20/10/2021

Business is starting to pick up speed in Japan and Finland is using its Metsä Pavilion to showcase Finnish key industries and benefit the interest towards Finland. Visit Finland Japan recently organized and hosted a media event to boost the audiovisual sector and to celebrate the movie Tove.

Finland enjoys a great interest in Japan and this event, such as many others, was fully booked before the closing of the registration. Participants enjoyed a high-quality set of presentations and contents around the film. Anna-Maria Wiljanen from the Finnish Institute in Japan gave a comprehensive introduction to Tove Jansson’s life and important persons while also explaining how Finland used to be at the time. Followed by that, CEO of Finn Corporation Shino Mikamo presented a Finland tour following Tove’s footsteps.

As the highlight of the event, the main actress of the movie Alma Pöysti joined the event via live connection for a special Q&A session in Metsä Pavilion. She shared about her experiences during the filming, importance of Moomins to herself personally and her relation to Tove. Who would have guessed that the grandchild of Tove’s close friend would be acting her several years later!

The event provided an opportunity to raise awareness of Finland as a reliable partner in film production. Finland with its four seasons and distinctive landscapes offers wide possibilities for filmmaking and the safe and functional society with skilled crews give both producers and actors peace of mind. With Business Finland’s fast and reliable 25 % national production incentive, Finland aims to attract more and more international productions to be made in Finland.

Koichi Numata, Representative of Visit Finland in Japan was happy for the results and co-operation behind the event:  “This cross-industry initiative was a demonstration of true partnership and teamwork. We got comprehensive support from Team Finland members Embassy of Finland Press Team and Finnish Institute, Food from Finland, and Metsä Pavilion team as well as our important company partners Finnair and Finn Corporation. Helsinki Filmi made this event and the live connection with Alma possible, not to forget Fiskars Japan’s and local movie distributor Klockworx’s cooperation for the Moomin mug gifts to participants.”

Moomin is a widely known brand in Japan and Tove the film is a good steppingstone for introducing the Finnish filming industry to the Japanese market. Japanese productions are able to use the 25 % cash-rebate when filming or producing Japanese films in Finland. Yuki No Hana (Snowflower) 2019 is the latest Japanese production filmed in Finland.

“The interest is there. We expected 10 media in the beginning but had to lift the maximum capacity several times and finally had to close the registration as we couldn’t take more participants, thanks to high interest towards Finland and the movie”, says Noora Sirola from the Metsä Pavilion marketing team happily.

Metsä Pavilion has a special Finland Menu, created in in collaboration between Food from Finland program, Finnish chef Arto Rastas and the operator of Moomin Cafés in Japan. Open sandwiches topped with Kalaneuvos smoked salmon, blinis with Carelian Caviar as well as Jymy ice cream and other still not-so-widely available Finnish flavors were highly enjoyed by the participants.

As had happened in many of the events hosted in pavilion, most participants stay until the very end of the events. The Finnish atmosphere in Metsä Pavilion feels engaging to visitors.