22/04/2015 - The Finnish participant in the Eurovision Song Contest (19-23 May in Vienna) launches The Punk Syndrome on Vimeo

Acknowledged as Finland’s most kick-ass punk-rock band, Pertti Kurikka’s Name Day (PKN) will fly the Finnish colours at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest (19-23 May), performing Aina mun pitää (Whenever I Have To) in Vienna. 

Warming up for the final, Finnish directors Jukka Kärkkäinen, J-P Passi and the group have decided to make their 2012 documentary, The Punk Syndrome [+see also:
trailer
film profile], available to stream via VoD on Vimeo for a 48-hour period.

“A group of middle-aged punk rockers with learning disabilities could be the next presumers to challenge prejudice at the Eurovision song contest,” wrote the UK’s The Guardian about PKN, which in 2009, during a workshop organised by Lyhty, instigated a non-profit organisation providing housing and education for adults with mental disorders.

The documentary shows the four band members, Pertti, Kari, Toni and Sami – all with learning disabilities – as they laugh, cry, drink, fight and fall in love on the way to the top; their music addresses problems in society and everyday life, challenging the way people view those with intellectual disabilities and demanding improvement.

Produced by Sami Jahnukainen for Mouka Filmi, The Punk Syndrome received two Jussis – Finland’s national film prize, including Best Documentary – and another five awards on the international festival circuit, including the SXGlobal Audience Award at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. 

Finland has won the Eurovision Song Contest once before – in 2006, when Finnish monster rock group Lordi performed Hard Rock Hallelujah in Athens. Lordi later starred in Finnish director Pete Riski’s English-language horror movie Dark Floors, shot in a former Nokia factory in Oulu converted into a hospital, and produced by Solar Films’ Markus Selin.