Epilogue and acknowledgements

…The orderers Markus Selin and Jukka Helle wanted boisterous and unpolished stories from the years gone by. Their requests included a list of the Solar Films movies and a few outsider peeks inside the company and its productions.

My task was made easier by the knowledge that the readers will be friends, colloborators and partners of Solar Films. That is why the stories can include relatively incestuous elements. With the benefit of hindsight, I can say that memories grow sweeter with time. The hard-working-part has sidetracked to be a minority, in the flooding river of more entertaining memories.

Twenty years in the film business have not stiffened Solar Films, not a bit. It is flexible in its movements, walking tall and proudly, in spite of the lack of public recognition.

Therefore, I’d like to express my gratitude for the outsider views: Kalle Kinnunen, Jorma Sairanen, Jussi Mäkelä and Jari Komulainen – you all went straight to the heart. That’s where the soul of Solar Films can be found.

The views of the actor Jasper Pääkkönen and the director Lauri Törhönen source from their professional relationships with the “artist’s home” of Markus Selin. Let their stories to be praised, as well.

The retired film critics Helena Ylänen and Tapani Maskula opened their files, without suspicions, without saving their efforts and allowed me to use their old writings. Thank you!

A special thank you to Allen Hansen, for his flattering answers to my questions. A warm thank you also to Mika Karttunen, Venla Mäkelä, Martti Sivonen, Jonni Aho and Nina Laurio – you all saved my time and wrote the stories yourselves.

The most informative piece of writing is by Jukka Helle; his report of the Mannerheim catastrophy contains facts that have not been told in public before.

More accolades; Antti Jokinen tells stories that are always funny – and for an absent-minded person, his memory is quite phenomenal.

The last thank you is the biggest of them all; Markus Selin and Jukka Helle tolerated me to the absolute backwall of the retirement age – although after my departure, the company is doing better than ever.

 

February 2015

Rampe Toivonen