Keyword Finnish Politics

Documentary film about Tony Halme, masculinity and populism. The film follows how Tony Halme created a mythical, highly masculine freestyle wrestling character, The Viking, who gained fame both in the ring and in the public eye and eventually became captivated by it. With his brash speeches, Halme fired the starting shot for the rise of the Finns Party. The voice of a forgotten section of the population, a protest against the ruling elite, were the building blocks of Halme's popularity. Halme's great popularity has served as a good example of a populist figure, admired within the deep ranks of the nation, who comes from outside the political elite and changes the direction of politics. Also, despite - or perhaps because of - his openly racist statements, he was part of changing the political climate in Finland to a more acrimonious one.

In 1980, Finland’s most famous hypnotist Olavi Hakasalo, a.k.a Olliver Hawk, was put on trial. His mission in life had been to spread the gospel of the power of suggestion, and he was willing to risk everything to become a player of political influence on the big stage. But in the corridors of power, with a nation’s destiny at stake, an eccentric loudmouth sitting on too many secrets is considered a liability.

It is parliamentary election spring 2019. Jukka, a professor from the University of Helsinki and a first time candidate, is walking to the kick-off event, and is determined to change the lousy University Act. At the same time, education and science professionals, Gaela, Lena and Taina, go through their own battle to be able to teach and research - struggling with law case, layoffs, lack of resources and dysfunctional structures. However, the biggest resistance is The Finnish anti-education and anti-science Government, which changes every four years.

The documentary tells the story of the political scandal caused by the book 'The Spoils of Tamminiemi' from the perspective of the journalists who wrote it. The time of the book's publication was the worst time of the Finlandization, Soviet spies worked behind the scenes and the power struggle was heating up, who would be successor of the President Kekkonen? The authors of the book appeared under pseudonyms, but the subjects of the writings were named, and it revealed everything that had been going on behind the scenes.

Director Pauliina Punkki wants to find out what happened in Kittilä, home to 6,500 people and 12,000 reindeer? How a young, green feminist from Kauniainen, first hired and then fired by the municipality as its third mayor, created a snowball effect with no end in sight. A media circus, lawsuits and the new state law Lex Kittilä are just some of the consequences of the snowball effect.