Helsinki, September 23rd, 2011 - Principal photography of the filmatization of internationally bestselling novel PURGE by Sofi Oksanen has started in Tallinn, Estonia. Shooting will take place entirely in Estonia and last until December 2011.
Cast of PURGE is comprised of some of the most respected Finnish talents: Laura Birn and Liisi Tandefelt as the female lead, young and old Aliide in past and present, Amanda Pilke (FORBIDDEN FRUIT) as Zara, who ends up on Aliide's doorstep, Krista Kosonen (JADE WARRIOR) as Aliide's beautiful sister Ingel, Peter Franzén as Ingel's husband Hans and Tommi Korpela (RARE EXPORTS) as the agitator Martin. PURGE is directed by Antti Jokinen (b. 1968). Jokinen's first feature, horror film THE RESIDENT (2011) starred Hillary Swank and Christopher Lee.
The novel PURGE by Sofi Oksanen is one of the most acknowledged Finnish novels of recent years. It has been translated into 40 languages as well as awarded internationally several times, winning among others the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2010 and the European Book Prize 2010 and two prestigious awards in France, where the book has been a bestseller: Prix Femina Ètranger 2010 and the 2010 FNAC prize (Le Prix du roman Fnac) as the first novel to gain the award to a foreign author.
PURGE is a story of two women from two different eras linked by separate tales of deceit, desperation - and fear. Aliide has experienced the horrors of the Stalin era and the deportation of Estonians to Siberia, but she herself has to cope with the guilt of opportunism and even manslaughter. One night in 1992 she finds a young woman in the courtyard ofher house; Zara who has just escaped from the claws of the Russian mafia who held her as a sex slave. Aliide and Zara engage in a complex arithmetic of suspicion and revelation to distill each other´s motives. Gradually, their stories emerge, with the culmination of a tragic family drama of rivalry, lust, and loss.
PURGE is produced by Markus Selin and Jukka Helle for Solar Films and co-produced by Estonian Taska Film. The production is supported by Finnish Film Foundation, Estonian Film Foundation, MEDIA, and Nordisk Film & TV Fond. TrustNordisk handles international sales, Nordisk Film holds Scandinavian rights.