What's New?
PLOHM iPhone App Press Release Feb 2010
For immediate release:
Pioneer filmakers prefer to distribute new documentary through the Apple App Store.
The film, called "Promised Land of Heavy Metal" is an HD documentary app available now for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The feature film investigates the history and philosophy of Finland's prominent, and world reknowned, Heavy Metal music scene.
With over 50 Million iPhone and iPod Touch users in the world, and over 7 Million Applications downloaded each day, the App Store is sure to become an important distribution medium for video content producers around the world. The app store eliminates many of the distribution barriers facing independent filmmakers and makes it easy to get their films into regions outside the country of origin.
This is the first indie-film app released in the world.
"Promised Land of Heavy Metal" App costs $2 USD/£1.19/€1.79/ and it includes:
-52min TV version of the film (in English)
-Photo galleries
-Digital booklet about the "Promised Land of Heavy Metal" - Finland
-Web links for those traveling or looking for information about the Finnish Metal scene including: Travel information, Merchandise, Music Festivals etc.
The application is also available in a free "LITE" version, which features a trailer and other information from "Promised Land of Heavy Metal" documentary.
The film's makers, UK based Finnish couple Kimmo Kuusniemi and Tanja Katinka Karttunen, plan to release more of their projects as apps and expect many other film makers to follow their lead. The couple's "Hunt For U-479" is their next film App.
Kimmo was a founding member and guitarist for one of the world's first Heavy Metal bands, Sarcofagus.
Aamulehti Interview 27-28.04.2009
We got a surprise call from reporter who writes for Finnish Newspaper “ Aamulehti”. He was in UK and wanted to come over and do an interview and see the film! 27th March 2009 Kalle Heino arrived with her girlfriend and we had a great weekend introducing them our local pub scene :)
The story will be on Friday 24.04.2009 Aamulehti “Valo” weekend issue so all Finns keep an eye for it.
COB in London 18-19.02.2009
One band we have been missing interviewing on a regular basis is Children Of Bodom. When we were in Finland they were touring and vice versa.
Thanks for the help from Louise Brown “The Queen of Terror” (Terrorizer Magazine) and band’s PR person Nelly we were able to meet the band and interview Roope Latvala at London Camden Town. Roope’s interview is a very important for us as he was also playing in Stone, one of the corner “stones” of Finnish Metal.
We did a long interesting interview with Roope Latvala which will be on the DVD as Special Extra!
Roope Latvala was pleased to get some Finnish liquorice!
Afterwards we saw the COB gig with Louise Brown and Titus Hjelm at the London Forum. It was a great gig from a great band. In the after party we met many Famous Finnish Metal Men! We filmed some party stuff and that will also be included in the DVD extras.
To us it was a magical moment to be in a big venue in London listening to 2 Finnish bands (Diablo and COB). During the past 16 years we could have never imagined this to happen!
Very cool night and it was great to be a Finn!
The icing on the cake was that Louise Brown handed us the new Terrorizer Magazine (March 2009 issue) featuring a story about our documentary Promised Land Of Heavy Metal! She saw the film at our place, loved it, and is going to write more... :)
update 28.11.2008
Back home from Finland - The full story...
See the gallery that relates to this story here.
Back home film’s director Tanja Katinka Karttunen and producer Kimmo Kuusniemi are taking a deep breath after a successful trip to Finland! Our executive producer Richard Johnson and voiceover artist Flynn Rutter joined us for the first week of the journey. Some of the highlights were:
Got “Promised Land of Heavy Metal” finished at 5.00am on 28th of October 2008. Hurrah! After 11 months of hard labour!
30.10.2008 arrived to Finland, Helsinki early in the morning hours: and the first meeting of the day took place at the President’s Palace at 10am! Two super tired film makers presented the documentary to the Press staff of the President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen. Thankfully they liked the film!
Next stop: checking out the next day’s venue Gloria for possible technical problems. And boy we found our share! Not Gloria’s fault! Their staff were very helpful. It’s just that our technologies didn’t want to co operate (this forever Mac versus PC dilemma...) After six hours of puzzle solving we got the projector working to our satisfaction.
Before going to bed we had a last minute editing session and shortened the film by 10 minutes: nothing crucial removed, just cutting off some unnecessary repeats. It was a long day...
