Mikko Niskanen

Mikko Niskanen

Directing 1929-01-31 Äänekoski, Finland

Mikko Niskanen was a Finnish film director and actor. He was born in Äänekoski, Central Finland in 1929. He was the third of six children, and his father worked as a timber barge pilot. His mother too had a job outside the home, so the children often spent summers with their grandmother in Viitasaari. At the age of 13, Mikko Niskanen started working in timber felling and floating. Two years later he enrolled in a vocational school in Jyväskylä to become a car mechanic. He took a serious interest in amateur theatre and was accepted to study at the Finnish Theatre Academy in Helsinki from 1947 until 1950. He then acted in Jyväskylä and Kuopio theatres until 1954 when he landed an actor's job at the film studios of Suomen Filmiteollisuus in Helsinki. One of his first film roles was in Edvin Laine's The Unknown Soldier (1955). Between 1958 and 1961 Niskanen studied at the Moscow Film School in the Soviet Union. Niskanen's 1962 film The Boys was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. He continued his directing career focusing on themes such as rural life and youth. His second breakthrough was Under Your Skin (Käpy selän alla, 1966), a story of two young couples spending a weekend camping in the countryside. The film received six Jussi Awards and was followed by another story about young lovers, Asfalttilampaat (1968). Niskanen's tour de force as both actor and director was the five-hour television drama Eight Deadly Shots which was also released as a 145-minute theatrical version edited by Jörn Donner. Based on a true story from late 1960s Finland, it is a naturalistic drama about a poor farmer struggling to make a living for his family. He gradually becomes a violent alcoholic who goes on killing spree when the police arrive to calm him down. Besides directing, Niskanen gave a powerful and intense performance in the leading role. The film, like many of Niskanen's works were shot on locations around his home province north of Jyväskylä. Mikko Niskanen died of cancer at the age of 61.

代表作

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全部作品

1988 (uncredited)
1988 Director
1988 Screenplay
1988 Casting
1986 Auku-eno
1986 Screenplay
1986 Director
1983 Martti, Monan äidin esimies
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1982 Aaro, työnjohtaja
1982 Tiera
1982 Jallu
1982 Director
1982 Writer
1982 Producer
1979 Producer
1978 Kalervo Haapanen
1978 Director
1978 Screenplay
1978 Producer
1977 Heikki Niskanen
1977 Director
1977 Screenplay
1977 Producer
1976 Producer
1976 Production Supervisor
1976 Producer
1972 Pasi
1972 Pasi
1972 Writer
1972 Director of Photography
1972 Director
1972 Producer
1972 Producer
1972 Director
1972 Writer
1972 Director of Photography
1972 Creator
1971 Palsami / Rehentelevä tukkilainen
1971 Director
1971 Screenplay
1968 Director
1968 Screenplay
1967 luennoitsija
1967 Director
1967 Writer
1967 Director
1966 Man on Dance Floor (uncredited)
1966 Director
1963 Director
1963 Director
1963 Screenplay
1963 Screenplay
1962 (uncredited)
1962 Director
1962 Screenplay
1958 (uncredited)
1958 (uncredited)
1958 (uncredited)
1958 Location Manager
1957 (uncredited)
1957 UN-soldier #2
1957 (uncredited)
1956 Location Manager
1955 artist Sumppu
1955 (uncredited)
1955 Mielonen
1955 Villager (uncredited)
1950 (uncredited)