Irish Made Movie Tops Helsinki Awards

An Irish funded comedy movie has picked up four prizes at the Jussi Awards in Helsinki.
Directed by Dome Karukoskj, the film - Lapland Odyssey, which will screen in the upcoming Jameson Dublin International Film Festival - won the Best Feature, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Audience Awards.
A co-production between Ireland's Ripple World Pictures (Dominic Wright and Jacqueline Kerrin), Finland's Helsinki Filmi Oy and Sweden's Anagram Produktion Company, the film is a comedic and romantic road movie about three unemployed young men who set off on a desperate journey to locate a digital conversion box across Lapland.
The Jussi Awards, the Finnish equivalent of the Oscars, have been running since 1944 and are one of the oldest film awards in Europe.
Lapland Odyssey was written by Pekko Pesonen and funded by the IFB, Finnish Film Foundation, Egg Post Production, YLE TV, Sveriges Television, Nordic Film & TV Fund, Swedish Film Institute and Film I Vast.
It screened at the renowned Toronto International Film Festival last year and will be screening at the upcoming European Film Market at the Berlinale 2011.
(BMcC/GK)