Filmmakers Markku Pölönen and Rimbo Salomaa Attending!
This atmospheric period love story unfolds from 1945 – 1952 and highlights how female power was essential in rebuilding the country during and after the war. Anni (the amazing Oona Airola), the outspoken daughter of a bourgeois businessman, falls in love with simple soldier Veikko, who was wounded while serving with her fallen brother. All Veikko can offer Anni is a "cold farm," an uncleared plot of land in the wild forests of northern Karelia given to married veterans, but for Anni it is enough. Putting aside her fancy dresses and stockings, she dons trousers and picks up an axe, working side by side with her new husband to clear the land and build their home. Problems arise, but Anni and Veikko are lucky to be blessed with colorful and especially helpful neighbors. Land of Hope was the second most popular Finnish film of 2018, rating just behind the local comedy Happier Times, Grump.
Director Biography
Finnish director, producer and screenwriter Markku Pölönen was born in 1957 in Eno. He is the owner of Suomen Filmiteollisuus, a film production company. His other films include Rally On! (09) and The Matriarch (07).
Press
"[T]here is something refreshing about Pölönen’s love for his characters, who are often grumpy and sad, but ultimately kind" - Cineuropa