Arts & culture

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.

12 kg (26.5 lb)

Annual coffee consumption per person

Source: International Coffee Association

Arts & culture Visual arts

Amos Rex’s Generation triennial spotlights talented young artists in Finland

In the Generation 2023 exhibition at Helsinki’s Amos Rex, 15-to-23-year-old artists display images of themselves and the world around us. What are they trying to tell the viewers? We check out the show.

Arts & culture Webpick

50 Finnish summer music festivals to go to in 2023

During the long summer days and midnight sun, Finland offers hundreds of festivals. The experts at Music Finland pick 50 recommendations, from classical to pop, folk and beyond.

Library books borrowed per person per year

Source: Finnish Public Libraries Statistics

Arts & culture Dance

Dance House Helsinki provides an inspiring haven for performers and audiences

Once just a dream, Finland’s new dance centre, Dance House Helsinki, has lived up to its promise since opening in February 2022. The long-awaited venue brings the dance community together, and also features contemporary circus and other performing arts.

Arts & culture Film

Kaurismäki in Karkkila: How Finland’s most famous film director and a writer started a small-town cinema

One year when the acclaimed film director Aki Kaurismäki made his annual return to Finland from his winter home in Portugal, he wound up creating a cinema in a disused industrial building.

Arts & culture Performing arts

For Finnish Culture Day, six videos transport you to festivals and arts events across Finland

We celebrate Finnish Culture Day, February 28, with six videos that invite you to experience cultural events – mostly music festivals, but we also throw in some dance and architecture.