In this exploitation throwback, village loner Veijo runs a black-market operation euthanizing people’s ailing pets to make extra money. It’s clear he has dark secrets, and despite the grisly nature of his work, has an affinity and sympathy for the animals that doesn’t translate to his interactions with other people.
But Veijo’s carefully balanced life begins to show some cracks when he’s approached by a seedy mechanic with ties to a neo-Nazi gang, Petri, who wants him to put down a healthy but unwanted dog. At the same time Veijo also begins to develop an intimate but strange relationship with a local nurse. When Veijo fails to complete the job that he was paid to do, things turn to the extreme. (Directed by Teemu Nikki, 2017)
About the Director
Teemu Nikki (b.1975) is an autodidactic filmmaker and the son of a pig-farmer from Sysmä, Finland. He has directed dozens of short films and hundreds of commercials and music videos – as well as several feature films and TV shows. He is a genre-free, genre-enthusiastic director and storyteller. Teemu’s work has been shortlisted and awarded at Sundance Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Eurovision Creative Days, Cannes Young Directors, CICFF, Tampere Film Festival, Popoli e Religioni Film Festival and FIPRESCI Award at Norwegian International Film Festival at Haugesund.
Awards for Euthanizer include the Tokyo International Film Festival (2017) – Winner Best Screenplay, Toronto International Film Festival (2017) – Contemporary World Cinema Section, Sao Paulo International Film Festival (2017) – Official Selection, Thessaloniki International Film Festival (2017) – Official Selection, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (2017) – Official Selection, Festival De Cinema Europeen Des Arcs (2017) – Official Selection, Göteborg Film Festival (2018) – Official Selection.
About The Series
Each year, Scandinavia House presents the films chose by Nordic countries to compete for the Oscar nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film. This year we will be presenting the 2018 contenders: The Guilty (Denmark), Euthanizer (Finnish), To Be Continued (Latvian), Woman at War (Iceland), Take It or Leave (Estonia), Border (Sweden), and What Will People Say (Norway).
Films in the series include:
The Guilty / Den Skyldige—THU—JAN 3
Euthanizer / Armomurhaaja—FRI—JAN 4
To Be Continued / Turpinājums—TUE—JAN 8
Woman at War / Kona fer í stríð—WED—JAN 9
Take It or Leave It / Võta või jäta—FRI—JAN 11
Border / Gräns—WED—JAN 16
What Will People Say / Hva vil folk si—FRI—JAN 18
January 4, 2019
January 4, 2019
FRI—January 4—7 PM
85 min. In Finnish with English subtitles.
$14 ($10 ASF Members)
Series Pass $75 ($55 ASF Members)