Arts & culture

Love’s labour isn’t lost in Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves

Aki Kaurismäki, Finland’s most famous director, came out of retirement to make Fallen Leaves, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes. His 20th feature film is a love story.

Arts & culture Nature

Finnish photographer Meeri Koutaniemi goes to the source

Wherever she roams, award-winning photographer Meeri Koutaniemi draws strength from Finnish nature – and never stops looking for that perfect tree to climb. Our article includes a small selection of her impressive photography.

Arts & culture Climate

Live gigs with fewer climate worries: Finland’s music industry has a plan

When you’re out with friends at a concert or festival, you’d probably rather not worry about the event’s greenhouse gas emissions. What if it was carefully planned to minimise emissions, or even certified as carbon-neutral?

Number of Unesco World Heritage sites in Finland

Source: Unesco

Arts & culture Film

In northern Finland, three unconventional Sámi artists talk about culture and craft

A documentary directed by Auri Ahola traces the career trajectories of three unusual Sámi artists as they discuss their connections to Sámi culture and the landscape of the far north. The film is embedded in our article for you to watch.

Arts & culture Music

Hold on to summer: Sunny Flow Fest memories in Helsinki last through the autumn and beyond

Flow Festival is an extravaganza, the highlight of the summer for multitudes of music fans in Finland. With interviews and a photo show, we attempt to bottle its essence so we can make the summer last longer, even as autumn is increasingly in the air.

500,000

Letters received by Santa every year

Source: Posti

Arts & culture Film

Radical liberty: Finnish director Alli Haapasalo’s movie Girl Picture lets girls be girls

In Girl Picture, three teenage girls say and do what they want – without suffering any retribution. While directing the film, Alli Haapasalo realised how incredibly rare that kind of freedom is in movie plots. We talk with her about making films in Finland.

Arts & culture Visual arts

Island and mainland: At Helsinki Biennial, art inspires viewers and makes summer linger longer

We jump on a ferry to the lush island of Vallisaari to visit the 2023 Helsinki Biennial and meet a couple of the artists. (Lots more photos in the slideshow at the end of the article.)

Arts & culture Music

Music in the Finnish capital: The Flow must go on

Finland loves summer festivals; there’s at least one in almost every city and town. Flow Festival, a massive music event held in Helsinki in early August, is the urban festival.

53.2 per 100,000 people

Most heavy metal bands per capita in the world

Source: Business Insider