13/09/2006

Dome Karukoski’s Beauty and the Bastard [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Aki Kaurismäki’s Lights in the Dusk [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Petri Kotwica’s Homesick are the three top winners of this year’s State Quality Awards in Finland.

The awards are given annually by the National Council for Cinema of the Finnish Ministry of Culture for a meritorious film or visual programme that premiered domestically between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006.

The producers of Karukoski’s film, Aleksi Bardy, Rinna Hyytiä and Olli Haikka of Helsinki Filmi, Aki Kaurismäki’s production outfit Sputnik Film and the producers of Homesick, Kai Nordberg and Kaarle Aho, were awarded €50,000 for each film.

Beauty and the Bastard, winner of an Amanda Award in Haugesund this year for Best Nordic Debut Feature Film, was described as “an unforced film about youth, which proves that entertaining quality films for youth can be made in Finland. A straightforward film about people on the verge of adulthood and the power of music”. Homesick was described as “a daring debut feature which combines rough realism with a stylized approach and atmosphere compatible with the theme”; and Kaurismäki’s Cannes 2006 competition title was introduced as “an international film with distinctly Finnish basis and treatment”.

Jouko Aaltonen’s documentary film Revolution, produced by Illume Oy, which is now the biggest theatrical success in Finland for a local documentary (11,855 admissions), was awarded €30,000.