Tuulikki

Directed by: Teemu Nikki

Cast: Saana Koivisto, Elina Knihtila

Country: Finland

Time: 14:00

Synopsis: When a young woman, dominated by an over-protective mother plots her escape, their relationship dissolves into one of mutual suspicion.

This is one of those rare short films where I found the film even better on the second viewing. Does that sound like a fair comment to you and why?

Yes, it does. We have heard the same comment from many and do understand it. The experience is unique the first time but it can't be watched the same way twice.

The casting is excellent. Saana is wonderful and the camera just loves her. How did you come across her?

We saw her performing in a TV show and asked her to come to an audition. It turned out that she was just perfect for the role. Fun fact: Knihtilä, who plays Tuire, used to teach Saana in the Finnish Theatre Academy, so they knew each other in real life too.

Did the script shock you on first reading?

No, it didn't. ;)

The film deals with mental illness and without giving anything away, how much research did you do on this particular illness before shooting the film and what elements of that research did you bring to the film?

We have done three seasons of a TV series called Mental for young audiences. For that, we did a broad research about different mental illnesses. For this film, I just tried to understand both characters as thoroughly as possible, and be on both of their sides.

What do you want audiences to take away from this film after viewing it?

Compassion. I hope the audience will identify with a character that they maybe haven't been used to identifying with.