The Grump, directed by Dome Karukoski, has been chosen to the Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) published today the program of this year, presenting the most interesting novelties of the modern cinema. Getting chosen to that program is extremely difficult. The Toronto event is ranked among the most prestigious festivals in the world, together with Cannes and Berlin. All the festivals have thousands of applicants. Dome Karukoski has presented Finland earlier in the same festivals with his films Lapland Odyssey and Lionheart, in the same contemporary cinema series.

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has been a bounceboard to many international hit movies, such as 12 Years A Slave, which had its international premiere in Toronto last year. The Toronto festival is the most apprecoated film festival in North America and a major trade event. This year it will be held 4.-14.9.2014. For more information: http://www.tiff.net/

Karukoski is excited about the selection: “The Grump is a very Finnish Story. I was nervous for a long time if the view of the world and the humor of our main character will appeal to foreign audiences. Now, with this Toronto selection, it’s safe enough to say that a lot of foreigners will get grumpy and for a long time. The Toronto visibility is good for the international sales and helped a lot in the cases of Lapland Odyssey and Lionheart.”

Dome Karukoski is one of the most appreciated and succesful film directors of his generation. All his full-length feature films have been awarded abroad and they have been critically acclaimed and commercially successful in Finland. The leading movie magazine Variety ranked Karukoski last year among the ten most interesting directors in the world, by putting his name on the list of 10 Directors To Watch. All his movies have earned him a Finnish Film Award nomination. He has won the prize twice.

The author Tuomas Kyrö has published novels, children’s books, drama and short stories. He has won several literature prizes in Finland and has been nominated for the Finlandia Award in 2005. He has also won the prize of “The Best Sports Book” in 2011. The audiobook featuring The Grump has been awarded a gold disc. His lates novel Happier days, Grump was published in July.

The Grump, directed by Dome Karukoski, will premiere in September 2014.

The epic love story between generations stars Antti Litja, Mari Perankoski, Iikka Forss and Petra Frey. The screenplay is by Tuomas Kyrö and Dome Karukoski. The movie is produced by Markus Selin and Jukka Helle and it is distributed by Nordisk Film.

The Grump tells a beautiful, humorous and touching story of the gap between the generations, about love, about giving up and about finding something new. The story is based on various best-selling novels by Tuomas Kyrö, all featuring The Grump as the lead character.