A promo shot for Stupid Young Heart by Selma Vilhunen (© Tuffi Films)

Finnish director Selma Vilhunen, whose 2012 short Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? was nominated for an Oscar – and whose feature debut, Little Wing [+see also:
trailer
film profile], has been nominated for ten Jussis, Finland’s national film prize – is readying her sophomore title, Stupid Young Heart. Scripted by Kirsikka Saari, and produced by Elli Toivoniemi and Venla Hellstedt for Vilhunen’s Tuffi Films, Stupid Young Heart is included in the Finnish Film Foundation’s €2.1 million support package for three fiction features, six documentaries, two drama series and two shorts that will receive state production funding.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The story tells of the first love between teenagers Lenni and gorgeous and popular Kiira, who discover they are expecting a baby and decide to keep it – partly as a statement to their families, who have lost touch with what is going on in their lives. After taking part in a botched attack on a local mosque, while Kiira is rushed to hospital to give birth, Lenni – who has grown up without a father figure – realises that he can be a man in his own way.

Well known for her musical family films Ricky Rapper (2008) and Ricky Rapper and Cool Wendy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2012), which kicked off the franchise, Finnish director Mari Rantasila will shoot Pony and Pigeonboy, a Veera Salmi and Hannamaija Matila production for Pohjola-filmi (with Norway’s Cinenord). It follows seven-year-old girl Pony, who doesn't want to go to school, and big-mouthed Pigeonboy, who has the solution to all possible problems.

In 2014, Finnish director Dome Karukoski’s comedy The Grump [+see also:
trailer
film profile], adapted from Finnish author Tuomas Kyrö’s novel, sold 454,000 tickets in the cinemas; now, Solar Films producers Jukka Helle and Markus Selin are on board the sequel, Happier Times, Grump [+see also:
trailer
film profile], also based on a Kyrö book, which will shoot in the autumn with a subsidy from the foundation. Actress-turned-director Tiina Lymi will follow Grump, from the moment he has lost his beloved wife – broken-hearted, he contemplates his own mortality, builds a coffin and carves a wooden gravestone for himself. Their two sons, Hessu and Pekka, concentrate on practical issues, such as sharing out the inheritance and getting their father settled in a retirement home. But Pekka’s daughter Sofia wants to spend some time with her grandfather, and Grump, preparing for the inevitable, gives her one night.

The foundation will also support Mexican director Kyzza Terrazas’ Bayoneta [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], co-produced by Finland’s Marko Röhr, of MRP Matila Röhr Productions. Woo Films’ English-language feature portrays a retired boxer from Tijuana who finds himself living in a cramped flat in Finland, and whose desire for redemption draws him back into the ring. Brontis Jodorowsky and Laura Birn play the leads.