1.11.2008 the first viewing of the feature length documentary took place midday for selected audience of reporters, friends and crew. We started late because the movie screen didn’t come down! After some fumbling we got the film running. The feedback was very positive! Our YLE (Finnish TV) producer Sakari Heiskanen loved the film and our crew members Heli Pesonen (DOP) Richard Johnson (producer) and Flynn Rutter (VO) all approved the end result. Some members of Sarcofagus, Juha Kiminki and Hannu Leiden, attended with their wives, and the band Enochian Crescent was also present. Radio Rock DJ Klaus Flaming was also there, he took part in the filming and saw the film here first time.
We stayed in Gloria for the whole day, got the big screen working and prepared for the evening...
1.11.2008 at 7.00pm the MC MÖKÄ’s 10th anniversary party started with a bang when “Cast Iron” took to the stage. The young metal band plays authentic 80’s metal with gusto.
at 8.00pm “Promised Land of Heavy Metal” was shown for the full house of heavy metal fans. Despite the fact that the bars were open, the film worked very well, people could fetch beers and come back to see the film! The reaction was very positive, we got lots of good feed back and comments. The film looked amazing on the proper big screen (it is HD after all), and we had no technical problems! What a relief...
Later that night original Sarcofagus members Kimmo Kuusniemi and singer Hannu Leiden jumped on the stage to perform one track as the special guest stars requested by Swedish Metal Band “Portrait”
Before performing with Portrait, film’s producer and Sarcofagus guitarist Kimmo Kuusniemi got a beautiful handcrafted guitar from Finnish guitar maker Tomi Korkalainen from Amfisound, as a thank you for Kimmo’s pioneering work for the Finnish Metal! www.amfisound.fi
It felt like getting an award, except much better: an award you can admire in your living room, but a guitar you can play for the rest of your life. The guitar sounds amazing and is made to Kimmo’s specifications including a super fast neck, a midi and sustainiac system.
For Kimmo it was 25 years since the last live gig and the performance without practice was a challenge :) It was really cool for Kimmo to be back on stage and after getting started he would have wanted to play more! The atmosphere was fantastic and this day will remain in our memories for a long time!
Other bands performing that night were Evince and Violencer www.violencer.net/news.html
We had a good chat with a cool dude, Mario from Evince
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfmfuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=152146687
There were many friends and family members there, it was a great opportunity to have some fun. A special thank you to Gloria’s staff and Vesa Isokauppila from MC MÖKÄ!
But the trip isn’t over yet. Our English friends Flynn and Richard enjoyed the sights of Helsinki for a week, while Kimmo and Tanja attended meetings and made new contacts.
The next week filmmaking couple Kimmo and Tanja drove 500km up North to Joensuu for the International Premier of the film at the ROKUMENTTI film festival
Rokumentti film festival took place 13.11-16.11.2008. It’s a festival dedicated to music documentaries and from early on festival producer Petri Varis started to follow our film’s progress. They asked us to come over to Joensuu with the film! Glad we got it ready for this!
Joensuu comes alive with the festival crowd, thousands of people attend the screenings, and clubs and music venues are full of bands and acts of all kinds. We were treated with festival passes and saw “Hanoi Rocks” ( www.hanoirocks.com ) at the Joensuu Arena, a legendary Finnish glam rock band, performing one of their last gigs. Sadly they are amicably splitting up!
“Promised Land of Heavy Metal” had it’s International premier on Saturday 15.11.2008 at 8.15pm, this time with no technical problems and to a full house! Documentary enthusiasts can be a tricky crowd but ours was well pleased, most of them staying for the QA session after the film.
According to the Rokumentti organizers and festival producer Petri Varis, “Promised Land of Heavy Metal” and “Johnny Cash’s America” were the most popular films of the festival (the festival screened more than 40 films).
Again, we made new friends and were joined by some old ones, it’s great to have company on the road, thank you all and especially Petri Varis from Rokumentti!
During our trip many Finnish papers/magazines have made stories about the documentary. More about them later!
We flew back to UK on 17th November 2008. Our assistant editor Alex Wright started editing the trailer and a shorter version of the film as well. Kimmo and Tanja finished the 100 minute version on 26th November. Several channels are eagerly waiting for a screener. Let’s see what the future holds!
