Origina Title: Napapiirin sankarit
Languge: Finnish, English, Swedish, Russian
Writer: Pekko Pesonen
Main Cast: Jasper Pääkkönen, Pamela Tola, Jussi Vatanen, Timo Lavikainen, Kari Ketonen, Miia Nuutila, Moa Gamme

Director Dome Karukowski and Actor Jasper Pääkkönen will attend the festival

Dome Karukoski said at the time of making this film that “there are areas in Lapland where the unemployment rate is over 40%. In the winter, you barely see the sun. In the summer it doesn’t go down, so people can’t sleep and go crazy. What Shakespeare actually meant to write was: “Something is rotten in Lapland.” I always questioned how one can live in those areas. But when you meet locals, you understand. It’s because of the Finnish “Perkele”. Perkele has no translation. Sometimes it’s used as a curse word but it actually means something between stamina, will power and damning the gods. That Perkele is what the people of Lapland have. Inside the biggest loser, a hero can be found. Inside the biggest cynic you can still find hope. That is what Lapland Odyssey is about: Perkele.”

And Lapland Odyssey is also a comedy about Janne, a man from Lapland in northern Finland, who has made a career out of living on welfare. Inari, his girlfriend, is tired of Janne’s incapability of getting a grip on life. Janne wasn’t even able to buy a digital TV box that Inari had given him the money for. Inari gives an ultimatum: a digital box needs to arrive by dawn or she leaves. Janne sets out into the night with his two friends to find a box. On their way to the city of Rovaniemi, Janne and his friends face many challenges, obstacles and temptations. They learn that they need to be daring. There is no room to give into bitterness. The most important thing isn’t success, but rather the journey itself…