Arto Halonen

Arto Halonen is an internationally award-winning fiction and documentary film director and producer, known for the strong socially-conscious stance he takes towards his subjects. As a tribute to his work, Halonen was awarded the Finlandia Prize in 2005, the nation's highest annual cultural award, given by Finland's Minister of Education and Culture. Halonen was also given the City of Helsinki Culture Prize in 2010, and was the third filmmaker in history to receive it. He won the award soon after the critical and box office success of his first dramatic feature, Princess. The film reached an audience of more than 300 000 viewers in Finnish cinemas and became one of the most financially successful Finnish feature films of the last decade; it also won multiple international awards. Halonen's feature film, the dark comedy A Patriotic Man, premiered in 2014 and so far its distribution rights have been sold to 25 countries. Renowned US critic Harlan Jacobson chose the film for his prestigi