Historical drama attracts a record number of Finns to the cinemas
Solar Film, which is co-owned by Nordisk Film, is behind one of the biggest Finnish movies at the moment, Stormskerry Maja, a historical drama about the life of a strong woman living in the middle of the archipelago.
The tale of a young woman fighting for her and her family's survival on a storm-battered island in Finland's archipelago during the 1840s has truly struck a chord with the Finns. Since its premiere in January 2024, almost 700,000 have been to the cinemas to watch the movie Stormskerry Maja.
The story is based on a series of novels by Anni Blomqvist. In 1976 it became a popular TV series on the Finnish public service channel, YLE, and the new film adaptation, produced by Solar Film, has broken all records and is the most-watched Swedish-language film in Finland in the 2020s.
Stormskerry Maja is directed by Tiina Lymi, who also wrote the screenplay based on Anni Blomqvist's novels. The film is about the 17-year-old Maja (played by Amanda Jansson), who against her will gets married to the fisherman Janne (played by Linus Troedsson). The couple and their children move to the isolated island of Stormskär (Stormskerry), which is part of the Åland Islands, and while the fisherman is at sea for long periods of time, Maja develops into a strong and independent woman who must manage the hard life on the island by herself.
The filming took place after thorough research into how the inhabitants actually lived on the Åland Islands in the mid-19th century, and each prop fits exactly into that era.
Solar Films' adaptation of Stormskerry Maja is one of the largest Finnish film productions in Swedish to date. The film is produced by Jukka Helle, Hanna Virolainen, and Markus Selin, co-owner of the film company Solar Film along with Nordisk Film. The film is distributed by Nordisk Film and has been sold to Sweden and Norway.
