FINLAND AT GIFF 2016
39th festival Jan 29 - Feb 8, 2016
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME DRAGON AWARD MAIN COMPETITION
THE MINE ALEKSI SALMENPERÄ HELSINKI-FILMI OY SALES: THE YELLOW AFFAIR
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS Wed 3 Feb | 17.30 | Draken Thu 4 Feb | 12.30 | Biopalatset 3 Fri 5 Feb | 22.00 | Haga 1 Sat Feb 6 | 12.30 | Angergerds Bio Blå
Jussi, a young and ambitious civil servant finds himself in charge of the environmental permit of a huge nickel and uranium mine in Northern Finland. The Talvivaara mine, led by a charismatic globe trotting visionary Pekka Perä is introducing an entirely new method of collecting minerals whilst creating jobs in one of Scandinavia’s poorest areas. Jussi slowly discovers that several people have led him astray and that the new method has serious downsides he did not foresee. The mine is causing environmental hazards that are being hushed. A new application for another permit is brought to his desk by the same mine along with an interesting job offer and the chance of a new beginning. Jussi must decide whether he will play along and, if so, with whom.
NORDIC FILM MARKET Fri Feb 5 | 9:00 | Biopalatset 1 Sun Feb 7 | 9:00 | Göta 1
DRAGON AWARD DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
RETURN OF THE ATOM MIKA TAANILA, JUSSI EEROLA KINOTAR
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS Wed 03 Feb | 20:15 | Göta 1 Thu 04 Feb | 15:00 | Göta 1 Fri 05 Feb | 10:00 | Capitol
Finland was the first country in the west to give permission to build a new nuclear power plant after the Chernobyl disaster (1986). The OL3 plant in Eurajoki is being built by the French nuclear company Areva and was supposed to be ready in five years (2004–2009), being a calling card for the nuclear industry’s second coming globally. However, the project has faced serious problems in planning, construction and safety automation, and has been delayed over nine years now. Return of the Atom portrays the strange and stressful life in a small “nuclear town” during an era of nuclear renaissance. There’s hardly any anti-nuclear resistance in Eurajoki, which creates a tense, unspoken consensus amongst local inhabitants and leaves room for paranoid scenarios.