Cinema of Finland

Cinema Of Finland

The Finnish cinema has a long history, with first public screenings starting almost as early as modern motion picture technology was invented (the first screening in the world was in 1895, in Finland in 1896). It took over a decade before the first Finnish film was produced and screened in 1907. After these first steps of Finnish cinema, the progress was very slow. After 1907 there were two periods (1909–1911 and 1917–1918) when no Finnish films were produced. This was partly caused by the political situation, as Finland held a status as an autonomic part of Russia and was thus influenced by the worldwide political situation.

In 1917 Finland became an independent country and in 1918 there was a civil war. After the political situation had settled and stabilized, the Finnish society and its cultural life began to develop. This was very clear with cinematic arts. More films were produced and they became an important part of Finnish society. The culmination of this development came soon after the silent era, around 1940–50's, when three major studios were producing films and competing for the market. When the society changed in the 1960s, partly because of political trends and partly because of new forms of leisure, like television, the appeal of films vanished, practically all studios were closed and films became political and too artistic for masses, as commercial production was deemed as a thing from the past and distateful. Few filmmakers were opposed to this development, and kept producing popular films that were bashed by the critics but loved by the people.

A new found interest for the Finnish films came in the 1990s, which was partly influenced by the new generation of filmmakers bringing in new ideas, and partly because commercial success was no longer considered to be "non-artistic", thus the commercial film projects started to receive support from the governmental funds. In the 2000s the Finnish cinema is alive and well, some films and filmmakers gaining global success and many films receiving a good response from the audience and the critics. Today, around 15–20 Finnish full-length feature films are produced every year, and the Finnish cinema is gaining new forms from the global influence, such as action and wuxia.