Miia Tervo

Miia Tervo (born February 18, 1980) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter, whose debut feature film Aurora was released in 2019.[1]

She was born in Rovaniemi, Finland,[2] growing up in the small outlying village of Muurola.[3] She spent some time working in a fish processing plant in Norway,[4] before studying creative writing and filmmaking at Orivesi College and Aalto University.

She directed a number of short films in her early career. The most noted of these, Little Snow Animal (Lumikko), won the Grand Prix for Best Short Film at the 2010 Tampere Film Festival, and was a nominee for Best short Film at the 23rd European Film Awards.

Aurora premiered at the Göteborg Film Festival in 2019.[5] The film won seven Jussi Awards in 2020, including Best Film, and two wins for Tervo in Best Director and Best Screenplay.[6] It was also Finland's submission to the Nordic Council Film Prize in 2019.

Her second feature film, The Missile (Ohjus), was screened in 2023 as a work-in-progress at the Helsinki International Film Festival's Finnish Film Affair, where it won the award for Best Fiction Project.[7] It premiered on 27 January 2024 at the Göteborg Film Festival,[8]

  1. ^ Elsa Keslassy, "Finnish Director Miia Tervo Brings Out Fresh New Voice With ‘Aurora’". Variety, 1 February 2019.
  2. ^ Leena Talvensaari, "Muurolassa kasvanut Miia Tervo ohjasi romanttisen komedian: Auroran Rovaniemessä on rosoja ja tummia sävyjä". Lapin Kansa, 17 August 2019.
  3. ^ Anton Vanha-Majamaa, "Arvoton ja ihana". Yle, 4 February 2024.
  4. ^ Inkeri Kuisma, "Auroran ohjaaja Miia Tervo oppi norjalaisessa kalatehtaassa, ettei elämässä kannata "söhlätä hullun lailla" vaan tehdä harkitusti". Yle Radio Suomi, 21 September 2019.
  5. ^ Alissa Simon, "Göteborg Film Review: ‘Aurora’". Variety, 10 February 2019.
  6. ^ Marta Balaga, "Aurora leaves the competition in the dust at the Jussi Awards". Cineuropa, 15 October 2020.
  7. ^ Mona Tabbara, "Finnish Film Affair 2023 applauds buzzy Nordic projects ’The Missile’, ‘Lovable’". Screen Daily, 22 September 2023.
  8. ^ Annika Pham, "Göteborg Film Festival Unveils Competition Lineup, Sets Sidse Babett Knudsen Honor and Thierry Fremaux-Ruben Ostlund Conversation". Variety, 9 January 2024.