Mika Ronkainen | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Finnish |
Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, producer |
Years active | 1997–present |
Website | http://www.mikaronkainen.com |
Mika Ronkainen (born 6 August 1970) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. Ronkainen is the co-creator and director of successful television crime-drama All the Sins and he has also worked with documentary films and theatre. In June 2013, American magazine Variety selected Ronkainen as one of ten up-and-coming European directors to watch. [1]
Ronkainen's international breakthrough film was Screaming Men (2003), a documentary film about a Finnish screaming male choir called Mieskuoro Huutajat, followed by Freetime Machos (2009), a documentary film about a rugby team which is allegedly the most northern and the third worst in the world. Screaming Men had its US premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2004. Freetime Machos premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.
Ronkainen's latest documentary film is a musical road movie called Finnish Blood Swedish Heart , also known as Ingen riktig finne in Swedish, and Laulu koti-ikävästä in Finnish. The film has won several awards including two Jussi Awards (Finnish Oscars) in 2014: Best Documentary and Best Music, and the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary at Göteborg Film Festival in 2013. Ronkainen adapted the documentary as a theatre play, which had its premiere at Oulu City Theatre in 2016.
Ronkainen wrote and directed television series All the Sins , a crime-drama set in northern Finland. Its three seasons were released between 2019–2023. [2] In January 2019, All the Sins was awarded with Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize at Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden for "outstanding writing of a Nordic drama series". [3]
Ronkainen is one of the founders of Air Guitar World Championships which is organized annually in his hometown Oulu, Finland.
Oulu is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately 216,000, while the sub-region has a population of approximately 264,000. It is the 5th most populous municipality in Finland, and the fourth most populous urban area in the country. Oulu is also the most populous city in Northern Finland.
Mieskuoro Huutajat is an internationally famous shouting choir from Oulu, Finland. They were established in 1987 and originally comprised 20 shouting men, since expanded to 30.
Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the largest film event in Scandinavia. When it was launched on February 8, 1979, it showed 17 films on 3 screens and had 3,000 visitors.
Aku Louhimies is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He has directed feature films, documentary films, commercials and music videos. His international breakthrough was the 2016 serial drama Rebellion. He directed and produced the 2017 war film The Unknown Soldier which is the biggest box office hit since 1955 in Finland.
The Nordic Council Film Prize is an annual film prize administered by the Nordic Council. The Nordisk Film & TV Fond is the funding body that administers the prize.
Freetime Machos is a Finnish documentary film about the bromance of two players in world's most northerly rugby club called OYUS Rugby based in Oulu, Finland. The film is directed by Mika Ronkainen and it had its world premiere at the Joris Ivens Competition of IDFA in November 2009. The film got its North American premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in April 2010. It was also part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2010.
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop is a 2008 music documentary film, written and directed by Margarita Jimeno and starring Gogol Bordello and Eugene Hütz.
Concrete Night is a 2013 drama film directed by Finnish filmmaker Pirjo Honkasalo. The film is based on a novel with the same name, written by Pirkko Saisio and published in 1981, though adapted to modern times. The story has also been adapted to theatre and has been played in Finland and in Venezuela. Concrete Night had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in the Masters Series in September 2013. The film was shot in the Helsinki area in Finland in September and October 2012. Produced by Misha Jaari and Mark Lwoff from production company Bufo and co-produced by Swedish Plattform Produktion and Danish Magic Hour Film, the film was funded by Finnish Film Foundation, Yle, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Swedish Film Institute, Danish Film Institute and Danske Radio. The film was nominated for the 2014 Nordic Council Film Prize. It was selected as the Finnish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.
Finnish Blood Swedish Heart is a 2013 documentary film by Mika Ronkainen about a Finnish father and son revisiting their former home in Sweden. The film won two Jussi Awards in 2014: Best Documentary and Best Music, and the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary Film at the Göteborg Film Festival in February 2013.
I Belong is a 2012 Norwegian drama film directed by Dag Johan Haugerud. It was nominated for the 2013 Nordic Council Film Prize.
Love Henrik Samuel Antell is a Swedish-Finnish singer and artist. As a student he attended Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm. Antell is known as the frontman of the band Florence Valentin, and as a solo singer. Antell's parents were both from Finland. He grew up in Östermalm in central Stockholm but nowadays resides in Hägersten. He was educated as an illustrator at Konstfack between 2001 and 2007, and he is inspired by Lars Hillersberg. Between 2007 and 2011, Antell was a guitarist in the folk-rock group Perssons Pack. He participated in Mika Ronkainen's drama documentary film "Ingen riktig finne"; the film won first prize in the category Best Nordic Documentary at the Gothenburg Film Festival in 2013.
Jessica Maria Nettelbladt is a Swedish director and documentary filmmaker, specializing in personal interviews.
Nordisk Panorama Film Festival is an annual film festival for Nordic short and documentary films, founded in 1990 and organized by Nordisk Panorama. From 1990 to 2012, the festival rotated between different cities in the five Nordic countries. Since 2013, it has taken place in Malmö, Sweden in September every year.
Little Wing is a 2016 Finnish-Danish drama film directed by Selma Vilhunen. It was screened in the Discovery section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. It won the 2017 Nordic Council Film Prize.
Bordertown is a Finnish crime drama and Nordic noir television series created by Miikko Oikkonen and starring Ville Virtanen as detective inspector Kari Sorjonen. The first season, which consisted of eleven episodes, premiered in Finland on 16 October 2016 on Yle TV1. Season two, containing ten episodes, premiered on 7 October 2018, and season three, containing another ten episodes, premiered in December 2019.
All the Sins is a Finnish crime drama television series created and written by film director Mika Ronkainen and journalist Merja Aakko. The series is set in a deeply religious Laestadian Lutheran community in Varjakka, northern Finland. The first season of the series, commissioned by Elisa Viihde, premiered in Finland in April 2019 and the second season in October 2020. The third and final season of 'All the Sins' was released in Finland in December 2022, and internationally in 2023.
Thin Blue Line is a Swedish police procedural drama television series created by Anagram Sweden which premiered in Sweden on 17 January 2021. A second season was aired in 2022, with a third season announced for 2024.
Håvard Bustnes is a prolific Norwegian film director and cinema producer, co-owner of UpNorth Film.
Izer Aliu is a Norwegian-Macedonian director and screenwriter. He is most well known for his 2016 debut feature film, Hunting Flies. He wrote and directed TV series Countrymen and a second feature film, 12 Dares, while a third feature film is under way as of May 2024.
Empire is a 2023 absurdist period drama film directed by Frederikke Aspöck from a screenplay by Anna Neye. It stars Neye and Sara Fanta Traore.