Mika Rantonen
Writer-Director Mika Rantonen
Born 1980 in Small Town, Finland.
Mika grew up on a dairy farm in central Finland dodging stray bullets, high jumping and bootlegging films on VHS. As a teenager, Mika started developing computer games, which later evolved into a job.
Mika has a rather unusual background for a filmmaker. He has a Master’s Degree in computer science and leadership from the University of Helsinki. He has worked several years as an Agile Coach. In 2004 Mika went through 12 months of army training to become a Reserve Officer in The Finnish Defence Forces. He specializes in urban warfare.
Through these experiences, he has built his own philosophy of team work that he applies also to filmmaking. It includes agile, cross-functional teams with extremely light organization. In 2006, Mika attended PCFI Prague Film School’s summer course in Czech Republic and in 2007 he founded a production company Uphill Films. In 2011 he attended the Berlinale Talent Campus.
Mika has written and directed two feature films, a pitch black romantic tragicomedy Detachment, and 80′s B-action film pastiche And White Was the Night.
Recent work by Mika on NeoKitsch:
And White Was The Night
Tenderly