The newest film of Dome Karukoski “Tom of Finland” was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival, which happens from the 19th to the 20th of April in New York, United States.
In his new film “Tom of Finland”, Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specializing in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work - made famous by his signature 'Tom of Finland' - became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.
The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Gotheburg Film Festival in 2017, the critics award; it premiered at the same time in 40 screens in the region, and had a 10 minutes standing ovation in the session where Karukoski was.
Dome Karukoski was the big winner of FEST 2009 with his film “Home of Dark Butterflies”. This film portrays the story of Juhani, 14 years old and tormented by a childhood trauma, has changed several foster parents from the age of eight. He is taken to an island, where there is a boys' home, run by a strict superintendent, Olavi Harjula.
