FILMS PEOPLE WATCH SERVICES NEWS CONTACT STORY LANGUAGE PEOPLE Elli Toivoniemi Elli Toivoniemi is the head producer and co-founder of Tuffi Films, and an EAVE graduate of 2013. She is the producer of two feature fiction films and two feature documentaries, and also a number of short films. Her films have been distributed, awarded and recognized in various countries and festivals such as TIFF, Sundance Film Festival, Berlinale, Locarno and the Academy Awards. Elli is a programmer at the Savonlinna’s International Nature Film Festival (SINFF) since 2012. Contact: elli@tuffifilms.com Selma Vilhunen Selma Vilhunen is a director and screenwriter of both fiction and documentary films. Her latest works as a director include the feature documentary Song which had its theatrical release in Finland in April 2014, and the Oscar nominated short film Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?. She is also the co-writer of the feature film Homesick (co-writer and director Petri Kotwica) and the director of Pony Girls (follow-up documentary). Currently she is working on her debuting feature film Little Wing, written by herself and produced by Making Movies Oy. She is also busy with Tuffi's two productions Hobbyhorse Sisters and Stupid Young Heart, written by Kirsikka Saari. Contact: selma@tuffifilms.com Jenni Toivoniemi Jenni Toivoniemi is a screenwriter and a director from Helsinki. Jenni Toivoniemi’s first film as a director, The Date has been selected to several major festivals and it won the Jury Award in the International Short Film Competition in Sundance Film Festival and Special Mention from the Youth Jury in Berlinale 2013. Jenni Toivoniemi did her BA in literature and theatre studies at Helsinki University and is now finishing her MA in screenwriting and directing in ELO Film School Helsinki. She has studied screenwriting in international workshops including Script & Pitch and Berlinale Talent Campus Script Station. Her first feature as writer, Korso, together with Kirsikka Saari premiered in 2014 at Edinburgh International Film Festival. Currently she is working with several feature scripts and a new short film. Contact: jenni@tuffifilms.com Kirsikka Saari Kirsikka Saari is a screenwriter living in Helsinki. She was Oscar nominated for the short film Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?. She has also written a miniseries Paradise for YLE, which was chosen to Prix Europa, and a feature film Korso (together with Jenni Toivoniemi, dir. Akseli Tuomivaara). Her short films have been awarded e.g. in Aspen Shortsfest, Tampere Film Festival, Helsinki Short Film Festival and Hamedan International Film Festival for Children and Young Adults. She has graduated from Helsinki University and is now doing her MA in screenwriting and directing in ELO Film School Helsinki. Contact: kirsikka@tuffifilms.com Venla Hellstedt Venla Hellstedt studied literature and film in London and gained an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked in a number of documentary, drama, VOD and news productions for BBC, ITV, Discovery Channel and YLE. Venla returned to work in her native Helsinki in 2009, after nearly 14 years in the UK, and has since worked as a Producer of many award winning Finnish films and international co-productions. She has taken part in several international film professionals' courses, such as EAVE Producers' Workshop. Contact: venla@tuffifilms.com Sanna Kultanen Sanna Kultanen is a Helsinki-based producer who joined Tuffi Films in 2015. Kultanen has a Master’s degree in film producing from the University of Art and Design Helsinki TAIK, Department of Film & TV. She has also done studies in producing in Paris for a year, at the film school La fémis. She has worked in various positions in film productions, and has produced short films, documentaries and film installations as a freelance producer, such as the short fiction the Doorman by writer-director Jan Forsström. She has also worked a number of years with film commission activities, film industry events, film festivals and development projects for the film industry (for example the Finnish Film Affair, Film Location Finland, Lens Politica). Contact: sanna@tuffifilms.com Tuffi Films Ltd. Vanha Talvitie 2 A 12 00580 Helsinki Finland