Weekend Wrap

Autumn colours, design favourites and film festival winners

It’s the season to spend time in nature and enjoy the colourful spectacle of autumn colours (or ‘ruska’ in Finnish). Harri Tarvainen

This week was filled with film news following the Helsinki International Film Festival. In addition, the wrap looks at plant-based makeup pencils, a 40-year-old folk music group and autumn colours in Lapland. Click on any photo to take a detailed look at recent creativity from Finland.

The Finnish Film Affair winners have been announced. The biggest film industry event in Finland awarded Katja Gauriloff’s Je’vida (Best Fiction Project), Helena Stefáns Magneudóttir’s Natatorium (Best Nordic Project) and Mohamed El Aboudi’s The Last Chapter (Best Documentary). Read more about the winners on Cineuropa. (Photo: Still from The Last Chapter / Icebreaker Productions)

Sulapac’s plastic alternative is now used in makeup pencils. The Finnish company has created a plant-based barrel for German makeup supplier Schwan Cosmetics’ lip liner and eyeliner pencils. The barrel material is made from sawdust from industrial side streams and plant-based binders. Read more on Sulapac’s press release. (Photo: Sulapac)

Meet Meeat Food Tech CEO Mikko Karell. Sentient Media interviewed Karrell on the Finnish food company’s vision to convert hundreds of thousands of meat factories into plant-based protein factories. (Photo: Meeat Food Tech)

Signmark fronts McDonald’s new ad in Finland. The ad features a song co-written by the deaf rapper, who also signs the lyrics in the video. According to AdWeek, the campaign aims to raise awareness of deaf issues and promote equality and inclusivity. (Photo: McDonald’s)

New countries get a taste of Karaoke Paradise. Variety reveals that the Finnish documentary’s distribution rights have been sold to NHK in Japan and SRF in Switzerland. The documentary, recently shortlisted for a European Film Award, explores how Finns have found a unique way out of loneliness. (Photo: Napafilms)

Dwell has picked its 22 favourite items from Helsinki Design Week 2022. Have a look at the “vibrant textiles, forward-looking innovations and wooden furnishings that are anything but stiff” that the magazine found during its visit to the Finnish capital. (Photo: Durat)

It’s getting to the time of the year when demand for hot drinks soars. Look no further if you are searching for a nice place to enjoy your next mulled wine or autumnally spiced coffee. MyHelsinki has listed the cosiest comfortable places for hot drinks in the city, from a speakeasy to an idyllic cottage. (Photo: Goldfish Helsinki)

Kide Science met the “sharks” in New York and took the first prize. The education startup won the Early Childhood & Family Tech Shark Tank at EdTech Week, CEO Sari Hurme-Mehtälä revealed on Twitter. The company was subsequently chosen as one of the five finalists at the main pitching event, EdTech Cup. (Photo: Kide Science)

Four decades of sizzling folk music. Music Finland has interviewed the 40-year-old folk group Järvelän Pikkupelimannit, or JPP, for its series on pioneers of Finnish music exports. “Along with an array of Finnish folk styles, this six-man group plays waltzes as silkily as a Viennese chamber orchestra, tangos as passionately as a Buenos Aires bar band and polkas with Bohemian flair – all with a distinctive edge of their own,” website writes. (Photo: Lauri Oino, CC BY 4.0)

Je’vida is an intimate historical drama and also the first feature film shot in the Skolt Sámi language. Director Katja Gauriloff told Variety how her personal experiences inspired the film, which revolves around an elderly Sámi woman who has lost the connection to her roots because of forced assimilation. (Photo: Oktober)

“Autumn is fleeting above the arctic circle but if you catch it, you’ll be treated to ruska – nature’s ephemeral and spectacular show of the changing seasons,” writes The Resident. The lifestyle website visited Levi, Finland, to “leaf peep” and learn about the beauty and various activities autumn in Lapland offers. (Photo: Visit Levi)

By: Eeva Haaramo

30.09.2022