The Finnish Film Foundation has announced the recipients of its October 2025 round of production support, with a total of nearly €1.4 million granted to ten new projects. The selection includes one animated feature and five documentaries as well as four minority co-productions (one fiction feature, two documentaries and one short film).

Among the projects is Pikkuli and Starlight Reindeer, a new animated feature directed by Metsämarja Aittokoski and Antti Aittokoski. Produced by AittoFlow, the pic received €892,000 in support. Aimed at young audiences, the film follows Pikkuli and his friends on a secret mission to find the mythical Starlight Reindeer and save Christmas after the adults decide to cancel it. Their journey reveals that what truly makes Christmas special is togetherness and faith – key themes at the heart of the Aittokoskis’s work. They are already known for the Pikkuli TV series and books.

The only feature-length minority co-production to receive support is Silver Blues, directed by Rodrigo Areias and produced by Bando à Parte in Portugal, with Bulgaria’s Kamen Velkovsky and Finland’s Bufo serving as co-producers. The project secured €150,000 in funding.

Six of the selected titles are documentaries, covering a wide thematic range. Among them, Creaturama – Epic of the Animals, directed by Juha Suonpää and produced by Swamphead, was granted €126,000. Shot over seven years using unattended trail cameras, the film offers an experimental and poetic exploration of the forest as seen through the eyes of its animal inhabitants – a meditation on coexistence and the gaze of nature itself. The project was recently pitched at the Nordisk Panorama Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries (see the report).

Hold on, Catlyn! by Mervi Junkkonen, produced by Illume, received €120,000. The film follows Catlyn, a woman living on the periphery who discovers self-confidence through reindeer racing, with guidance from her neighbour and mentor, Sari Kettunen, a former Reindeer Cup champion.

Jamila’s Children by Arezo Ariapoor, produced by Guerilla Films, was awarded €135,000. The movie observes a pivotal year in the lives of siblings who are coming of age, as they navigate their cultural identities and the societal values surrounding them.

Two minority co-productions were also supported in the documentary category. Haaveisiin vajonnut, directed by Marie-Eve de Grave and produced by France’s Les Films d’Ici with Finland’s Making Movies, received €40,000. The film focuses on a Finnish cinema and its cultural resonance. Meanwhile, Let Our Mountains Live, directed by Håvard Bustnes and produced by Norway’s UpNorth Film with Finland’s Home River Media, obtained €45,000. The film revisits the 2021 landmark case in which Norway’s Supreme Court ruled that the construction of 151 wind turbines violated the Sámi people’s right to maintain their traditional reindeer-herding activities – a legal and human rights milestone.

Also supported was The Misfit, a six-year observational project by Miikka Poutiainen, produced by PinkAgency, which received €40,000. The documentary traces the story of Nadja, a highly sensitive, hyperactive urban dweller facing the challenges of social exclusion, fear and intergenerational trauma.

The Recovery, helmed by Jukka Metsäaho and Jyri Paajamaa, and produced by Pablo Films, was granted €65,000. The plot is being kept under wraps. The only short film among the recipients is A Woman’s Triumph, directed by Alexander Zwart and co-written with Tomas Solli and Valia Phyllis Zwart. The Norwegian-Finnish co-production between Komet Film and Oktober was awarded €21,500. The film tells the story of a wealthy man whose staged suicide attempt to win back his lover’s affection unexpectedly turns deadly.