Frozen Land – A film about spiraling evil and how hard it is to forgive

Frozen Land, produced by Solar Films takes place in present time. The chain of events, that brings the characters together, starts from a forged 500-euro note. The central themes of the film are courage, the hardness of forgiving and survival.
Frozen Land was shot in Helsinki early spring 2004.

Original theme by Tolstoy

The theme of the film, the passing onwards of wrongdoing, comes from Leo Tolstoy, whose short story Faux Billet gave director Aku Louhimies the concept for the film. The French master director Robert Bresson directed his adaptation of the same story in 1983, titled L´Argent (Money).

The credited screenwriter for Frozen Land is Paavo Westerberg, but the task of writing was shared by Jari Rantala and the director. This is not the first time that director Louhimies has drawn his inspiration from the classic works of world literature. His first movie Restless was inspired by L´Etranger (The Stranger), the debut novel by Albert Camus.

A happy end in the editing feud

The post-production stage of Frozen Land draw a lot of media attention as the producer Markus Selin locked horns with the director Louhimies over the final cut of the film. The feud was settled in early December, to the satisfaction of both parties and the final cut was completed in unison.

The duration of Frozen Land is approximately 130 minutes. The movie was financed by the Finnish Film Foundation, Yle TV channel 2, EU Media Programme and Nordisk Film- & TV Fund. Frozen land was the most popular domestic movie in 2006 with 172,000 viewers in movie theatres.

SYNOPSIS
Cruel destiny and people with tough luck

Tuomas (Mikko Leppilampi) is a young computer hacker, an ex-model, who would like to do something useful, socially constructive and remarkable. Tuomas´ best friend, Niko (Jasper Pääkkönen), is more rock and roll than Tuomas and is leading a hedonistic life of alcohol and drugs. Niko leaves home and his father (Pertti Sveholm), who is down-and-out because of unemployment and alcohol.

Elina (Pamela Tola), in her early twenties, is a bold and intelligent activist, a university student of history and the social sciences. She comes from a wealthy background. Elina and Tuomas have been dating happily for over a year. Elina is pregnant and they plan to get married.

Tuomas has long been planning a social database strike and asks Niko to take part in the operation. Niko makes a counterfeit 500-euro note, that gets into the hands of Isto Virtanen (Mikko Kouki), a worker, who runs into trouble with the law after unsuspectingly trying to pass the bill. Isto pays the wrong onward by stealing a suburban car dealer’s fanciest vehicle.

In his turn, the car dealer (Samuli Edelmann) pays it onward and repossesses the car belonging to a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman Hurskainen (Sulevi Peltola), thus putting an end to his trade. Hurskainen loses everything and hits the bottle hard, after several years of sobriety, with fatal results.

The third strand of the story revolves around Hannele (Matleena Kuusniemi), a policewoman and her husband, a teacher (Petteri Summanen). They have three children.

As events and the lives of these people overlap, everyone´s life changes terminally. The fate of these people is cruel and the consequences tragic. Frozen land is a hectic, fast-paced and realistic depiction of today´s Finland. It is full of dramatic and tragic events. The movie is episodic in structure and the stories dissolve into each other in a non-linear way.

CAST
Niko – JASPER PÄÄKKÖNEN
Tuomas – MIKKO LEPPILAMPI
Elina – PAMELA TOLA
Antti – PETTERI SUMMANEN
Hannele – MATLEENA KUUSNIEMI
Isto – MIKKO KOUKI
Hurskainen – SULEVI PELTOLA
Smolander – PERTTI SVEHOLM
Matikainen – SAMULI EDELMANN
Shopkeepers mother – SAARA PAKKASVIRTA
Shopkeeper – PEKKA VALKEEJÄRVI
Headmaster – SUSANNA ANTEROINEN
Konsta – NIKLAS HELLAKOSKI
Maria – EMILIA SUOPERÄ
Jonttu – JONATHAN KAJANDER
Oiva – PAAVO WESTERBERG
Silja, strip-tease artist – ZOJA SAZONOV
Sirkku – EIJA KOSKIMAA
Macke – JERRY WAHLFORSS
Monica – NORA KAJANTIE
Samu – BATU FERE
Masa – MISKA KAUKONEN
Puti – JAMI HYTTINEN
Investigators – JANNE VIRTANEN, ALEKSI MÄKELÄ
Policemen at Elina´s – VESA VIERIKKO, MATS LÅNGBACKA
Social worker – LAURA MALMIVAARA
Hannele´s police partners – MARKUS SAANO, MARTTI SYRJÄ
Tuomas´s grandfather – MAURI HEIKKILÄ
Priest – VELI-PEKKA HYNNINEN
Night watchman – MIKKO RYTKÖNEN
Waiter – JARI NOLVI
Bartender – KARI LAHDENRANTA
Hotel receptionist – AMANDA LÖFMAN
Police psychiatrist – HEIKKI NOUSIAINEN
Prosecutor – NIINA NURMINEN
Lawyer – AHTI HURMALAINEN
Judge – ERKKI HEROLA
Checkout operator – EEVA-LIISA KOTANIEMI
Antti´s psychiatrist – MATTI RISTINEN
Social workers – EIJA-MIKKONEN-BUDSKO, ANNU UOMALA
Women at the restaurant – IRIS OLSSON, SUE WILLBERG
Coroner – PETRI KYLMÄNEN
Daycare worker – ANNA-LEENA HÄRKÖNEN

PREMIERE
14.1.2005

DIRECTOR
Aku Louhimies

PRODUCER
Markus Selin

SCREENWRITER
Paavo Westerberg, Jari Rantala, Aku Louhimies

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Rauno Ronkainen

PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Sattva-Hanna Toiviainen

COSTUME DESIGNER
Tiina Kaukanen

MAKE-UP SUPERVISOR
Hannele Herttua

SOUND DESIGNERS
Janne Laine, Kirka Sainio, Samu Heikkilä

FILM EDITOR
Samu Heikkilä

EXECUTIVE-PRODUCERS
Jukka Helle, Jussi Salonoja

MARKETING PRODUCER
Jussi Lepistö

UNIT PUBLICIST
Rampe Toivonen

PRODUCTION SUPPORT
Suomen elokuvasäätiö

IN CORPORATION WITH
Yle TV2, Nordisk Film- & TV Fund, EU Media Programme

DISTRIBUTED BY
Buena Vista International Finland

35 mm / color / 1.85:1 / dolby / 130 min