Films & Schedules - FINLAND

When Leila is pardoned after serving 12 years of a life sentence, she agrees to work as an assistant to Father Jacob, answering the letters of those who write asking for his help. Although she regards the pastor’s correspondence as pointless, the letters ultimately play a role in her redemption.

A simple but transcendent story about faith and human frailty, Letters to Father Jacob achieves a state of grace. Surprised when she is pardoned 12 years into a life sentence, hard-bitten killer Leila (Kaarina Hazard) takes the prison warden’s suggestion and winds up at the ramshackle rural parsonage of Father Jacob. The blind elderly man needs an assistant to pursue his main joy in life: answering the letters of those who write to ask for his help. Although Leila regards the pastor’s correspondence as pointless, it ultimately plays a role in her own redemption and heart-rending self-forgiveness.

Filmography: As If I Didn’t Exist (02), Mother of Mine (05), The New Man (07).

This year’s Finnish submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

85 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature.

When a volcanic eruption forces the Moomin family to take refuge in an old theater, Moominpappa decides to write a play for the family to perform.

Based on Tove Jansson’s well-loved “Moomin” books, this visually striking animated film will delight young children and big kids alike. A tranquil summer day is interrupted by a volcanic eruption, causing a flood in the Moominvalley. The water rises higher and higher in Moominhouse, forcing the family to take refuge in a strange house that floats by. The unusual lifeboat turns out to be a theatre. Moominpappa begins to write a play for the others to perform.

First Feature Film.

Ages nine and up.

Sponsored by Scandinavian Heritage Foundation.

75 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Animation, Family Fare, Literature.