Finnish Cinema

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

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2. Introduction to the Study of Transnational Small Nation Cinema

   • Henry Bacon

   Pages 1-19

3. Beginnings: −1930

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21

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   2. A Young Nation Seeking to Define Itself: Finland in 1900–1930

      • Outi Hupaniittu

      Pages 23-26

   3. The Emergence of Finnish Film Production and Its Linkages to Cinema Businesses During the Silent Era

      • Outi Hupaniittu

      Pages 27-50

   4. Finnish Film Style in the Silent Era

      • Jaakko Seppälä

      Pages 51-80

4. The Studio Era: 1930–1960

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81

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   2. War and Peace: Finland Among Contending Nations

      • Anneli Lehtisalo

      Pages 83-86

   3. Conceptions of National Film Style During the Studio Era

      • Kimmo Laine

      Pages 87-113

   4. Exporting Finnish Films

      • Anneli Lehtisalo

      Pages 115-138

5. New Waves: 1960–1980

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 139-139

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   2. Trade and Diplomacy Between East and West

      • Henry Bacon

      Pages 141-144

   3. The Finnish New Wave as a Transnational Phenomenon

      • Pietari Kääpä

      Pages 145-169

   4. Popular Modernism

      • Kimmo Laine

      Pages 171-184

6. The Age of Internationalization: Finnish Cinema Since 1980

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 185-185

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   2. An Increasingly European Nation

      • Henry Bacon

      Pages 187-190

   3. International Networks of Production and Distribution

      • Henry Bacon

      Pages 191-201

   4. Producer-led Mode of Film Production

      • Pietari Kääpä

      Pages 203-210

   5. Two Modes of Transnational Filmmaking

      • Henry Bacon, Jaakko Seppälä

      Pages 211-222

   6. Finnish Films and International Festivals

      • Anneli Lehtisalo

      Pages 223-226

This book presents an expert analysis of  the transnational aspects of Finnish cinema throughout its history. As a small nation cinema, Finnish film culture has, even at its most nationalistic, always been attached to developments in other film producing nations in terms of production and distribution as well as genres and aesthetics. Recent developments in film theory offer exciting new approaches and methodologies for the study of transnational phenomena in the field of film culture, both past and present. The authors  employ a wide range of cutting edge methodologies in order to address the major issues involved in transnational approaches to film culture. Until recently, much of this research has focused on globalization and questions related to diasporic cinema, while transnational issues related to small nation film cultures have been marginalized. This study focuses on how small nation cinemas have faced the dilemma of contributing to the construction and maintenance of national culture and identity, while responding to audience tastes largely shaped by foreign cinemas.


With Finland’s intriguing political placement between East and West, along with the high portion of film history preserved in Finnish archives, this thoroughly contextualized multidisciplinary analysis of Finnish film history serves as an illuminating case study of the transnational aspects of small nation cinemas.

• Transnational film culture
• small nation cinemas
• film business
• film export
• film style
• New Waves
• Aki Kaurismäki
• Klaus Härö
• Finnish cinema
• cinema
• media
• media studies

• University of Helsinki, Finland

  Henry Bacon

Bacon, Henry, PhD, is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Helsinki. Previously he worked for the Finnish Film archive and was in charge of designing a national film and television archive.  He has published nine books and a large number of articles on film theory and history as well as the history of opera. Among his major interests are the interrelationships between perceiving and understanding of our natural and social environment on the one hand and perceiving and understanding audiovisual fiction on the other, transnational aspects of film culture, film in relation to other arts, film violence and film acting.

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