Moscow International Film Festival

International premiere took place on the 25th of June in the main competition of the MIFF.

Film was presented by Director and Screenwriter: Visa Koiso-Kanttila, Producers: Mika Ritalahti and  Niko Ritalahti and Actors: Antti Luusuaniemi, Pihla Viitala, Malla Malmivaara

STAR BOYS is a powerful story of two families being torn apart by disintegrating moral values when the sexual revolution arrives at a conservative and religious small town in Northern Finland. It’s a story of childhood lost in an adult world

The film takes us inside the lives of two families through the eyes of the children, 13-yearold Star boy singers, forced to observe from too close distance the consequences of their parents’ sexual liberation and endless need for love and freedom. Following a fateful toga party no one and nothing is the same and the boys’ confusion erupts violently. STAR BOYS, whilst dealing with heavy themes, is ultimately a warm and positive survival story portraying the persistence and capacity of children to get over even most difficult experiences in life. The style of STAR BOYS could be described as magic realism.

• Visa Koiso-Kanttila, director: ‘STAR BOYS is based on my own childhood memories from the 1970s. It is a story I had to tell. I am also intrigued by the following questions that the story raises: what kind of spiritual legacy and values were passed on by the 1970s to those of us who were born and raised at that time, now entering middle age? How has that era affected our conception of parenthood, marriage and sex – the relationship between a man and a woman?’

The main roles in the film are performed by the actors Pihla Viitala, Malla Malmivaaraand and Antti Luusuaniemi.

• ‘STAR BOYS was positively received in the Nordic countries already at the financing stage. The bittersweet story, powerful acting and moving touch of its director Visa Koiso-Kanttila, already an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, have aroused a lot of interest,’ says producer Mika Ritalahti.