The colourful light show, offered by the City of Helsinki as
part of the independence celebrations, started a little after 6 p.m.
and lasted six minutes.
Video of the fireworks – Helsingin Sanomat
Category: Misc
miscellaneous
The
runners-up in the vote were: 2. rakkaus (love), 3. rakas (dear) and 4. kiitos (thank you).
Agricola, the clergy man who
translated the New Testament into Finnish and became the de facto
founder of written Finnish, died 450 years ago this year.
Special film screenings of new war film
{sidebar id=33}On the Eve of Independence Day (5.12.2007), war veterans and invited high school students in 40 places all around Finland attended special first screenings of the new Finnish war film Tali-Ihantala 1944. President Tarja Halonen and her husband Pentti Arajärvi joined the invited veterans at Helsinki’s Tennispalatsi cinema. Tali-Ihantala 1944 is based on the Battle of Tali-Ihantala during the Continuation War (1941-1944) against the Soviet Union, which ended in a decisive victory for Finland. The film was directed by Åke Lindman and Sakari Kirjavainen and written by Stefan Forss, Benedict Zilliacus and Esko Salervo. The official cinema premiere is on December 7th.
> Tali-Ihantala 1944 film website with trailer (in Finnish)
> Tali-Ihantala 1944 – Wikipedia
Firework celebrations in Helsinki
Also on Wednesday night, thousands of people watched a special fireworks display above Töölö Bay in the centre of Helsinki. The colourful light show, offered by the City of Helsinki as part of the independence celebrations, started a little after 6 p.m. and lasted 6 minutes.
> Video of the fireworks – Helsingin Sanomat
The most beautiful Finnish word
The Finnish language played an essential role in the struggle for Finnish independence. On Wednesday morning YLE television announced that the word äiti (mother) had been voted the most beautiful word in the Finnish language. The word was chosen by 367 of the nearly 4000 people who participated in a vote organized as part of the Mikael Agricola Jubilee Year. Agricola, the clergy man who translated the New Testament into Finnish and became the de facto founder of written Finnish, died 450 years ago this year. The runners-up in the vote were: 2. rakkaus (love), 3. rakas (dear) and 4. kiitos (thank you)
Independence Day events
Some of the many free Independence Day events taking place in the capital region today:
Free entrance to Ateneum
The exhibition of the permanent collections of the Ateneum Art Museum has been changed and moved to the third floor. Free entrance.
11:00 – 17:00 – Ateneum, Helsinki
Multicultural Independence Day Celebration
An alternative Independence Day programme in Tikkurila, Vantaa. On offer multicultural delicacies , music by a.o. Lois de Medeiros, Archibong Eyo and Aladin Abbas, Indian and Russian dance, hip-hop dance and much more. Also veterans and many multicultural organizations will take part in the event. Free admission
13:30 – 16:30 – Aikuisopisto, Lummetie 5, Vantaa
Independence Day Concert, Espoo
A large concert for the whole family, organized by the city of Espoo, with among others former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, Samuli Edelmann, the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Espoo War Veterans' Choir. All seats for the free concert at the LänsiAuto Arena have unfortunately been booked. Luckily there's a live tv broadcast on Finnish public TV.
15:45 – 16:40 – YLE TV2
Students' Torch Procession
The annual Independence Day torch-lit procession by students, starting from the Hietaniemi Cemetary chapel (Hietaniemenkatu 20) at 16:45 and ending at Senate Square at 17:45. At the Senate Square Mayor Jussi Pajunen of Helsinki will give his Independence Day speech and there will be performances by student choirs.
From 16:45 (Hietaniemi) until after 17:45 (Senate Square), Helsinki
Kallio's Independence Day reception @ Kuudes linja
An Independence Day celebration for the bold and the beautiful, with nice music thrown in. With DJs Vilunki 3000 and Tixa. Free admission, and a free drink before midnight.
