Suomi Finland 100
Executive Producer
Finland’s 100th anniversary will remain in Finland’s history as the most extensive and diverse jubilee year that Finns and friends of Finland created together. Finland’s hundred years of independence was celebrated in every corner of the country as well as in more than 100 countries on all the continents.
The open program covered an impressive 5,000 projects, and more than 600,000 Finns and friends of Finland were involved in creating the program. The projects materialised in tens of thousands of events. The open program, its magnitude and the way the projects were carried out were unique even on an international scale.
As the Executive Producer, my role was to plan, lead and oversee the main productions of the year. The budget totalled to several million euros and the projects involved thousands of employees, artists, subcontractors and unfolded over two years between pre-production and execution.
Selected Projects
Finland 100 Grand Opening – The Party of the New Century
The centennial year started with a massive New Year’s ball in the middle of Helsinki. Fireworks and a 3-hour-long live concert were the highlights of a full-day festival with more than 20 venues across the central Helsinki. The party gathered a live audience of 160,000 and 1.6 million spectators for the broadcast. The online clip from the midnight went globally viral with over 20 million views on the first few days of the year.
To mark the 100th birthday of Finland, over 50 buildings and venues in over 30 countries were lit up with blue and white light. The iconic landmarks included Niagara Falls in Canada, Belém Tower in Lisbon, Colosseum in Rome, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro and Castle Fortaleza in Maputo, Mozambique to mention a few.
Independence Day celebrations, 6th December
The celebrations started with blue-and-white light shows and hoisting one hundred blue-cross Finnish flags during the official opening on the eve of the Independence Day at the Market Square in Helsinki.
After the President of the Republic’s reception the celebrations of the centenary of Finland’s independence reached its climax at the festive fireworks display at 10 p.m. in Helsinki. The spectacular Finland 100 display of fireworks was arranged to the tune of Sibelius’ Finlandia, and it also marked the closing of the centenary year.
The events in Helsinki attracted a live audience of more than 120,000 and was the most watched TV broadcast of the year with ca 2.7M spectators.