I Was Making Films When

It Proved To Be Pretty Impossible To Get Funds For A Feature Film In Finland. It's Still Small, But The Film Industry Was Miniscule At That Point In The Early '80s.

A Government Institution Called The Finnish Film Foundation Funds Filmmaking There, And I Wrote Several Screenplays But Never Got Any Money. They Were Sent Back To Me, And They Said That They Were Too Commercial For Them.

You Just Never Give Up, No Matter How Hard The Challenges Are, And Observe This World With A Healthy Dose Of Criticism And Don't Just Follow The Herd Like Somebody Else Might Do.

I Loved Cutting Together Simple Commercials About Margarine Or Soft Drinks - All Kinds Of Silly Products - But I Tried To Make The Commercials Different.

There Were A Lot Of People Dreaming About Making Films, And They Would Finance Maybe 6 Films A Year. Because They Were Funded By The Government, The Films Sort-of Had To Deal With Serious Social Issues - And, As A Result, Nobody Went To See Those Films.