21:00 – 03:00 – Kuudes linja, Hämeentie 13 (entrance via inner yard, Kaikukatu 4), Helsinki
Independence Anniversary Year – 90 Years of independent Finland – Virtual Finland
Hannu Väisänen, who was born in Oulu, currently lives in France. Besides as an author, he works as a graphic artist and colourist painter. In November Väisänen was also awarded the State Prize for art (Taiteen valtionpalkinto) worth 15,000 euros.
Finlandia Junior
Last Thursday (29.11) the Finlandia Junior award for children's and youth literature was presented to Aino Havukainen (38) and Sami Toivonen (36) for their illustrated book Tatun ja Patun Suomi (literally 'Tatu's and Patu's Finland'). The book tells about the brothers Tatu and Patu from Outola (a place for strangers), where everything is different than in Finland. Together they discover what kind of country Finland is. The book has also been translated in Swedish (Det här är Finland) and English (This is Finland).
Related:
Shortlist for this year's Finlandia Prize announced
Nominations for Finlandia Junior award announced
New Finlandia prize for comics
Interview with Hannu Väisänen – Books from Finland
Extract from Toiset Kengät ('The Other Shoes') in English – Books from Finland
Art by Hannu Väisänen – Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
Christmas Calendar with a.o. excerpts from Tatu and Patu – This is Finland – Kidzone Finland
Finlandia Prize – Wikipedia
Only two works by artist Helene Schjerfbeck (1862 – 1946) have fetched higher bids at auctions in Finland.
Järnefelt, one of Finland’s most prominent painters, painted Pyykkiranta in 1889 in the town of Keuruu. It depicts washerwomen by a lakeside. [photo]
The work was bought on Saturday by businessman and art collector Anders Wiklöf. It will be part of the extensive art collection at his summer residence Andersudde, south of Mariehamn, the capital of Finland's autonomous island region of Åland.
Wiklöf’s art collection, which contains some of the best Finnish and Swedish art from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is currently on display at the Amos Andersson Art Museum in Helsinki.
Photo of Pyykkiranta by Eero Järnefelt (Hagelstam)
Eero Järnefelt – Wikipedia
Artworks by Eero Järnefelt – Finnish National Gallery
Hagelstam Fine Art Auctioneers
Helene Schjerfbeck, a modernist observer of life – Virtual Finland
Artworks by Helene Schjerfbeck – Finnish National Gallery
Bruce Springsteen has only been in Finland once before. In 2003 he played two sold out gigs at the same stadium in the capital in front of a record combined audience of 89,856, breaking the Finnish record of 87,000 set by Michael Jackson in 1997.
Bruce Springsteen is only one of the international mega stars that have recently been confirmed to play in Finland next year. Other recently announced big names include Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Kylie Minogue, the Smashing Pumpkins and Angie Stone.
Also popular Swedish rock band Kent will return to Finland, this time for a mini-tour of four gigs. After their sold-out concert at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki last September, the group will now only perform outside the Finnish capital region at the end of January and the beginning of February: in Lahti (30.1), Tampere (31.1), Vaasa (1.2) and Oulu (2.2). Warming up for Kent will be Swedish electro band Familjen.
For more details on these and other concerts by foreign artists in Finland, check FREE!’s Coming to Finland list >>
Related:
Album review: Magic – Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen: official site | MySpace
Kent: official site | MySpace
Familjen: official site | MySpace
Categories
There goes the family
{mosimage}Last summer the directors of programming at the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) needed a soap opera to fill the hours of the summer afternoons. They chose a Spanish series featuring a loud speaking and eccentric, yet traditional, family. Surprisingly, Los Serrano (Serranon perhe) became so popular that in autumn, YLE needed to rebroadcast the series from episode 1 and to reschedule it to the more convenient weekend afternoons.
In Spain, the first season of Los Serrano was first produced and broadcast in 2003. Soon it become one of the most successful Spanish TV series ever. The second season, the one currently broadcasted in Finland, reached an average audience of seven million viewers and an audience share of 38% in evening prime time.
