Veikko Aaltonen

The Winter War

Pekka Parikka

Taneli Mäkelä, Vesa Vierikko

Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.

Arvottomat

Mika Kaurismäki

Matti Pellonpää, Pirkko Hämäläinen

Manne, Harri, and Ville Alfa are rootless twenty-somethings in search of purpose for their banal lives. After Manne steals a priceless painting from a group of petty criminals, Manne and Harri flee from the gangsters across Finland, while Ville goes to Paris. On the road they meet Veera, an old girlfriend of Harri's, and try to avoid the gangsters in pursuit.

Dinosaurus

Veikko Aaltonen

Rauni Mollberg, Pirjo Honkasalo

Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.

The Prodigal Son

Veikko Aaltonen

Hannu Kivioja, Esko Salminen

Esa is a small time crook who has been precisely released from prison. He starts to make money by mugging people. One day psychiatrist Lindström rings Esa's doorbell. He has a very strange request: he wants Esa to maltreat him. Esa accepts this request, but he is not aware of Lindström's bad intentions.

Isä meidän

Veikko Aaltonen

Hannu Kivioja, Martti Katajisto

Juhani Haavisto returns to his childhood home from the seas and is confronted by his wheelchair-bound, demented father Eino and the traumas of sexual abuse and violence he experienced as a child.

Rakkaudella, Maire

Veikko Aaltonen

Eeva Litmanen, Esko Salminen

Middle-aged Maire's husband spends most of his time abroad on business. Alone in their large house, Maire fills her empty life by absorbing other people's tragedies from tabloid newspapers. Obsessed by the story about a young single mother whose husband was killed and the killer got away with it, she befriends the young widow who would rather forget the whole event and go on with her life.

Juoksuhaudantie

Veikko Aaltonen

Eero Aho, Kari Väänänen

After his wife leaves him, a man becomes obsessed getting his family back together by buying an old house.

Maa

Veikko Aaltonen

One of Finland's most respected filmmakers, Veikko Aaltonen directs his first documentary about the changes of his home country since its admittance into the European Union in 1996. Most Finns are only one or two generations removed from farming. Even today, the country remains sharply bifurcated between traditional rural communities and cosmopolitan, urban society. The five years since Finland's entrance into the E.U. has been marked by a radical shift in its population -- largely to the detriment of its traditions and values. Aaltonen focuses on five people from three different areas, documenting their attempts at maintaining their traditional lifestyle. Some give up trying to improve and enlarge their farms after beating their heads against successive walls of bureaucratic indifference. Others score small, if temporary, victories, such as rescuing their traditional schoolhouse from destruction.

Tilinteko

Veikko Aaltonen

Juhani Niemelä, Esko Nikkari

Two men, Nieminen and Varjola, commit a mail van robbery. Varjola betrays his friend: shoots him and takes the loot. Nieminen is arrested, but he refuses to reveal his accomplice's name. On his first leave on prison Nieminen finds Varjola in a small town, where he has became the mayor. Varjola, of course, is shocked to see his old friend again.

Merisairas

Veikko Aaltonen

Katrin Cartlidge, John Castle

Eco-terrorists attack a ship carrying toxic waste.

Työväenluokka

Veikko Aaltonen

A documentary about industrial workers and their culture in Finland.