Midnight Sun Film Festival : Eurocities
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Midnight Sun Film Festival :
Watch a movie under the midnight sun
• Territorial attractiveness • Access to culture
• Internationalisation • Economic growth
• Public/private partnerships • Tourism
Context
The Municipality of Sodankylä is located in the province of Lapland, the
largest and most northern region of Finland and the European Union.
The 21 municipalities of Lapland are organised into a single region,
where they cooperate via the Lapland Regional Council. The region
has two official languages (Finnish and Northern Sami) and a very low
population density of 0.75 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Lapland is also one of the regions where the Sami people live. These
indigenous northern people are also located in northern Sweden, Norway
and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
The culture and creative industry (CCI) has developed well in Lapland
during the 2000s. It is seen as an emerging industry that acts as an
important bridge to wider economic development. Its sectors are
recognised in Lapland’s regional development strategies and its Arctic
Specialisation Programme (RIS3), in which both creative industries and
brand development are seen as enablers, supporting the development
of other priority sectors such as tourism and bioeconomy-related
sectors. Dedicated strategies, such as the Lapland Design Programme
(developing design labs and a regional export brand) and the Lapland
Strategy for the Creative Industries (which set up a creative incubator),
seek to develop the scale and importance of the creative sectors in
Lapland in both public and private spheres. Through these strategies
the region has created favourable preconditions and strengthened the
role of the CCI. Spillover effects are already visible in the development of
the tourism industry (a traditionally strong industry in the region), which
earned over €700 million in 2013. The objective is to double that amount
by 2020.
Challenges
The Municipality of Sodankylä is located in a sparsely populated area and is not easy to reach, especially for
foreigners. The basic challenge was the lack of cultural infrastructure. The unavailability of cultural services
and the low education level regarding film were also a challenge that the initiative addresses.
Midnight Sun Film Festival
The Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) was founded in
1986 by Finnish filmmakers, including the Kaurismäki
brothers, and the Municipality of Sodankylä. The
village of Sodankylä is located in the heart of Finnish
Lapland, some 120 kilometres above the Arctic Circle,
where in summer the sun never sets.
For its atmosphere alone, MSFF is one of the most Today the event is widely recognised and valued
unique film festivals in the world. But what’s more, domestically and internationally due to its originality
renowned movie directors have attended the festival and unique features. It is a prime example of
(such as Jim Jarmusch, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Roger how geographical challenges can be turned into
Corman, Terry Gilliam, Francis Ford Coppola, Abbas opportunities through strategic planning and original
Kiarostami and Miloš Forman). Emerging talents ideas. Despite its remote location, the festival attracts
(usually at least four or five young film directors more than 20,000 people and has a substantial
are invited), an international audience and locals impact on the region’s vitality, culture, attractiveness
meet under the midnight sun for an international and visibility.
programme of 60 to 70 films every year. The festival
also proposes packages of European films, the Building on the success of the festival, the Lapland
“Gems of New Cinema series” (featuring emerging Film Commission was established to promote
film directors) and individual masterpieces that are the region as a national and international filming
rarely seen through normal distribution channels. location, providing services to production teams and
developing local audiovisual and production service
businesses.
Budget and financing Impact
The MSFF has been the cornerstone of Lapland’s
audiovisual industry development and achieved
international recognition. Setting up the Lapland
Film Commission has increased the number of
audiovisual and film productions in Lapland, securing
over €1 million of income annually.
The MSFF has also significantly influenced the
development of film literacy in Lapland and across
Finland; initiated various activities in collaboration
with the Ministry of Education, secondary schools,
universities and societies; and played a significant
role in the distribution and screening of art house
cinema and titles that were not released in Finland
through traditional channels.
Along with the above-mentioned impacts, a boost
of summer tourism has been measured (every year
The MSFF was initially financed by the Municipality the festival attracts 18,000 to 20,000 visitors, with
of Sodankylä, personal funds and sponsors. The 25,000 people attending the 2014 edition) and both
main support then came from the European Regional permanent and seasonal jobs have been created.
Development Fund (74% of the financing). Later, The Finnish National Council for Cinema awarded
several projects were implemented from 2007 to the State Prize for Cinema to the MSFF for the high
2015 and a total amount of €1.8 million supported quality of its programming, for nurturing cinematic
nine projects related to the festival. The current art, and for its work in promoting the Finnish culture
financial basis of the festival relies on funding from and image.
the national administration and the municipality, as
well as the European programme Creative Europe (a
€41,000 grant for the film festival was obtained for
the 2014 edition).
The budget for the 2015 festival is €640,000.
Transferability Tips
During its early years (1986-1991) the event The MSFF has been a pioneer project
experienced difficulties in reaching financial in developing an international event in a
sustainability. This was due to various factors such regionally remote area. Sustaining the
as the lack of financing of film-related activities at finances and logistics planning has required
regional level, and the logistics entailed by Lapland’s considerable labour throughout the event’s
geographic location. This also limited interactions history.
with the international film industry.
Since 1991, the MSFF has been connected to
international professionals in the field and its
unique features contributed to its success.
The event has also completed various
cross-regional development projects and
developed concepts (strong involvement of
emerging film-makers, capacity-building
through workshops and practical sessions
mixing local and international audiovisual
industries, developing a unique offering of
films) that can be adapted to other events in
similar regional contexts.
Sustainability Management level and partners
Creative industries are part of the Arctic Programme The ongoing management scheme involves the MSFF
Plan 2014-20 and so is the MSFF. The programme Association, Aalto university and the Municipality of
seeks to achieve maximum benefit from European Sodankylä. The Kemi-Tornio University of Applied
funding programmes and the financial synergies Sciences used to take part in the management
they offer in order to promote and support financially process as well. Several partnerships have been
innovative actions in the area. initiated (as mentioned above) with the Ministry
of Education to enhance the development of film
The MSFF has been running for a long time and is education.
now a well-established film festival. It also offers
a unique experience (due to the midnight sun) that
gives it an unparalleled competitive edge and thus
contributes to its long-term sustainability.
Links : Contact :
www.msfilmfestival.fi/index.php/en/ Ari Lehtola, - Executive Director, MSSF
ari.lehtola@msfilmfestival.fi
www.cultureforcitiesandregions.eu
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