Filmed across northern Finland, mini-series Critical Point found perfect film locations, weather & helpful communities to tell their story of a hopeful teen Somali-Finn ski jumper.
Whatevergroup’s latest production, Critical Point (Fin: Kriittinen piste) is a mini-series following a teenage ski-jumper who wants to be the best in the world. Filmed in various locations across northern Finland and southern Lapland, the production found the perfect locations, the right season and perhaps most importantly, communities willing to help the production succeed.
CRITICAL LOCATIONS
We interviewed the producer and CEO of Whatevergroup, Antti Kaarlela, asking why they chose northern Finland film locations to tell his story.
— Our story is about 19-year-old Hodan (Fadumo Hersi), of Finnish-Somali background, who wants to be the best ski jumper in the world. She moves to Ylitornio, in southwest Lapland, out of necessity and finds Seppo (Timo Torikka), a pensioner, as her coach. We chose Ylitornio because we wanted a small village with no tourism pressure. I visited Sweden with my family and we came back to Finland across the bridge at Ylitornio. I realized how the wide river between the two nations separates them visually, and how this fits the thematic key in our story: two cultures coming together, said Kaarlela.
The border river and the villages along it were chosen as film locations long before production began.
— The Tornio River was immediately a favorite filming location. With the help of our scout Janne Turunen, we found the others painlessly. I’m really looking forward to filming on Aavasaksa Hill, because there is an absolutely insane landscape across the river toward Sweden, and the whole valley is just wonderful. We also plan to film on the frozen river and at the local high school. The high school was an obvious location, because Hodan goes to high school.
SPRING SNOWSHINE
Finnish Lapland is well-known for its winter weather, and dependable snow cover for almost 200 days a year. With the locations in place, Kaarlela’s next move was deciding the season. For ski jumping, the answer was pretty obvious.
— The first version of the story was about summer races, to be filmed on plastic. But then we condensed the timeline and shortened the story. Now it works very well in winter weather. And when you look outside, the weather here is absolutely amazing. The sun is shining, but the temperatures are freezing, and you can see an icy haze in the air. The purpose was to shoot in spring weather, and at this time of year, the day is already so long, not just a couple hours of daylight, said Kaarlela.
When dealing with the cold and subzero temperatures, there’s no way to beat local expertise.
— We are used to operating in the cold, and our film crews are prepared for the cold and know to dress properly.
CRITICAL SUPPORT
You can’t film a television production like Critical Point without crew. Kaarlela found much of his crew, as well as extras and actors, from around northern Finland. More than just convenient, their local expertise also made filming easier.
— Though he now lives in Oulu, our producer Antti Kairakari is from Rovaniemi. The same with our make-up assistant, who’s originally from Pello. Our stage crew includes people from Kilpisjärvi. And we used two actors from Ylitornio. We are really happy to take local people from here and there … we like to employ locals. A few extras, who also play high school students, are from Ylitornio, and even today, there were streetwalkers and passersby who are all local, said Kaarlela.
In addition to local crew and cast, the municipalities in northern Finland were also critical to the production with their support. This ranged from financial incentives to simply having a place to store equipment.
— The fact that the municipality supports us was a very significant factor in our choosing to come to Ylitornio. It’s nice when the community, whether it’s a municipality or a city or something else, is involved. It makes thing easier. We needed a few permits, and for example, closing the border bridge for filming required permission and help from authorities. But everything like this has been arranged easily. They even gave us places to unload our cameras and places to store them.
RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS
As environmental and social responsibility becomes more important in general, film productions are striving to leave film locations and communities in a better situation than when they left. Critical Point is no exception.
— We try to be environmentally responsible; we recycle as much as possible, and we have also recycled set elements. The sets are dismantled in one location, rebuilt in another, painted in a different way, etc. In general, the basic value of our company is equality and fairness. We pay the same salary for the same level of work to people with the same educational background. We don’t adjust these individually but instead strive for fair play and a fair spirit. These are terribly important social responsibility issues for us, said Kaarlela.
CRITICAL POINT TELEVISION MINI-SERIES
Critical Point tells the story of 19-year-old Hodan, of Finnish-Somali background, and her dreams of being the world’s best ski jumper. Estranged from her father, she is forced to move to her father’s village, Ylitornio, where she also meets a retired coach. The mini-series filmed in Ylitornio, as well as numerous locations across northern Finland. Critical Point is a Whatevergroup production. National broadcaster YLE, who is also funding the series, will air the mini-series in early 2024.