Subject: geography

Published: May 11, 2023

Le Havre

A small African boy ends up in the French port city of Le Havre in a shipping container full of other refugees. The boy manages to escape and while hiding from the authorities, he meets a shoe polisher who wants to help the boy get to his destination: London to his mother. At the same time, the shoe polisher’s wife is diagnosed with a serious illness.

The film won a remarkable six Jussi awards: Best Film, Best Direction, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Published: May 11, 2023

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Puss in Boots returns when he realizes that he has already used up eight of the cats’ nine lives.

However, getting his lives back is unsafe because Puss in Boots has only one life left. He decides to ask his former opponent, Kitty Softpaw, for help. A Spanish dog, Perro, also joins him on his journey. To regain Puss in Boots’ lives, the trio must head towards the Black Forest and the Wishing Star.

The journey is challenged by Puss in Boots being chased by the bounty hunter Big Bad Wolf and the Three Bears Mafia, who are after the same Wishing Star.

Published: April 5, 2023

The Shape of Water

The events take place in 1962 and in North America, where Elisa and Zelda are cleaners and friends in a research laboratory. Speechless Elisa discovers a top-secret object in the laboratory, which is a human-like, aquatic creature worshiped by the citizens of the Amazon rainforest. Agent Strickland of the laboratory performs torturous experiments on the creature, as a result of which the creature almost perishes. An unexpected love story develops between Elisa and the utopian water creature and Elisa decides to release the creature.

The film was significantly awarded four Oscars: best direction, cinematography, music, and set design. Movie was also awarded at the Bafta Gala.

Published: March 31, 2023

Beasts of the Southern Wild

The film is magical realism, where the main character is a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy. She lives with her father Wink in Bathtub, a dingy swamp in southern Louisiana, USA, where life is primitive and where people live in harmony with nature.

The commune of Bathtub is flooding because the continental ice is melting and this is causing the release of ancient beasts. Winki’s health is also deteriorating at the same time, so it’s time for 6-year-old Hushpuppy to face these challenges and survive them with honor.

Koulukino’s learning materials deal with magical realism, the Hushpuppy character, editing, and montage, and include film interpretation tasks. The materials are aimed at middle schools and secondary education.

Published: March 23, 2023

Oppipoika (Lärjungen)

The year is 1939. A 13-year-old boy named Karl arrives on the island of Lånskär in Åland. There, the boy is supposed to learn the job of a lighthouse keeper by being the apprentice of the lighthouse master Hasselbond, which is not an easy task. An exciting thriller full of choices begins.

The film won the Jussi award for best costume design.

School cinema learning material is also available in Swedish. The learning material deals with Finnish-Swedish cinema, children’s rights, psychological thrillers, the psychology of evil, motivation, and emotions.

Published: March 21, 2023

Napapiirin sankarit

Janne’s relationship in Lapland cracks when his common-law wife Inari demands that he get the Digibox she already requested to get during the day. Job needs to be done by nine in the morning, otherwise, Inari leaves. This is how the incredible adventure of hunting for a Digibox begins. With his friends, Janne puts everything on the line – for one small electronic device, because it is a matter of Janne’s relationship.

The film magnificently won three Jussi awards: best direction, film, and screenplay.

Koulukino’s learning material deals with Lapland, Lappishness, life management, and northern men.

Published: February 21, 2023

Monsters, Inc.

Monsters live in their own town, where they generate electricity for the town by scaring children. Monsters get to the children by going through dimension gates. The most famous monsters in scaring children are two monsters called Mike and Sullivan. One day they meet an extraordinary child who has accidentally got lost in monster town and find out that there is a much more effective way of generating electricity than scaring: making children laugh. The film’s topic of generating electricity is indeed very topical. A fun touch in the movie is that monster think children are toxic and dangerous, so that even touching them could be fatal.

The film has won an Oscar in 2002 for the best score for the song “If I Didn’t Have You”.

Published: January 31, 2023

Ricky Rapper and the Nighthawk

Risto finds hookworms while digging for the treasure, and archaeological excavations begin at the discovery site. When a valuable Iron Age ring found in the area disappears, it seems certain that a night hawk preying on excavations is moving nearby! The case takes a surprising turn when it turns out that Rauha Räppääjä is involved in the matter.

Everything gets even stranger when Lennart Lindberg is put behind bars as a suspect. Does Elvi have a hidden past – and why on earth does Nellik start behaving strangely? Risto plans to find out about all of this and sets off on the trail of that mysterious night hawk. (Source: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Published: September 22, 2022

Top Gun: Maverick

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), who has served as a fighter pilot in the Navy for over 30 years, is known as a headstrong test pilot who tries by all means to avoid promotion, so that his active-filled career would not end. When Maverick is assigned to train Top Gun pilots for a unique special mission, he meets Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late friend, Radar Officer Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.

Tormented by an uncertain future and the ghosts of the past, Maverick has to face his worst fears in a mission that requires immense sacrifices from the pilots involved. (Source: Finnkino)

Movie won an Oscar from Best Sound.

Published: March 14, 2022

Spirit Untamed

Spirit – Untamed tells about a girl looking for her place, who finds her soulmate when she encounters a wild horse. Lucky has come to his mother, because he doesn’t like rules and restrictions either. It causes gray hair for Aunt Cora, who is trying her best to raise a girl in the big city.

When Lucky gets into trouble once again, Cora decides to move to Miradero with Lucky’s father Jim. The sleepy little town doesn’t make an impression on Lucky at first. However, he has second thoughts when he meets Spirit, a wayward mustang, and meets two local riders, Abigail and Pru. When a heartless horse breeder plans to capture Spirit’s herd and sell the horses for hard labor, Lucky sets out with his new friends to save the animal that has given his life meaning. With the help of Spirit, Lucky has found a connection with his mother and his Mexican cultural heritage.