Euphoria Film - Finland

Euphoria Film AB's owners and beloved artists, Virpi Suutari and Martti Suorsalo, believe that true human understanding requires art alongside science – art that awakens people's own thinking and empathy for the environment and other species. Knowledge and its dissemination alone is not enough. Euphoria Film AB's films and theatre performances open up different perspectives, values, conflicts, and the need for solutions related to the protection of biodiversity, ecosystems, and forests.   

The documentary film “Havumetsän lapset” (translates as “Children of the Coniferous Forest”) focuses on forest activism, the new grassroots movement “Metsäliike” (translates as “The Forest Movement”), and the interaction between the forest industry and activists. The film helps to improve public visibility of social structures and power relations linked to the forest industry. Rather than fuelling a negative and hopeless vision of the future, it encourages critical citizenship and treating forests and biodiversity seriously. The film has reached 22,000 cinema-goers, hundreds of thousands of television viewers, and countless students in schools where the film has been shown and discussed. The film has also been successfully screened at international film festivals, including in the Nordic countries.  

The theatre performance Starman, which was inspired by the film, is a reflection on the relationship between people and nature. The sold-out performances have been held in theatre tents and theatres the length and breadth of Finland.  

Work is continuing on an upcoming film about the relationship between a protected mussel species and forestry.