What Became of Us, the latest independent film by the 22-year-old writer and director Miika Ullakko, has been invited to Shanghai International Film Festival. The festival is one of the most important ones in Asia and the biggest one in China and it runs from June 13th to 21st.

“We submitted our film to many festivals but we were nevertheless surprised by the invitation,” said Ullakko. The producer Tianyi Pan, however, is not particularly happy with the situation. “We have to produce a 35mm film copy for the festival, which will cost us a lot more than the budget for the entire film so far,” Pan says. “But we will manage. At least we will try very hard.”

The Finnish Film Foundation refused to grant any money to cover the film copy costs due to the fact that the film was not produced by professionals. Now the filmmakers are trying to raise enough capital to fund the film copy by turning to the community and collecting small donations as payments for "pre-order" tickets.

What Became of Us is a movie about class reunion, a tale of gathering of the former elementary school classmates. The background story is related to something that happened over fifteen years ago in a local school of a quiet town. A shocking incident sparked by bullying at school has left its mark on everyone.

Miika Ullakko and his crew form a team called Misty Friday Films. In 2007, their previous film, Graffiti Within, won the best feature prize at AFIA Film Festival in Denmark.

Another example of prominent Finnish independent filmmakers is Energia Productions, whose scifi parody, Star Wreck, was released in 2005 and has already 8 million viewers worldwide.

Sorry guys, this next news item is only relevant for the Finnish audience, hence in Finnish only :)

Miika Ullakon ohjaama kokoillan nuorisodraama "Graffiti meissä" ilmestyy kauppoihin DVD:llä toukokuun 20. päivänä Oy Future Film Ab:n julkaisemana. Elokuva kertoo kolmesta lapsuudenaikaisesta ystävyksestä ja heidän uudelleenkohtaamisestaan aikuisuuden kynnyksellä kesäisessä Helsingissä.

Elokuva ilmestyi alunperin vuonna 2006 Ullakon ja hänen harrastelijaystäviensä muodostaman Misty Friday Filmsin omakustanteisena DVD-painoksena, ja se voitti pääpalkinnon tanskalaisessa AFIA-filmifestivaalissa 2007.

Kilpailu: suunnittele tempaus tai tapahtuma DVD-julkaisun ympärille! Deadline: 17.5.2009.

Lisätietoja: http://www.graffitimeissa.fi/kilpailu/