From prime minister's affair to children living on their own

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

20/12/2012 - Finnish director Saara Cantell's Jill and Joy receives €730,000 funding from the Finnish Film Foundation, which supports three new features

While finishing The Only Ones, Finnish director Saara Cantell - also credited with Heartbeats [+see also:
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film profile], Stars Above [+see also:
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film profile] - has received €730,000 backing for her new feature Jill and Joy from the Finnish Film Foundation, which has allocated €1.1 million support for three new features. Also in the package are Jarmo Lampela's Werther (€140,000) and Sami Laitinen's Restless Moon (€202,000).

Based on Finnish author Marjatta Kurenniemi's children's book, scripted by Sami Keki-Vähälä, Jill and Joy are two eight-year-old girls who find an envelope full of money in the street; secretly they buy a house, where they spend the summer of their dreams. Then, on a moonlit night, they see a burglar entering their neighbour's home - their adventure eventually comes to a happy end.

Sari Lempiäinen and Teea Hyytiä will produce for Zodiak Finland and Finnish state broadcaster YLE, with Nordisk Film catering for local release on January 31, 2014. Cantell's The Only Ones, about a woman who finally finds the 'only one', and when he disappears, a second turns up, namely the prime minister of Finland, will be launched in December 2013, also by Nordisk. Outi Keskevaari wrote Jarkko Hentula's production for Yellow Film & TV.

Also scripted by Lampela, Werther is the story about a sculptor, Viitanen, who returns to Finland after 15 years in Prague, following his divorce. He does not want to intrude into his ex's life, but learning that their son Eero has recently died, he decides to find out what kind of person he was. Currently shooting, the Ilkka Mertsola production for Vegetarian Films and YLE will be releases by Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus.

Scheduled to go before the cameras between February-June 2013, Restless Moon follows two 12-year boys, of Somalia origin, who grow up in Helsinki's project suburb of Herttoniemi. Accidentally, they push the alcoholic redneck father of one of their friends over a cliff. Scripted by Laitinen, the film will be produced by Klaus Heydemann for Inland Film Company for Pirkanmaan elokuvakeskus to distribute.

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