On April 9, see the Finnish absurdist dramedy The Missile in New Nordic Cinema!
Based on true events that took place in Finnish Lapland in the mid-1980s, The Missile (Ohjus; dir. Miia Tervo, Finland, 2024) stars Oona Airola as Niina, a single mother of two children and archivist for the local newspaper, who has recently escaped an abusive relationship. One day Niina hears an enormous bang from the sky — and the radio reports that the Soviet Union has shot a missile across the Finnish border to Inari. Soon the village is filled with foreign correspondents from around the world, but no one knows the area and its people as well as Niina. She is soon drawn into the investigation of the missile, and as the threat of nuclear war looms large, she meets a fighter pilot, Kai, who may know some of its secrets. As world audiences are captivated by the Finnish-Russian border incident, Niina must confront some boundary issues of her own.
“Pitches political satire against heartfelt comedy” (Variety)
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Miia Tervo (B. 1980, Rovaniemi, Finland) studied film at Turku Arts Academy between 2003 and 2005, where she made her first noteworthy film The Seal. She then went on to complete a degree in documentary filmmaking at Helsinki University of Art and Design. Her short films have been screened and awarded around the world. The Little Snow Animal (2010) was EFA-nominated, and Clumsy Little Acts of Tenderness (2015) was also screened around the globe from Palms Springs to Oberhausen. Her feature film debut Aurora (2019) screened at the Helsinki IFF – Love & Anarchy. The Missile (2024) was selected to the Göteborg FF 2024. She is currently working on her next project The Caregiver.