Documentary SNOWBALL EFFECT premiere on October 6th!

Snowball Effect

Snowball Effect tells the story of one of the biggest political scandals in the recent history of Finland. 

Director Punkki sets out to find what happened in the small town of 6500 people and 12 000 reindeers in Finnish Lapland.  How a decision to elect and then dismiss a young feminist female Mayor led to democratic crisis. 

Snowball Effect takes place in a remote Kittilä municipality in Finnish Lapland. Kittilä plunged into a democratic crisis in 2013. The disagreement between the Mayor and local trustees escalated into court cases, a media circus, a new law by the Finnish state (“Lex Kittilä”), and Finland’s largest lawsuits against municipal councillors  to date. One of the characters of the film, the newly appointed Kittilä’s  Mayor Timo Kurula, was just sentenced by the Finnish Supreme Court to suspended jail sentence for the abuse of official position. Even with the sentence he remains in power as Mayor. 

This kind of Snowball Effect can happen anywhere, even in this arctic wonderland, known for its international tourism, winter sports and Northern lights and even in Finland, one of the least corrupt countries in the world.