Lapland Odyssey

Lapland Odyssey

Napapiirin sankarit Director Dome Karukoski

1 hr. 32 min. · Finland, Ireland, Sweden, 2010 · Drama · Finnish · Subtitles: Lithuanian, English · N/A

About the film

Lapland Odyssey is a comedy about Janne, a man from Lapland in northern Finland. Inari, his girlfriend, is tired of Janne’s incapability of getting a grip on life. Janne wasn’t even able to buy a digital TV box that Inari had given money for. Inari gives an ultimatum: a digital box needs to arrive by dawn or she leaves. Janne sets out into the night with his two friends. On their way to the city of Rovaniemi, Janne and his friends face many challenges, obstacles and temptations. They learn that they need to be daring. “There are areas in Lapland where the unemployment rate is over 40%. In the winter, you barely see the sun. In the summer it doesn’t go down, so people can’t sleep and go crazy. I always questioned how one can live in those areas. But when you meet locals, you understand. It’s because of the Finnish perkele. Perkele has no translation. Sometimes it’s used as a curse word but it actually means something between stamina, will power and damning the gods. That perkele is what the people of Lapland have. Inside the biggest loser, a hero can be found. Inside the biggest cynic you can still find hope. That is what Lapland Odyssey is about: perkele, tells Dome Karukoski.

Details

Running time
1 hr. 32 min.
Country, year
Finland, Ireland, Sweden, 2010
Genre
Drama
Language
Finnish
Subtitles
Lithuanian, English
Age rating
N/A

Credits

Director
Dome Karukoski
Screenplay
Pekko Pesonen
Cinematography
Pini Hellstedt
Music
Lance Hogan
Cast
Jussi Vatanen, Jasper Pääkkönen, Pamela Tola, Timo Lavikainen, Kari Ketonen
More information
www.imdb.com

Festivals and awards

  • Comedy Film Festival of l'Alpe d'Huez Grand Prize, Professional Prize
  • Jussi Awards 2011 (Finland) Best Film, Best Director, Best Manuscript, Audience Prize
  • Brussels Film Festival unknown - 1
  • Philadelphia Cinefest Best Feature Film, Jury Award
  • Festróia Tróia International Film Festival
Dome Karukoski

Director

Dome Karukoski

Dome Karukoski was born in 1976, Cyprus, moved to Finland, when he was four years old. His mother is a Finish journalist and his father an American actor George Dickerson. He was selected to the University of Art and Design of Helsinki in 1999. Beauty and the Bastard (2005) was Karukoski’s graduation film. Karukoski has several national championships as a coach and a player in American football. Because of that, he has an odd trademark of arriving to premiere’s and galas: “straight from practice”. He has said in interviews, that he never misses practice.