Murder and mayhem follow in Finnish filmmaker Pekka Orla’s directorial debut, “Pigtown,” as the zombie plague is unconsciously unleashed in a small farming town. Film Festival – Love and Anarchy.
“Pigtown,” which was billed by the director as “a romantic zombie comedy in the countryside,” follows IIDA, a longtime animal rights activist. However, her radical friend Anja adds to pig food with a strange black liquid that gradually turns the pig into a bloodthirsty zombie. When an unfortunate farmer is bitten, the disease spreads to humans.
Meanwhile, Sami, a young man from the city, is embarrassed by his roots and arrives on a relaxing weekend on the family farm. When he meets IIDA at the village festival, Sparks Fly – the villagers begin to turn into zombies one by one, and the village bingo game gushes into blood. According to Ollula, “the country genre is unparalleled,” and “an unforgettable cult experiences of agriculture, food and survival.”
Talked to Variety in Helsinki, where he described the victory of the Finnish film incident as “a victory for all genre filmmakers,” and described the “recipe” from “Pigtown” as “very simple.”
“You take part of “Shaun of the Dead” for humor. You take part of the “alien” for action. You take a part of George Miller’s “babe” for your heart. And you add a generous dose of Peter Jackson’s “bad taste” and “brained”,” he said. “Mix it with the Finnish countryside and serve it with good wine at cinemas around the world. That’s the recipe for mayhem.”
Written and directed by Ollula and produced by his production singles Oohlala Pictures and Sweden’s Götafilm, “Pigtown” won a rave from Nordic selection judges in Helsinki.
“The global possibilities of this European co-production are clear and you could even become personal and authentic by touching on the importance of your community and family. This is not easy when your story happens to be a horror zombie comedy,” the ju-decided.
Finding herself behind the camera for the first time, “Pigtown” points to a new direction for industry veteran Orla who cut his teeth as part of the marketing team for Timo Vuorensola’s Finland-Doian Australian Science Fee Spoofy, 2012’s “Iron Sky” and the 2019 sequel “Iron Sky.”
His production credits include The Redeemers, a comedy horror film that won a series of international sales for Lille following the 2022 premiere, and Delivery Run, an action horror film featured on Cannes Market’s Frontières platform last year. PIC will premiere at the Sitges Film Festival next month ahead of its theatrical release on November 5th in Finland.
Also, Oohlala’s slate has “Toivo Harald Koljonen’s Crimes and Punishments.” This is a true crime horror film currently under development about the infamous Ax murderer who was last executed in Finland.
“Pigtown” is the latest step in Orla’s filmmaking journey, which began in the Finnish farm town of Futamo, where her passion for film sparked at a young age. Speaking in Helsinki, the director recalled how he and his friends popped the cassettes on their family VHS players and watched their favorite films in Peter Jackson’s “Bad Taste” and “Brained Dead”, “Robocop”, “The Evil Dead” and “Friday’s 13th Franchise”.
With their father’s camcorder, they make their own Schlocky Thrasher flicks and splatter photos, and Orla’s younger brother often functions as their victims.
Orla left Futamo at the age of 16 to pursue higher education in Helsinki, but the town remains a “source of creativity” for supervision, he said. To that end, he launched two Huhtamo Intls. The 2017 film festival is about to breathe new life into his struggles in hometown.
“As the son of a pig farmer, I have seen the decline of the countryside from such a close proximity. Businesses have left, people have died, they have moved away,” he said. “I started to think, ‘What can I do to help the situation? I need to do my part.’ ”
Celebrating this year’s fifth edition, the festival features folk innovations, including converting a working barn into a cinema. In recent editions, “Big LeBowski” performs at the town’s bowling alleys and watches the “Top Gun: Maverick” screening on local air strips.
“Pigtown” hopes to promote his mission to use his filmmaking and festivals to boost the community by working with town residents during the production and introducing huhtamo on the big screen.
“My filming location is the same place where my festival happens,” he said. “So, at one point, you’re at my festival, you’re watching my films and saying, ‘Wait a second – I’m here!”
The Finnish Film Incident will be held in Helsinki from September 24th to 26th.
