MOVIE TRAILERS

Learn the Story of Touko Laaksonen in Trailer for 'Tom of Finland' Film

by Alex Billington
September 13, 2017
Source: YouTube

"Conquer America for me." Kino Lorber has debuted an official trailer for the Finnish indie drama Tom of Finland, a fictional feature film profile of the Finnish man who became known as "Tom of Finland". After returning home from WWII, Touko Laaksonen fled to America to escape homosexual persecution. There he established himself as one of the most influential and celebrated figures of 20th century gay culture. "Tom of Finland" drew erotic art of gay men, most often wearing leather outfits, which became a symbol of gay culture at the time. Pekka Strang plays "Tom of Finland", with a cast including Lauri Tilkanen, Jessica Grabowsky, Werner Daehn, and Kari Hietalahti. This premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, and played at numerous other film festivals. It looks like it has a strong lead performance at least.

Here's the first trailer (+ poster) for Dome Karukoski's Tom of Finland, direct from YouTube:

Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in WWII, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual men around him, even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specializing in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work - made famous by his signature 'Tom of Finland' - became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution. Tom of Finland is directed by Cyprus-Finnish filmmaker Dome Karukoski, of the films Beauty and the Bastard, The Home of Dark Butterflies, Forbidden Fruit, Lapland Odyssey, Heart of a Lion, and The Grump previously. The screenplay is written by Aleksi Bardy, from a story by Aleksi Bardy & Dome Karukoski. This premiered at the Göteborg and Tribeca Film Festivals. Kino Lorber will open Tom of Finland in select theaters starting October 13th.

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