Weekend Wrap

Sisu’s world premiere, Hanoi Rocks’ comeback and Finland’s Oscar contender

Jalmari Helander wanted to shoot his third feature film, Sisu, in Finnish Lapland. Antti Rastivo / Subzero Film Entertainment

Music is our medicine this week, with Apocalyptica, Blind Channel, Erja Lyytinen and Hanoi Rocks making the news. Furthermore, we look at vertical farming, sustainable textile filling and food waste at schools. Click on any photo and take a look at recent creativity from Finland.

The Finnish Chamber of Films has picked the country’s next Oscar contender, Yle reveals. Girl Picture, directed by Alli Haapasalo, will compete for a spot in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2023 Academy Awards. The coming-of-age film, which focuses on three teenage girls’ friendship, has already won the world cinema audience award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: Ilkka Saastamoinen)

Hanoi Rocks are back. The rock band’s original lineup is reuniting for frontman Michael Monroe’s 60th birthday concert in Helsinki on 23 September. According to Classic Rock, the band members last shared a stage in July 1982. Hanoi Rocks are “considered a major influence on the ’80s glam rock scene, with Guns N’ Roses’ frontman Axl Rose among the band’s fans,” the website writes. (Photo: Facebook/ Michael Monroe)

Students get a say on their meal plans at Espoo schools. In an effort to cut food waste, the city has invited home economics classes to create recipes for vegetarian meals and the best recipes have become part of school menus. Furthermore, some schools have introduced bio-waste scales to visualise how much food waste is generated at mealtimes. Find out the details on Espoo’s plans at TheMayor.EU. (Photo: Facebook / City of Espoo)

Finnish blues-rock slide guitarist Erja Lyytinen has released a new single called Last Girl. The track precedes the singer-songwriter’s upcoming ninth studio album, Waiting For The Daylight. “It was fascinating to create guitar parts for Last Girl. […] I wanted to create a song with an old classic rock feel but executed with modern sounds and techniques,” Lyytinen said in an interview with Blues Matters. (Photo: Dirk Eidner)

Pollinators receive a design abode in Helsinki. The Alusta pavilion, created by architects Maiju Suomi and Elina Koivisto as part of Helsinki Design Week, provides a habitat for various insects and explores ways to care for biodiversity in urban environments. “The understated pavilion is comprised of a series of low-rise rectilinear structures created from clay in various forms, including rammed earth and both fired and unfired bricks, as well as wood,” describes Dezeen. (Photo: Maiju Suomi)

Blind Channel has started its first UK headline tour. Kerrang! caught up with the nu metal band to talk about big stages, new music and their plans to be “super cringy tourists” on tour. (Photo: Facebook / Blind Channel)

Helsinki-based tech company iFarm has created a farm laboratory for French high-end cosmetics producer Capsum. The lab consists of three growing rooms with experimental racks and uses hydroponics and automation control to allow Capsum to grow a range of crops pesticide-free and test new plant varieties, writes Premium Beauty News. (Photo: Facebook / iFarm Corp)

Director Jalmari Helander’s latest film, Sisu, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Screen Daily talked with Helander about being inspired by westerns and the shooting of the film, which the website describes as “an action-packed, bloody and darkly funny story of a tough Finnish ex-soldier escaping Nazi troops in 1945 in Finnish Lapland”. (Photo: Antti Rastivo Freezing Point Oy)

Aalto University students have created textile filling from plants cultivated on re-wetted peatlands. Behind the innovation are engineer Lukas Schuck and designer Tea Auramo, who say their raw material “absorbs 66 per cent less water than down and dries twice as fast”, writes Dezeen. The filling, known as Fluff Stuff, is currently used in prototypes of soft homeware and clothing. (Photo: Fluff Stuff)

Apocalyptica surprises with its new EP. Titled Metal Classic, Classic Metal, the album sees the symphonic metal band cover three famous classical compositions, including Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. Blabbermouth writes about the album and the band’s future plans. (Photo: Facebook / Apocalyptica)

Arctic Blue Beverages wins awards at the 2022 New York Wine & Spirits Competition. The company’s oat-based gin took home a silver medal and its rose-flavoured gin won bronze in the competition’s flavoured gins category. Read more on MFN. (Photo: Arctic Blue Beverages)

By: Eeva Haaramo

16.09.2022