A Big Thank You for the Photos by Heli Pesonen, our DOP, and our Graphic Designer Matt Petch for updating the web sites!
28.11.2008 update by film’s director Tanja Katinka Karttunen.
posted 28th Oct 2008
“Promised Land of Heavy Metal” HD TV feature length documentary first viewings:
-Press viewing 1st November 2008 11.30am at Gloria, Helsinki, Finland
-Preview of the documentary at the 10th anniversary party of Metal Club MÖKÄ, same place and the same day at 8.00pm. Tickets €12-13 (with several bands). In English, no subtitles.
address: Gloria Kulttuuriareena (Gloria Cultural Arena) Pieni Roobertinkatu 12 00130 Helsinki, Finland + 358 9 3104 5800
More info at:
-International premier at ROKUMENTTI International Documentary Film Festival, Joensuu, Finland. 14-15.11.2008. In English, no subtitles.
“Promised Land of Heavy Metal” Saturday 15th November 2008 at 8.15pm Movie Centre Tapio, Screen 3 Kauppakatu 27, Joensuu, Finland
More info at:
All these events are attended by the filmmakers and also some of those celebrities who took part in the production: we’ll meet you there!
posted 7th Junly 2008
Tuska Festival in Helsinki was great and we didn't suffer at all (Tuska=Pain). Good weather (the gathering clouds around Hellsinki missed this outdoors event), loud music, great atmosphere and friendly people... what more can you ask?
Thank you to all the behind the scenes personnel for organizing the festival passes and band interviews.
Some of the Finnish bands we met:
Him, Nightwish, Lordi, Korpiklaani, Sonata Arctica, Stam1na, Mokoma, Norther, Enochian Crescent, Blake, Before the Dawn, Hateform...
Some of the international bands we have interviews from are:
Killswitch Engage (USA), Entombed (Sweden), Carcass (UK), Dimmu Borgir (Norway), Kreator (Germany)...
We've also captured comments from rock reporter Jorge Polito from Uruguay and Indonesian metal band Naxo!!! They travelled to Finnish Tuska from the other side of the globe....
A BIG thank you to all the members of the Tuska audience, from heavy metal babies to the granny fans: what a great attitude, respect!
Our camera DOP Heli Pesonen has been fantastic; her energy seems endless.
The Band competition winner is Corruption Inc. from Hameenlinna, Finland. Congratulations! We met Ami Koivistoinen in music store Soundata for a quick interview. Corruption Inc. track "Absolution" will be featured in the documentary.
The "Promised Land" documentary itself is making some waves is the Finnish media: there have been newspaper stories (Karjalainen, Turun Sanomat, DemariHelsingin Sanomat, Seura...) and radio interviews (YLE Radio Suomi) and it seems there's more to come.
More news to come, and more web links to come, we still have filming to do and people to meet...
While in Finland we are staying in a peaceful "granny cabin" outside Helsinki, hospitality is provided by Tanja's sister Venla and her boyfriend Mikko. It's a nice place and a good contrast to the heavy metal mayhem. There's nothing like an open fireplace and vodka to clear your head after a heavy metal day... Yyyeeessshhhh....
While Kimmo, Tanja and Flynn are in Finland, Matt is taking care of the office, mailing and web site. Thank you&See you soon Matt!
xxx from Tanja&Kimmo&Flynn, Finland
posted 26th June 2008
Things are moving! We are now in Finland at the Tuska Festival,
doing lots of filming and having a good time.
There will also be a film party at the Rocktown Bar on the evening of 28th June.
This site opened 21st May 2008. Hooray! We have worked hard on this.
We'll see you all at the TUSKA festival in Helsinki Finland 27-29.6 2008.
-Busy organizing this next adventure :)
YLE Radio Reporter Samuli Sainio will come to Tuska to do two Interviews with us. One is about the essence of Heavy Metal. Please contact us ( interview@promisedlandofmetal.com ) if you'll want to talk about Metal with Kimmo & Samuli!
There will be newspaper stories coming out about the project soon, we'll keep you posted.
We are organizing a "Wrap up the Filming" party after Tuska in Helsinki. The camera crew will be there and the party will be featured at the end of the documentary. More details and venue to be announced soon.
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