Salomé Crickx
Salomé Crickx originally comes from theatre. She studied acting in Belgium before turning to writing and directing her plays. She naturally turned to cinema during covid, when it was easier to illegally shoot a movie hidden in the woods than to illegally perform a play in closed theatres.
Her first short, Said of a Deer That Sheds Its Antlers, made with a lot of willing friends and no money, was shown in many festivals around the world, got a prize in the amazing Tampere Festival in 2023, and was selected for the Magritte (witch probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but in Belgium it’s kind of a big deal).
Johanna Sinisalo
Johanna Sinisalo is a Finlandia Award -winning writer from Tampere. Her works, which have been translated to around twenty languages, have received international awards and nominations. Sinisalo has written for numerous popular Finnish TV series such as Elämän suola, Salatut elämät, Kotikatu, Käenpesä, Sydänjää and Uutishuone, as well as created the original script for the sci-fi-comedy film Iron Sky. She has also worked as script doctor and writing consultant for TV and film. Sinisalo has served as jury foreperson for the Meliés d’Or Award at Espoo Ciné Festival in 2003 as well as National Jury member at Tampere Film Festival in 2008.
Niina Virtanen
Niina Virtanen works as Film Specialist at Film Tampere. Her job entails helping with Tampere-based productions as well as working together with the Film Tampere team to produce different training programmes and events for the film and TV industry. Virtanen’s previous work includes serving as CEO of Wacky Tie Films, as well as specialising in documentary film producing. She describes herself as having a soft spot for ‘all kinds of aesthetic strangeness’. Virtanen enjoys heavy music as well as all kinds of music-based content, which is also reflected in her background of directing music videos and working as a concert photographer.
