Suomi-Filmi's Secret Files — case of the missing female role

The film, which premiered in the autumn of 2022, rewrites the history of Suomi-Filmi with an unrestrained approach and, at the same time, creates a cross-section of the continuum of female roles in film history to the present day.

Why do Ansa Ikonen’s pay gap or Assi Nortia’s roles as exotic chicks feel both so distant and so familiar, even today. But what if there were secret files in the archives of Suomi-Filmi, where everything is completely different?

What if the immortalised words of the hero of the grand epic that healed a war-torn nation, Mrs. Koskela, were still in the mouths of both wet nurses and midwives as well as decision-makers in Parliament. What if people had been rolling on the floor laughing at the peculiarities of Pirkko Puupää and the wise-ass Miss Pätkä. Can a woman with glasses get married? What, actually, is fun about a nagging shrew? Can the mother of the Suominen family be sexy?

Suomi-Filmi's Secret Files puts on stage the to-date effective images of femininity and the role of women that are a part of our national subconscious, which have been instilled in our minds by the Finnish films of the Golden Age. The performance is an attempt to put focus on the structures that, even today, prevent the self and the other from meeting halfway.

Duration: approx. 2 h, incl. intermission
Script: Pinja Hahtola and Mari Lehtonen
Director: Ria Kataja
On stage: Mari Lehtonen and Pinja Hahtola
Video and audio design: Esko Paavola
Lighting: Janne Teivainen
Costume design: Elina Vättö
Choreography assistance: Panu Varstala