Still No 1 in the charts, Purge is Finland's candidate for the Oscar

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

21/09/2012 - Finnish director Antti Jokinen's Purge [trailer] – the adaption of Finnish author Sofi Oksanen's novel, which registered this year’s best opening of a local film in Finland, and is still number one on the charts, from 76,123 admissions in two weeks – is Finland's official candidate for the 2013 Academy Award nomination as Best Foreign-Language Feature.

The Finnish Oscar Committee emphasised the film's "exceptionally fine storytelling which holds the audience spellbound" when choosing it from 35 eligible local features. The Oscar Academy will announce its nominations for Best Foreign-Language Feature on January 15, 2013, prior to the ceremony on February 24.

Purge – which received the Nordic Council Literary Award in 2007 then the European Book Prize and has been translated into 38 languages – was written for the screen by Marko Leino and Jokinen, and produced by Finns Markus Selin and Jukka Helle for Solar Films, with Estonia's Taska Film.

Set and shot in Estonia, it follows two generations of women - from before the Stalinist deportations in 1949 untilafter the country’s independence in 1991 - intertwining the stories of Aliide, a villager, and Zara, a victim of human trafficking, linked together by deceit, desperation and fear.

Starring Laura Birn, Liisi Tandefelt, Amanda Pilke, Krista Kosonen, Peter Franzén and Tommi Korpela, the film was domestically released by Nordisk Film AB Finland. Denmark's TrustNordisk handles international sales and will launch it abroad at the 17th Busan International Film Festival (October 4-13).