I’m a Finnish film director with a background in both filmmaking and hands-on craft. I studied directing at FAMU in Prague—one of the world’s oldest film schools—and earlier at Turku Arts Academy. I tend to think in images and situations rather than explanations: what people do in a space, how light and objects carry emotion, and how structure and rhythm make that emotion land.

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Alongside directing, I’ve worked extensively as a maker. I hold a Master Artisan degree in multi-material craft, with training in wood, metal, glass, and mixed techniques. Over the years I’ve built large-scale sets, animatronics, masks, and practical special effects; designed and operated pyrotechnic and flame systems (including a patented effect); and led the construction of a full fantasy village set large enough to be visible in satellite imagery. One of my masterworks was a traditional Finnish kantele cast in iron—playable, heavy, and slightly unforgiving. I’m drawn to objects that are functional, physical, and capable of failing if mishandled.

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This background shapes how I think about world-building. For me, a film world isn’t just something that looks convincing—it has weight, limits, and consequences. Materials matter. Physics matters. Fire behaves like fire, water like water. I’m interested in spaces and objects that actors can truly interact with, and that quietly influence behaviour without calling attention to themselves.

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Artistically, I’m drawn to grounded stories with a slight tilt toward the mythic: ordinary people under pressure, small moments that begin to feel larger than they look. I’m interested in power, control, intimacy, and belief, and in how those things turn ritualistic under stress. Emotional honesty matters to me, but not cruelty. I lean more toward hopepunk than grimdark, though I keep a soft spot for venom-dripped gothic spaces and chiaroscuro light that hides half a kiss.

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Some of my work has taken place in environments where directness isn’t always possible—projects shaped by political, cultural, or institutional constraints. In those contexts you learn to speak sideways, to suggest rather than declare, and to listen carefully to what isn’t being said. That experience has stayed with me, and it has made me wary of simple answers.

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Outside filmmaking, I’ve served as a volunteer fireman and smoke diver and hold a captain’s rank in the Finnish army. I’ve trained in martial arts, circus skills, and scuba diving. These aren’t ornamental pursuits; they’ve taught me how bodies behave under stress, how attention narrows, and how small decisions matter when conditions are unstable or dangerous. I’m comfortable in places where things break, burn, or go quiet.

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All of this shapes my work in ways that are hard to separate. I’ve seen how competence and fear coexist, how dignity survives bad conditions, and how people act when the stakes are real. It keeps me honest about what a character will—or won’t—do when the world tilts. If a film of mine leaves someone feeling recognised rather than instructed, then it has probably found the right pressure point.