Dozens of people film the TV series Ylitornio – the main character is a woman of Somali background who wants to be the best hill jumper in the world

The TV series is filmed in the classroom of Ylitornio high school.  In the scene, a woman of Somali background stands on a desk in a position where ski jumpers land in a jumping tower.
The main character of the Kriittinen piste series dreams of an Olympic victory in ski jumping.

The three-part series will be shown on Yle early next year. The story also tells about the coexistence of different cultures along Väylä, i.e. in Tornionjokilaakso.

The Oulu-based production company Whatevergroup is currently filming the television series Kriittinen piste. There will be three 50-minute episodes.

– We have lighting technicians, a costume designer, a makeup artist, a photographer and a camera crew. So it’s a pretty big circus, which always moves when you start doing things like this.

– A couple of years ago, we went here for the first time to hang out at the high school. The high school students were in the hall, and we asked who would like to come along to perform or as an assistant. There weren’t many who said no thanks. All in all, the people of Ylitorni have been very interested in this.

During the filming of a scene, a member of the filming team of the TV series looks at the main character of the series from the camera screen.

Shooting locations did not have to be dug under a rock either.

– They were found very comfortably and quite painlessly. We had similar things that were clear from the beginning, for example that Tornionjoki. It divides the two nationalities of Finland and Sweden, and this kind of coexistence is also a theme in the content of the series. And then that Alkkulanraitti works really well for us as a shooting milieu.

The main character of the series is 19-year-old \”Hodan Ibrahim\ a young woman of Somali background who wants to become the best hill jumper in the world. In the story, he is forced by circumstances to move to Ylitornio to live with his father.

– He doesn’t really know how he would be able to continue his Olympic dream and ski jumping in his new home. Fortunately, he finds a retired hill jumper from Perepohja by his side, who goes to coach him.

Antti Kaarlela, the producer of the TV series being filmed at Ylitornio, is standing in the lobby of the high school.  In the background, a group of filming team members and high school students are hanging out.
Antti Kaarlela says that it was easy to find a suitable milieu for the events of the series at Ylitornio.

– Toni said, when we talked for the first time, that if you haven’t gone down the hill at the age of ten, no one will come down there safely, Kaarlela says.

Yle will present the series early next year on television and in Yle Areena.