Risto Jarva

Risto Jarva was one of the main characters in the so called "Finnish New Wave cinema" along with Mikko Niskanen, Jaakko Pakkasvirta and Erkko Kivikoski. As a boy he was interested in photography and later on a pastor in a local parish introduced him to cine-camera-filming. In his early twenties Jarva started to study chemistry in Helsinki Polytecnic. At the same time he made his first short films. In the beginning of the sixties Jarva founded his Production Company Filminor together with Jaakko Pakkasvirta. They directed their first film together. Yö vai päivä (1962) was a comedy about Finnish tradition and it was meant to be distributed to abroad. But that attempt, however, failed. Jarva's second film Onnenpeli (1965) was also a comedy. But in the late of the sixties Jarva began to make films about social issues. Films like Työmiehen päiväkirja (1967), Ruusujen aika (1969), Bensaa suonissa (1970) and Kun taivas putoaa...(1972) dealt with themes such as working-class, traffic-culture, politics, private enterprise and future conditions in Finland. After his social movies Jarva started to make comedies. One of the reasons for this was the bad financial situation of Filminor. They though that comedies would make their situation better. Which they did. Mies, joka ei osannut sanoa EI (1975) and Loma (1976) were both huge successes. Jarva's next film was Jäniksen vuosi (1977), which was a combination of comedy and social issues. The film got good reviews and did a fine job at the box office. Many critics have often considered Jäniksen vuosi (1977) Jarva's most important film. Unfortunately Jarva died in a car crash when he was returning home from his film's VIP-screening.