Road leads to Seattle for Finnish film

The Eternal Road is one of

400 films from 90 countries being screened at the 44th Seattle Film Festival held from 18 May to 10 June.

Based on Antti Tuuri’s 2011 novel of the same name, the film has gained considerable international praise since its release in 2017.

It tells a story about Jussi Ketola (played by Tommi Korpela) who returns to his native Finland from the US only to get drawn into the tumultuous politics ripping Europe apart in the 1930s. Ikitie was the name coined for the road through which the Lapua Movement, a nationalist and anti-communist movement, forcefully took suspected communists to the Finnish-Soviet border and beyond.

Producer Ilkka Matila has previously said he has been touched by the film’s reception and the fact that it has raised discussion among audiences.

The selection for the Seattle Film Festival is, according to Matila, a great honour and the success of the film “is an expression of the fact that we have managed to produce a film that is of high quality in international standards”.