Toivo Mäkelä

The title of the Finnish film Elokuu translates to August. Directed by Matti Kassila, one of Finland's premiere filmmakers, Elokuu was adapted from a novel by Nobel prize winning finnish author F.E. Sillanpää. Simply put, the story concerns the decline and fall of a once-proud family, thanks to the alcoholism of its paterfamilias. Toivo Makela delivers a powerfully effective performance as the inebriated protagonist, avoiding the usual "drunken" cliches. The overlong running time, coupled with the downbeat nature of the subject, limited the film's worldwide appeal.

Antti and Ville arrive in Stockholm to seek adventure, to entertain, to meet girls and to live in a new youth culture. However, when they get off the ship, they get into the wrong track and come across prostitution and drug crime.

Underaged girls hitch-hike across Finland.

A film that pushes every stereotype imaginable about Finland, and then some. Indeed, coming in the same year as Finland’s 50th anniversary, the film’s whole premise is about presenting Finland in hilarious fashion to foreigners and perhaps also making fun of some of the myths of Finnish culture for Finns themselves.

1765. Regina Tuomaantytär is engaged to Juha. However, she is also courted by Martti Heikkilä, soldier Matti Modig and Kalle Brockman. Regina's two sisters and Sikala's maid Maria have fallen in love with Martti again.

A closed room mystery begins when an infamous tycoon is found dead in his bath tub. The famous police lieutenant Palmu is summoned to investigate.

An archaeological team unearths a body of a young woman, who was told to be a witch buried in the bog some 300 years ago. Soon a naked woman appears and drives the men of the village crazy...

A famous glass artist escapes his busy city life and takes to the road.

A triangular drama set in the world of theater.

Jobless inventor Justus begins to help people to become happy together with a homeless girl named Bella.

The film follows a boy and the relationship between his birth mother and step mother. Based on the novels by Aapeli.

Aging professor of mathematics completes his life's work, a research project that has taken him decades, and climbs up from the boiler room (his study) and back to real life. He can hardly recognize his rebellious teenage kids and materialistic wife who hardly seem to notice his existence. The only person who is interested in the professor's work is Marja, his son's girlfriend and freshman at the university. An innocent infatuation flares up between the old man and the young girl, while the professor's family is only interested in the prize money awarded to the professor by an international jury for his academic achievements.

Lasse Pöysti plays a young reporter named Esko Pekuri who thinks he's got a front-page story. But every article he writes goes in press as minor news. He gets a fantastic idea to impersonate a gangster and write an article about prison life.

A rich widow is found dead in her apartment in Helsinki due to gas poisoning. The incident is initially thought to be an accident, but inspector Palmu notices that the murderer made a mistake, and so Palmu, Kokki and Virta begin the investigation: who had come to the apartment through the balcony door and opened the gas tap while Mrs. Skrof was asleep?

The musical comedy tells the story of two friends about Usko and Toivo, both of whom happen to have same surname, Lahtinen.

Pete and Runt misinterpret the messages of a career choice machine and try to create a career as African dancers.

In the farce, the producer has invited people to his place to plan a film celebrating the centenary of independence. They get drunk and come up with three possible films, which they also act in themselves. The topics chosen, in the spirit of Finnish nationalism, are the life of Colonel Sandels, moonshining, and the 1974 presidential election.

Dr. Aitamaa is spending holiday with his family at their summer villa. He accidentally reads a letter that was meant to his wife. The letter is from another man. Aitamaa follows his wife to the city and finds out that she has a lover. Later the wife is found killed and Aitamaa becomes the prime suspect.

Sten Lehtoja, a married, middle-aged businessman, picks up a young hitchhiker, Elsie, while driving to his summer home. Elsie spends the night and becomes his mistress. Later during the summer, Elsie also begins an affair with Reino, the teenage son of a local storekeeper. Sten offers to divorce his wife, and Elsie, attracted by the prospect of a secure social position, agrees to marry him when the divorce becomes final. One night when the couple are in bed, Reino climbs a ladder and attempts to force his way into their room; he falls and breaks his neck, and to avoid scandal Sten hides the body. But the strain of guilt ruins the romance, and Elsie contacts the police, who arrest her lover.

While living separated, Mr. Kaski finds out that her wife has written a book about their marriage. And the book is not very flattering in tone towards Mr. Kaski and his abilities as a man.

Grandmother Helena Junkkeri is working on a farm that her widowed son Arttu is unable to take on. Taina Raitalo who arrives at the house as a childminder makes the grieving man smile again, and Artu's little sister Päivi in turn delights the entire Junkkeri family with her achievements.

A radio reporter from Helsinki arrives in the village of Kankkula just before Midsummer to conduct interviews. The old sheriff demands that his nephew Lauri, who serves as the village policeman, continue the generations-old tradition of arresting the old master of Tippavaara, whom the sheriff believes to be brewing moonshine. However, Lauri is in love with the old man's niece Leena, and the couple's plans to get engaged conflict with Lauri's duties.

A story of a mink coat passing from one owner to another binding their fates.