Paula Korva’s “Sudden Outbursts of Emotion,” a sex-positive comedy about the complexities of modern love and mid-life crises, took home the top prize Thursday at the Finnish Film Affair , an annual industry event running parallel to the Helsinki Intl. Film Festival. The film was one of five fiction feature works in progress and seven works in development that were pitched to an audience of industry guests in Helsinki during the Nordic event’s showcase of local and regional projects.
Korva’s feature-length directorial debut, the film is produced by Marko Talli of Helsinki-based Yellow Film & TV. “Sudden Outbursts of Emotion” follows Jane, a travel agent who sells people on adventure but is happily settled in her own life with her partner, Mikki. Thinking their relationship is strong, Jane is shocked when Mikki suddenly proposes they open it up.
To save their love, Jane agrees to attend a sex party of the creative class called the Isle of Lust. The experiment takes a surprising turn when Jane falls in love with the polyamorous Valma. For a moment, everything seems fine, but then new people and new emotions enter the picture.
Exploring the diversity of love and the difficult yet liberating journey of finding one’s own path, the film asks if there’s such a thing as too much love. In its citation of the award-winning project, the jury composed of G4C Innovation CEO and producer Gudrun Giddings, Sundance Film Festival senior programmer Heidi Zwicker, veteran film .