In April this year Finland went to the polls — and the right wing populist party, the True Finns, gained almost 20 per cent of the vote. This upset almost 30 years of consensus politics, and shows an upsurge in anti-European Union, anti-immigration, socially conservative values.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/stories/2011/3258960.htm
What is the connection between art, politics, economics and the European soul? In answer to this question we take the long view, going back to the beginning of European Union, to what Victor Hugo calls its ‘noble gestation.’
How many European films would survive Hollywood without EU support? Is the next generation forgetting how to watch European films, growing up instead on a diet of American blockbusters? Wim Wenders is worried.
The King’s Speech wasn’t the only European film to do well at this year’s Oscars. Another film, In a Better World by Danish director Susanne Bier, won best foreign language film. Both were backed by the European Union’s Media program, which is the subject of today’s feature.
This week Lyn Gallacher begins part three of her tour through Europe by taking us to to the movies. It’s a Finnish film.