FILMS & TV
Here you can find my filmography as a director and screenwriter, covering feature films, television and mobile series, and short formats. While my own projects often focus on satirical comedy, innovative formats and collaborative methods, I also direct traditional quality drama and series. Over the years, my films have been selected for international film festivals including Venice, Cannes Critics' Week, Berlinale, SXSW, and Rotterdam.
The Boy Next Door (2025)
SYNOPSIS & PRODUCTION DETAIL:
Journalist Linnéa Krook recognizes her childhood crush Anton on television and investigates his sudden disappearance 20 years ago, uncovering complex truths and personal struggles. Produced by Jussi Rantamäki for Elokuvayhtiö Aamu, this premium television series bridges high-stakes dramatic storytelling with complex ethical frameworks.
Creator and Screenwriter: Eva-Maria Koskinen
Director: Hannaleena Hauru
Producer: Jussi Rantamäki / Aamu Film Company
Broadcaster & Distribution: Yle (Finland), with international broadcasting across Sweden (SVT), Norway (NRK), Denmark (DR) and Iceland (RUV) (2025–2026)
Actors: Sannah Nedergård, Rasmus Slätis, Sebastian Blomqvist, Frida Eklund, Tuuli Heinonen, Tom Rejström, Birthe Wingren, Elsi Sloan, Tyra Wingren
DEEPFAKE (2021)
SYNOPSIS & PRODUCTION DETAILS:
Ben (Samuel Kujala) is making authentic video forgeries in his small company together with his two friends Kia (Elsi Sloan) and Tide (Jasir Osman). Their morale is low, and having fun and money seems to be more important than the actual work.
We shot this vertical miniseries (9 × 3 min) in 2021, it’s available on Instagram at Areena Stories (@areena.stories). We are on our way to develop this to a TV series, all feedback very welcome! The series is in in Finnish, unfortunately no subtitles available.
Concept and Script Hannaleena Hauru & Samuel Kujala
Costume design Aino Havu
Sound design Petri Kärkkäinen
Starring Samuel Kujala, Elsi Sloan, Jasir Onni Osman, Konsta Laakso, Mikko Kauppila, Ella Mustajärvi, Rosa Honkonen, Kasper Korpela, Tanja Heinänen
Producer Emilia Haukka, Jussi Rantamäki
Executive Producer / YLE Hyppe Salmi
Tilaaja / YLE Jarmo Lampela
Vastaava toimittaja Ville Vilén
Digidemo / AVEK - Audiovisuaalisen kulttuurin edistämiskeskus, OKM
YLE Innovations
PARVET (2024) (ENG. “FLOCKS”)
SYNOPSIS:
The lives of five young adults get entangled for 24 hours in this absurd drama set in wintery Helsinki. The film focuses on experiences as a racialized or indigenous person, and as a non-binary trans person in Finland in 2024. The film deals also with the representation of people with learning disabilities. Built collectively with the cast and crew based on real-life experiences, the film focuses on structural representation and intersectional storytelling in modern Finland.
Directed by Hannaleena Hauru and Katja Gauriloff
Produced by Emilia Haukka / Aamu Film Company
Written by Hannaleena Hauru, Katja Gauriloff, Heta Nuutinen, Krista Yrjölä, Stella Massa, Yolanda Correa, Ritni Ráste Pieski, Senna Vodzogbe,
Actors: Yolanda Correa, Stella Massa, Senna Vodzogbe, Adela Ogunbor, Ritni Ráste Pieski, Mikael Bashmakov, Lasse Viitamäki, Denisa Snyder, Aaron Bojang, Milla Kuikka.
FUCKING WITH NOBODY (2020)
"For being an original transgressive and groundbreaking film, which breathes and makes us all breathe freedom. For placing us in front of topics as current as the trivialization in social media or the deconstruction of the myth and the idyllic love story. For promoting diversity and for showing us an enterprising woman in whom we can feel identified. A complex film containing many readings that, through the numerous microuniverses it addresses, calls for continuous analysis and debate. In parallel, we find it to be a very inspiring film for all the women who work in the film industry."
– The Women in Focus Jury; Teresa Arbolí, Rafaela Rodríguez and Helena Sevine at Sevilla Film Festival 2020. AMMAA 'WOMEN IN FOCUS' AWARD at Sevilla European Film Festival SEFF:
SYNOPSIS AND PRODUCTION DETAILS:
A satirical drama-comedy exploring autofiction, intimacy, and society's hunger for romantic narratives through a parody Instagram romance. A filmmaker teams up with her friends to create a fake relationship, only to find herself caught up in her own unresolved past as fiction and reality melt into each other.
World Premiere: 77th Venice International Film Festival, Biennale College - Cinema Programme
International Festivals: SXSW Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), Helsinki International Film Festival, Seville European Film Festival.
