Mika Ronkainen

Mika Ronkainen (born August 6, 1970) is a Finnish film director from Oulu, Northern Finland. Ronkainen was born in Kuusamo, and works with documentaries, fiction, and theatre. In June 2013 American magazine Variety selected Ronkainen as one of ten up-and-coming European directors to watch.[1]

Mika Ronkainen
Born (1970-08-06) 6 August 1970
Kuusamo, Finland
NationalityFinnish
Occupationfilm director, screenwriter, producer
Years active1997-
Home townOulu, Finland
Websitehttp://www.mikaronkainen.com

Career

Ronkainen's international breakthrough film was Screaming Men (2003), a documentary film about a Finnish screaming male choir called Mieskuoro Huutajat, followed by Freetime Machos (2009), a documentary film about a rugby team which is allegedly the most northern and the third lousiest in the world. Screaming Men had its US premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2004, and Freetime Machos at Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.

Ronkainen's latest documentary film is a musical road movie called Finnish Blood Swedish Heart, also known as Ingen riktig finne in Swedish, and Laulu koti-ikävästä in Finnish. The film has been awarded with several awards including two Jussi Awards (Finnish Oscars) in 2014: Best Documentary and Best Music, and the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary at Göteborg Film Festival in 2013. Ronkainen adapted the documentary as a theatre play, which had its premiere at Oulu City Theatre in 2016.

Ronkainen's first TV series, All the Sins, a six episode crime-drama that's set in Northern Finland, will be released in 2019. Ronkainen directed and co-wrote the series.[2] In January 2019, All the Sins was awarded with Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize at Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden "for outstanding writing of a Nordic drama series". [3]

Ronkainen is one of the founders of Air Guitar World Championships which is organized annually in his hometown Oulu, Finland.

Filmography

TV series

Documentaries
  • Finnish Blood Swedish Heart (2013)
  • Freetime Machos (2009)
  • Our Summer (2004)
  • Screaming Men (2003)
  • Car Bonus (2001)
  • Before the Flood (2000)
  • The World Will Change Soon (2000)
  • Oulu Burning – A Town That Disappeared (1998)
  • Father's Day (1998)

Concert Film
  • Sentenced – Buried Alive (concert film) (2006)

Notes
  1. "Variety Taps 10 Euro Directors to Watch". Variety. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  2. "Mika Ronkainen, Merja Aakko Talk 'All The Sins,' Finland's Bible Belt, Landscape". Variety. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  3. "Writers Merja Aakko and Mika Ronkainen win the 2019 Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize for All the Sins". www.nordiskfilmogtvfond.com. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019.


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