The series follows the successful and original formula that Spanish TV series developed in the mid 1990s. This formula goes beyond the tradition one-hour episode. They are usually 75 minutes long allowing much room for commercials and covering the main programming slot in the evenings. The theme is not exactly drama or comedy, but a balance between both that differentiates the Spanish series from the American productions. The popularity of these series is based on its portrayal of middle class characters and families. The viewers can feel very close to the situations and stories told in the plot.
Médico de Familia (Perhelääkäri) was the first big hit of this genre and it was the first Spanish series to be broadcast in Finland. Daniel Écija, the producer of Médico de Familia, is also the man behind Los Serrano. This time there are no doctors, but school teachers and tavern owners involved. The Serrano family is formed by Diego Serrano, owner of a typical Spanish tavern with his grumpy brother. Diego is married to a school teacher called Lucía Gómez. Together they formed a big family with three sons and two daughters from a previous marriage. To make a long story short, the series is about the common problems and not so common adventures of the family and their friends and relatives at home, school and at the tavern. As it should be, there's love: flirting, humor and also some touching moments.
The popularity of the series in Finland is quite surprising. It seems too Spanish for a Finn. First of all, the language is complicated. Characters are very expressive, they speak loud and they curse a lot. A team of eight translators is in charge of writing the subtitles for YLE. They have a lot of work. It takes one week for a translator to translate one episode. The heavy use of slang does not make the job easy. Every episode is a window to the less glamorous, but friendly, Spanish way of living.
The leading role of Diego Serrano is played by popular actor Antonio Resines. Born in 1954, he has a long experience in cinema and television, especially in comedy parts. But the series has also been a tool for promoting new talents. When the series started young actor Fran Perea, who plays the old brother Marcos Serrano, became an idol for teenagers. Also his musical career was built around the main theme of the series that he sang. For some time he topped the charts, but at the moment he is more focused on his career as an actor and has participated in several feature films, including Antonio Banderas' El camino de los ingleses (2006). In any case, every other episode there is an opportunity for Perea showing him playing a song with his acoustic guitar.
In Spain, the last episode of the sixth season of Los Serrano was shown. The series has reached more than 120 episodes and in January there will be a new season. There have been many and surprising changes in the plot, but Finnish audience still needs to wait what happens to this peculiar family. Meanwhile, to avoid unpleasant spoilers we recommend not to google Los Serrano.
Los Serrano – Serranon perhe
Weekends at 14.45 YLE
Fran Perea is visiting Helsinki this week. He will be signing autographs at the Anttila Megastore in Kamppi: 27.11 at 18:00
Categories
Happy Birthday, Suomi!
{mosimage}It's Finland's birthday! Today the country celebrates its declaration of independence from the Russian empire. It has not been an easy way down the road since 1917. One civil war, a war against the Soviet Union during World War II and a severe economical crisis at the beginning of the nineties before joining European Union have been the major obstacles in 90 years of sovereignty of the Republic of Finland. The recently released DVD Itsenäinen Suomi describes the most important events along this long road.
Nowadays Finland is a healthy country that enjoys an established welfare state system, ranks at the top of technology development and also at the top of the lists about education among youngsters. But how did it all begin? That's what Itsenäinen Suomi (Independent Finland) tells. By the way, don't be scare if you don't speak a word of Finnish, the dvd has English subtitles to reach a wider audience.
The documentary begins with a birth. At the same time as the parliament declares the independence of Finland, a baby is born in a house in the woods of Finland. She's Aino and her life, the life of an average working class Finn in the 20th century, will be told while history is being made for Finland.
Aino tells about the Civil War, about Paavo Nurmi and the mighty Finnish long distance runners who won so many medals at the Olympics, the "Lotta" nurses during the Second World War, the reconstruction of the country, the alcohol prohibition, the beggining of the electronics industry, the relations with the Soviet Union and the leftish opinions of the students in the sixties.
But this is not Forrest Gump. No fiction here. The film is based on archival footage. For a foreigner it will be very thrilling to see the White Army march through the streets of Helsinki or to see President Kekkonen establishing good relations with the Soviet Union or the old cable factory in Ruoholahti or lots of rubber boots being made by Nokia. All the typical Finnish symbols can be seen.
