WATCH FILM

Dome Karukoski • Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany • 2017 • A story of love, courage, perseverance.

Postwar Helsinki. Touko Laaksonen, an ex-soldier, has returned to the Finnish capital. Homosexuality is forbidden in the strict political atmosphere of the 1950s—gay men must conduct their lives furtively. Adopting the nom de plume Tom of Finland, Laaksonon coopts the wartime fashion of men in uniform to creates thousands of erotic drawings. The desire to have his work published brings him to California, where he is finally embraced during the sexual revolution of the 1970s.

Starring Pekka Strang as the eponymous protagonist, Tom of Finland affectionately portrays a hero of the gay liberation movement. Dome Karukoski’s seventh film premiered at Tribeca, Busan, Thessaloniki, and Göteborg, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.