Oulu is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere and Vantaa, and the fourth largest urban area in the country after Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. Oulu's neighbouring municipalities are: Hailuoto, Ii, Kempele, Liminka, Lumijoki, Muhos, Pudasjärvi, Tyrnävä and Utajärvi.
Zen Café is a Finnish rock band that was founded in Turku in 1992. The band derived its name from the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig at the suggestion of band's bassist Kari Nylander. Other original members were Samuli Putro, Mikko Oesch (guitar) and Tuomo Mäkipaavola (drums). Oesch soon left the group and Mäkipaavola was replaced by Pete Parkkonen (drums). Their latest album Stop was released in 2006, after which the band began a long hiatus without officially disbanding.
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 in 1979 it showed 17 films on 3 screens and had 3,000 visitors. Today, the film festival takes place over 10 days each year at the end of January and beginning of February. In later years around 450 films from 60 countries are screened for 115,000 visitors. The film festival is also an important market place for the contractors in the movie industry.
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 has directed and produced the 2017 war film The Unknown Soldier which is the most expensive feature film ever made in Finland.
Samu Heikkilä is a Finnish film editor.
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.
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.
Sara Johnsen is a Norwegian film director and author.
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.
Department Q is a Danish Nordic noir film series, based on the crime novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Thin Blue Line is a Swedish police procedural drama television series created by Anagram Sweden which premiered in Sweden on 17 January 2021.
