This is Aku Louhimäki’s new film: a depiction of the Lapland War, which ended exactly 80 years ago

The Lapland War, which ended 80 years ago, has been overshadowed on the big screen by the rest of Finnish military history. The film will premiere in September 2026.

– If we don’t tell our history, who will?

The end of the Lapland War 80 years ago also marked the end of Finland’s military history. Although numerous war films have been made in Finland, the battles of Lapland have been neglected.

Not only in cultural products, but also in Finnish historiography, the Lapland War has received less attention than the Winter and Continuation Wars. Aku Louhimies believes that Finns have a certain duty to preserve their history.

– If we do not tell our own stories and history, someone else will tell them, and not necessarily in the way we want.

According to the director, the importance and topicality of the film about the war in Lapland comes from not only the round years of the war but also from the current world situation.

During the Lapland War, Finland was a small country under the compression of the big powers. In the opinion of the Louhimies, the situation cannot be reflected in the current Ukrainian events.

As he becomes acquainted with the war in Lapland, Louhimies says he was surprised especially from the size of the war.

-There were about 220,000 people in the German army in northern Finland. There were significantly fewer residents in the province of Lapland at the time.

A story of conscripts and women

– The novel is the perspective of one young Ostrobothnian on the war in Lapland. It has a limited and accurate perspective that we now want to expand in the film. We also wanted to bring out the experiences of women during the war, says Aku Louhimies.

The film follows the conscripts who proceed after the German soldiers along Lapland. The second storyline follows a group of women who have worked for the Germans.

In March, the Finnish Film Foundation awarded the film a million euros in production subsidy. The Louhimies does not comment on the budget.

– Let’s assume that the budget must be sufficient. It is influenced by the fact that, with the exception of Haparanda, the film is completely filmed in Finland. Other resources and goals are more important than the budget, says Louhimies.

Whether or not a public hit and cash magnet like a quarrel * unknown soldier * becomes the film will remain, according to the director, the viewers will be decided.

– Certainly we will put us to make a good movie as we can.

Filming in autumn in Lapland

The Louhimies has toured this week in Lapland looking for locations. Several sites have been found in Tornio, as well as Kolari and Kittilä. The film is filmed in historical landscapes.

The change in the cultural landscape over the years brings its challenge to making a historical film, director Louhimies admits. For example, in Tornio, former battlefields are now crossing motorways, and the fields of the old troops have been pushed.

– If now an old Rovaniemi wooden house area is needed, then you have to start looking for it in Pietarsaari or Porvoo, Louhimies sums it up.

The descriptions of the new film will begin with summer scenes in the Hämeenlinna region, after which production will move to Lapland for the rest of the year. The film will premiere in September 2026.

– I guess it’s the art of art, and that’s actually quite a lot.