Itsenäinen Suomi was written by Antti Tuuri. It as a light tale, though. There are no deep political analyses or historical findings. But it is a nice introduction to the recent history of Finland. In spite of not being marketed for foreigners and tourist, this documentary would be appealing to those who cannot easily find images about Finland and its story. For Finns, it might not bring anything new, just a recognition of well known images and story from History class.
The rest of the extra funds for the film industry will go to, among other things, the digitalization of small countryside cinemas and films for children.
In the previous proposal there was no extra money allocated to support domestically produced films, despite earlier suggestions by Wallin.
The over 10 million euros extra to directly benefit cultural, youth work and sports activities were freed up from the National Lottery profits. In the earlier proposal much of that money was reserved to partly cover rental expenses, paying off loans of cultural bodies and renovations (including the renovation of the National Theatre).
Funds to cover those real estate expenses will now have to be found elsewhere.
The Parliament will likely vote on the proposal on Friday.
Related:
Finnish film producers in protest: no new films
The festival drawing the largest amount of visitors this year was the Maritime Festival in Kotka. An estimated 300,000 people visited the Tall Ship Races and other events in the port town 130 km east of Helsinki.
The festival with the biggest number of paying visitors (almost 65,000) was the Helsinki Festival. With 264,376 visitors in total, it was the second biggest Finnish festival overall in 2007.
TOP 10 BIGGEST FESTIVALS* – OVERALL
1. Kotka Maritime Festival – 300 000 visitors
2. Helsinki Festival – 264 376
3. Pori Jazz – 153 000
4. Kaustinen Folk Music Festival – 121 000
5. Tampere Theatre Festival – 76 000
6. World Village Festival, Helsinki – 70 000
7. Puistoblues, Järvenpää – 70 000
8. Savonlinna Opera Festival – 68 753
9. Provinssirock, Seinäjoki – 55 000
10. Imatra Big Band Festival – 52 000
*) Includes only festivals that are members of Finland Festivals
(Source: Finland Festivals)
TOP 10 FESTIVALS* – PAYING VISITORS
1. Helsinki Festival – 64 845 paying visitors
2. Savonlinna Opera Festival – 58 555
3. Pori Jazz – 58 000
4. Kaustinen Folk Music Festival – 41 000
5. Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival – 32 436
6. Orivesi Summer Festivals – 26 741
7. Art Centre Salmela, Mäntyharju – 26 000
8. Tampere Theatre Festival – 26 000
9. Provinssirock, Seinäjoki – 21 500
10. Kotka Maritime Festival – 20 000
*) Includes only festivals that are members of Finland Festivals
(Source: Finland Festivals)
The statistics given above are only based on the amounts of visitors of member festivals of Finland Festivals. Big events like the Tango Festival in Seinäjoki (104,390 visitors in 2007), the Raumanmeri Midsummer Festival (about 90,000) and Ruisrock in Turku (65,000) are not included.
Tango Festival, Seinäjoki
Obie Trice – Official website
Obie Trice – MySpace
Finnish Minister of Culture Stefan Wallin finds the decision a great honour for the City of Turku, for Finland and for Europe. “Turku is Finland’s oldest city, and a place from which culture originated and remains to this day. This is a great day for us all. It feels wonderful to be from Finland and, even more specifically, from Turku”, Wallin commented in Brussels.
Every year cities in two EU countries get the honour to carry the title of European Capital of Culture for one year, based on a system of rotation. This year’s European Capitals are the cities of Luxembourg and Sibiu (Romania).
Cultural capitals have been chosen since 1980. The cities are given the chance to showcase their cultural diversity and development and promote their cultural activities internationally.
The cities of Turku and Tallinn are planning close co-operation.
Celebration
On Tuesday (20.11) the City of Turku is organizing a big Turku On Fire celebration on the Aura River banks to thank the thousands of people who took part in the bidding process. From 6 p.m. there will be a big fire show with dozens of performers at the Theatre Bridge next to the Turku City Theatre.
