Financing a Documentary Film in Finland

The thesis aims to research the Finnish documentary financing process, and how technical advancements has changed it since 2001. The research was done using interviews, analysing literary sources and examining the annual reports of the Finnish Film Foundation and Avek from 2001-2013. A documentary project, in which the author is involved in, about the blacksmiths of Finland is used as an example for analysing the results of the research, and how a documentary filmmaker should take them into account. There has been no studies about the impact of technological advancements on the financing process of a documentary film in Finland. The declining sales of CDs, DVDs and other medias under the private copying levy has significantly decreased the financing power of Audiovisuaalisen Kulttuurin Edistamiskeskus (Avek). Affordable digital broadcast-quality audio-visual equipment has begun to change the production cycle of documentary films: the traditional method of moving cumulatively from scriptwriting to research and development and finally production has become outdated for many documentary filmmakers. The decreasing funds of Kopiosto has decreased the amount of domestic financing available for documentaries. In 2001, Avek financed documentary and short films with 1 519 058 euros, while in 2012 the amount had decreased over 53 per cent, to 703 750 euros. This has led documentary filmmakers to a situation, where production support from all three major Finnish film financiers, The Finnish Film Foundation, YLE and Avek, are needed in order to complete ambitious documentary projects. By contrast, commercially successful documentaries, such as Reindeerspotting – Escape from Santaland (2010), can be created with low budgets. Financial support can be gained from outside the three major financiers from for example, Kirkon Mediasaatio and international financiers.