Awards: AMMAA Women in Focus Award (Seville European Film Festival)
Screenplay by Hannaleena Hauru & Lasse Poser
Production: Emilia Haukka & Jussi Rantamäki for Aamu Film Company
Distribution: Totem Films (World Sales), B-Plan Distribution (Finland), MUBI
Metatitanic (2018)
Rose and Billy Zane have a plan: move to a picturesque neighbourhood, get a dog, and get pregnant. However, a middle-class hetero romance isn't that simple. Stressed-out Rose meets the bohemian Jack and lets loose. Is Jack Rose's Leonardo DiCaprio or just an iceberg?
Written, directed and produced by Hannaleena Hauru
Actors: Hannaleena Hauru, Jussi Lankoski, Vincent Willestrand, Katri Myllyniemi, Tanja Heinänen Joona Möttö
Premiere: Helsinki International Film Festival
Also known from: Eetu Virén’s essay
Thick Lashes of Lauri Mäntyvaara (2017)
An energetic comedy tracking two young rebel women who spend their summer sabotaging commercialized, posh weddings in the Finnish archipelago. Their revolutionary plans are put to the test when one of them falls head over heels in love with a dreamy ice hockey protégé.
World Premiere: Torino Film Festival (Official Selection)
Industry Development: Developed through the Cannes Cinéfondation Residency and the Torino Film Lab ScriptLab.
Production Company: Aamu Film Company
Distribution: Scanbox Entertainment
World sales: Premium Films
Ice Hockey film by Heidi (2017)
A spin of from the feature film “Thick Lashes of Lauri Mäntyvaara”. Heidi’s fantasy about hockey player Lauri Mäntyvaara is continuously failing. The film studies the encounters of optical and haptic cinema, and the change in the power structures of the cinematic gaze.
MERCY ALL THE WAY (2015)
A group of women working in an unemployment office in a small Finnish town have started to give out sex to outcast young men in order to prevent future school shootings in Finland. Mirja (35) tries to hide, that after spending a night with unemployed Marko (23), she has fallen in love. Saving Finland is at stake.
Director: Hannaleena Hauru
Screenwriters: Hannaleena Hauru, Tanja Heinänen
Producers: Ulla Simonen / MADE, Jan-Niclas Jansson, Hannaleena Hauru Cinematographer: Jan-Niclas Jansson
Editor: Joon Tervakari
Sound Designer: Cedric Le Doré
Music: Lauri Wuolio, Aleksi Ranta
Cast: Tanja Heinänen (as Mirja), Mikael Karkkonen (as Marko), Misa Palander, Alina Tomnikov, Tiia Honkanen, Kikka Rytkönen, Johannes Mäkinen, Leena Nuora
Awards: Tampere Film Festival: Special Award from the National Jury 2015, POLARIZED! Festival: Award on Culture jamming 2015, Helsinki Short Film Festival: Best Fiction Film 2015
Whispering in a friend’s mouth (2010)
Finnish title: “Älä kuiskaa ystävän suuhun”. A 10 minute short shot in Summer 2009 – examining the borderline between platonic and romantic love through two linking time levels. Shot on S16mm.
Director: Hannaleena Hauru
Screenwriter: Hannaleena Hauru
Producer: Jussi Rantamäki / Aamu Film Company
Cinematographer: Jan-Niclas Jansson
Editor: Markus Leppälä
Sound Designer: Jussi Honka
Composer: Lauri Wuolio
Set Designer: Jukka Nieminen
Cast: Anna Kuusamo (as Japu), Antti Haikkala (as Antti)
Festivals & World Premiere 2010, Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale): Generations 14+ (World Premiere), 2010 - Cannes Film Festival: Critics' Week (Semaine de la Critique) 2010, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
Conflict with a god (2010)
Boyfriend’s religious conflict gets on her nerves. Tanja Heinänen and Ilja Rautsi starring in this little funny film we made at the birth of Kino Euphoria in 2010.
Screenwriter-Director: Hannaleena Hauru Cinematographer: Thomas Lesourd
Editor: Hannaleena Hauru
Awards: Artova Film Festival (AFF), Helsinki, 2012, Honorary mention
IF I FALL (2007)
“A nordic, but still universal film expressing the search of love in a poetic story of few words. The flawless directing of the film deals with human relations on many levels and with great complexity.”
-Jury’s statement: Uppsala International Short Film Festival Grand Prix 2008
Director: Hannaleena Hauru
Screenwriter: Hannaleena Hauru
Production: Anni Pänkäälä and Samu Reijonen, Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK / TTVO)
Cinematographer: Jan-Niclas Jansson
Editor: Sanna Ryhänen
Sound Designers: Jussi Honka, Rauli Roininen
Composer: Anna Huuskonen
Festivals: Cannes Film Festival: Critics' Week (Semaine de la Critique, 2007, World Premiere), International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Sao Paolo International Film Festival, Brasil, Tampere Film Festival, Uppsala International Short Film Festival
Awards: 2005 - Nisi Masa European Script Contest: Winner (Production Support Award) 2008 - Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden: Grand Prix 2008 - 54th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen: Award of the Cinema Jury 2008 - Tampere Film Festival: Youth Jury Award