The organizers are kindly asking the audience to gather on the western side of the river close to Pharmacy Museum and the Student Theatre.
Categories
Bringing theatre people together
{mosimage}Theatre lovers do not often have many opportunities to enjoy good plays in other languages than Finnish. The 4th International Baltic Circle Theatre Festival will bring temporarily a solution to the problem.
Finnish and foreign audiences have an excellent opportunity to discover artists from different places in Europe in the International Baltic Circle Theatre Festival, since one of the goals of the festival is to build a bridge for theatre lovers, companies and actors all over Europe.
The quality of the plays featured this year is really high. Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, who won the European Theatre Prize this year, will show his play Ice, an extraordinary tale focused on a sect that hunts for “living hearts”, a stage adaptation of the Russian author Vladimir Sorokin. Meanwhile, Belarusian group Free Theatre, that is also a European Theatre Prize winner, will perform three plays, one being a world premiere. The three performances are subtitled in English. Lithuania is also represented in the festival with the Theatre Laboratory Atviras Ratas, visiting with its play Open Circle, aimed at being an open forum for the young actors.
Not only Baltic groups come to the festival, but also many others with a great presence of Scandinavian ones. The Swedish Teater Terrier will perform its brand new performance Dallas, and the Norwegian Verk Produksjoner will bring on stage a work from the most famous Norwegian dramatist, Finn Iunker. All these plays are in English.
The Slovenian director Janez Janša will bring some polemic to the festival with his interactive movie DemoKino, dealing with topics like abortion, cloning, etc. The audience can vote in favour or against each topic and decide how the movie continues. This is a totally innovative concept, a “choose your own adventure” book idea turned into a film.
Apart from plays, the festival offers much more for those interested in the world of theatre. Jeff Johnson, an American theater scholar, will give an international theatre seminar where the present situation of theatre in Baltic countries and Finland will be discussed.
Performances
Ice
Jaunais
Rīgas Teātris (Latvia)
Directed by European Theatre Prize
winner Alvis Hermanis.
18-19.11 – 7 pm
Being Harold
Pinter
Free theater (Belarus)
The play is based on the text of Nobel prized author Harold
Pinter. The plot lines are held together by one central theme: the
problem of violence in its many diverse forms.
18.11 – 5 pm
Legends of
Childhood
Free Theater (Belarus)
The play is based on the personal stories of the
actors.
16.11 – 8 pm, world premiere
Generation
Jeans
Free Theater (Belarus)
A monologue about jeans, rock music and freedom.
17.11 – 7 pm
Ifigeneia
Verk Produksjoner (Norway)
Norwegian
dramatist Finn Lunker ponders the reasons for war in his adaptation
of Euripides’ classic.
17.11 – 7 pm
18.11
– 3 pm
Solesombra
Teatr
Akhe & Theatre Satire on Vasilyevsky Island (Russia)
A tender
and bitter story about the universal loneliness, the ideal of
happiness – and the impossibility of it.
21.11 – 7 pm
Open Circle
Atviras
Ratas (Lithuania)
The goal of the Open Circle’s young
Lithuanian actors is to talk straight theatre language abiding by the
rules of theatre.
21.11 – 7 pm
22.11 – 4 pm
Best of Dallas
Teater Terrier
(Sweden)
The greatest cliffhanger in television history will be
solved: Who Shot J.R.?
23-24.11 7 pm
I Do Not Speak of
Love Here
Teatr Cinema (Poland)
A visually formal and physical
study of loneliness.
16.11 – 6 pm
17.11 – 5 pm
Films
Demokino
Aksioma
/ Janez Janša (Slovenia)
DemoKino makes the audience interact giving answers to the questions of life.
21-23.11 – 7
pm
24.11 – 3 pm
Kinoteatr.doc (Russia)
Kinoteatr.doc presents five movies from its repertoire.
21-22.11 – 7 pm
Baltic Circle 2007: 16-24.11 IN HELSINKI
For more information and full schedule with the list of venues:
www.Q-teatteri.fi/baltic_circle