Promised Land of Heavy Metal is a HD TV feature documentary film about the history and philosophy of Heavy Metal and how it became such a big deal in a small country called Finland.
We tell the story of Finnish Metal, from its early underground days to the present success stories, by interviewing famous - and infamous - musicians, experts and events organizers, a psychiatrist, a priest and a doctor of theology. Can metal survive when it becomes mainstream, and Eurovision and Pop Idol competitions are won by metal? Metal has even entered the Finnish Lutheran church, that organizes metal masses.
The film includes all the big stars of Finnish Metal (HIM, Lordi, Sonata Arctica, Nightwish...) many international celebrities (Entombed SWEDEN, Dimmu Borgir NORWAY, Killswitch Engage USA, Carcass UK...) and finally Madam President of Finland, Tarja Halonen.
The film takes us - literally - from the graveyard to the Finnish President's palace!
The documentary is entirely in English. It's co-produced by Finnish TV YLE: it was aired on May and was shown shown again 23.8 09 and 6.9.09, by popular demand. The film is aimed to the mainstream market, and not only to the metal heads! Scandinavian TV distribution is being negotiated and DVD distribution has already started.
Promised Land of Heavy Metal is narrated by Kimmo Kuusniemi, a filmmaker and forefather of Finnish Metal. After forming the pioneering metal band Sarcofagus Kuusniemi left his homeland 16 years ago despairing of its apathy towards the music he loves. Now based in Britain Kuusniemi sees the current popularity of Finnish Heavy Metal as a surprising phenomenon, after all he was the one fighting for the cause more than 30 years ago. And now, in Promised Land of Heavy Metal, he sets out to discover what exactly happened to Metal in Finland while he was gone.
COMMENTS:
My overwhelming thought when having the privilege of watching an early version of 'The Promised Land Of Metal' was 'damn, I wish I had thought of this.'
But of course I wouldn't have had Kimmo and Tanja's filmmaking know-how, their knack for telling a story, their attention to detail, their unrelenting devotion to their subject matter and of course personal history with Finland and it's musical history.
What was remarkable about this film is that it touches on aspects of the country's music scene that have not yet been explored in an anthropological way. An editor of an extreme metal magazine is going to 'think' she knows all about Finland's heavy music scene, all eyes are on the country after all in terms of breaking new metal talent, but this film has the tender touch of an outsider, someone who is discovering a community with no preconceptions and through those eyes we come to get under the skin of a country pushing music's boundaries.
It's just a magical twist that the 'outsider' taking you on that journey, is the ultimate 'insider', the one and only Kimmo Kuusniemi of Sarcofagus, the man we could argue is responsible for the whole damn scene, who fled to the UK when he felt his homeland would never accept his 'art' and is now back to explore the monster he helped create.
-Louise Brown, editor, Terrorizer Magazine, UK
The first documentary about metal scene for general public.
PLOHM does not moralize or idolize. Its unbiased approach gives the viewers a chance to form their own opinions. It also deals with the negative aspects associated with metal music, like satanism.
Finally Kimmo Kuusniemis journey to find out why metal is mainstream in Finland takes him to interview The President of Finland! At this point it is clear metal is not just a subculture but a much bigger Finnish Cultural Phenomenon.
-Sakari Heiskanen (Producer), YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company)
You can view the 4 min. preview trailer, and get more information (including the press kit) at:
www.promisedlandofmetal.com
For more information about the film please contact:
originofmetal@mac.com
We tell the story of Finnish Metal, from its early underground days to the present success stories, by interviewing famous - and infamous - musicians, experts and events organizers, a psychiatrist, a priest and a doctor of theology. Can metal survive when it becomes mainstream, and Eurovision and Pop Idol competitions are won by metal? Metal has even entered the Finnish Lutheran church, that organizes metal masses.
The film includes all the big stars of Finnish Metal (HIM, Lordi, Sonata Arctica, Nightwish...) many international celebrities (Entombed SWEDEN, Dimmu Borgir NORWAY, Killswitch Engage USA, Carcass UK...) and finally Madam President of Finland, Tarja Halonen.
The film takes us - literally - from the graveyard to the Finnish President's palace!
The documentary is entirely in English. It's co-produced by Finnish TV YLE: it was aired on May and was shown shown again 23.8 09 and 6.9.09, by popular demand. The film is aimed to the mainstream market, and not only to the metal heads! Scandinavian TV distribution is being negotiated and DVD distribution has already started.
Promised Land of Heavy Metal is narrated by Kimmo Kuusniemi, a filmmaker and forefather of Finnish Metal. After forming the pioneering metal band Sarcofagus Kuusniemi left his homeland 16 years ago despairing of its apathy towards the music he loves. Now based in Britain Kuusniemi sees the current popularity of Finnish Heavy Metal as a surprising phenomenon, after all he was the one fighting for the cause more than 30 years ago. And now, in Promised Land of Heavy Metal, he sets out to discover what exactly happened to Metal in Finland while he was gone.
COMMENTS:
My overwhelming thought when having the privilege of watching an early version of 'The Promised Land Of Metal' was 'damn, I wish I had thought of this.'
But of course I wouldn't have had Kimmo and Tanja's filmmaking know-how, their knack for telling a story, their attention to detail, their unrelenting devotion to their subject matter and of course personal history with Finland and it's musical history.
What was remarkable about this film is that it touches on aspects of the country's music scene that have not yet been explored in an anthropological way. An editor of an extreme metal magazine is going to 'think' she knows all about Finland's heavy music scene, all eyes are on the country after all in terms of breaking new metal talent, but this film has the tender touch of an outsider, someone who is discovering a community with no preconceptions and through those eyes we come to get under the skin of a country pushing music's boundaries.
It's just a magical twist that the 'outsider' taking you on that journey, is the ultimate 'insider', the one and only Kimmo Kuusniemi of Sarcofagus, the man we could argue is responsible for the whole damn scene, who fled to the UK when he felt his homeland would never accept his 'art' and is now back to explore the monster he helped create.
-Louise Brown, editor, Terrorizer Magazine, UK
The first documentary about metal scene for general public.
PLOHM does not moralize or idolize. Its unbiased approach gives the viewers a chance to form their own opinions. It also deals with the negative aspects associated with metal music, like satanism.
Finally Kimmo Kuusniemis journey to find out why metal is mainstream in Finland takes him to interview The President of Finland! At this point it is clear metal is not just a subculture but a much bigger Finnish Cultural Phenomenon.
-Sakari Heiskanen (Producer), YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company)
You can view the 4 min. preview trailer, and get more information (including the press kit) at:
www.promisedlandofmetal.com
For more information about the film please contact:
originofmetal@mac.com
