Taru Mäkelä (born 1 April 1959) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. She started her career in the 1980s working for the

Finnish Broadcasting Company Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

Life and career

Besides directing and screenwriting, Mäkelä has also worked as a producer, editor and actor. Mäkelä studied at the Department of Cinematography at the

Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Aalto is a Finnish surname meaning "wave". Notable people with the surname include: * Aino Aalto (1894–1949), Finnish architect and designer * Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat * Alvar Aalto (1898–1976), Finnish architect and design ...

and graduated with a master's degree in art in 1989. She is also a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Helsinki. Mäkelä began her career as a director in the 1980s at

YLE Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

, where she wrote and directed the Smiley Lips entertainment series. She has directed three feature films: ''Little Sister'' (1999), ''

The Storage ''The Storage'' ( fi, Varasto) is a 2011 Finnish comedy film directed by Taru Mäkelä. Cast * Kari-Pekka Toivonen as Antero Rousku * Minttu Mustakallio as Karita * Aku Hirviniemi as Raninen * Esko Salminen as Kataja * Juha Muje as Store mana ...

'' (2011) and ''

August Fools ''August Fools'' ( fi, Mieletön elokuu) is a 2013 comedy film directed by Taru Mäkelä. It is a Finnish-Czech co-production set in Helsinki, Finland in the early 1960s. Main cast *Kati Outinen *Esko Salminen * Elena Leeve *Laura Birn *Tapio L ...

'' (2013). In December 2014, Mäkelä's comedy ''Eila, Rampe and Likka'', based on the characters in Sinikka Nopola's books, premiered. In 2005–2010, Mäkelä was a member of the Board of the

Finnish Film Foundation The Finnish Film Foundation ( fi, Suomen elokuvasäätiö, sv, Finlands filmstiftelse) is an independent foundation with the task of supporting and developing Finnish film production, distribution and exhibition. It is supervised by the Departmen ...

. She was the chairman of the Finnish Film Directors' Association from 2006 to 2008. Mäkelä has suffered from cancer three times, most recently from metastases to the liver in 2017. The Mäkelä family has been active in the film industry since the 1920s. Mäkelä's uncle was film producer

Mauno Mäkelä Mauno Ilmari Mäkelä (7 March 1916 – 17 October 1987) was a Finnish film producer. He also appeared as an actor in films ''Iskelmäketju'' (1959) and ''Luottamus'' (1976). Mäkelä received a Jussi Award for producing the film ''Elokuu Elo ...

and her grandfather was an influential figure in the Finnish film industry, Väinö Mäkelä. Her cousin Jukka Mäkelä was one of the founders of Finnkino. The documentary ''Saalis'' (2007), directed and written by Taru Mäkelä, tells the story of her family. In 2005, Mäkelä and her husband, film director Jouko Seppälä, founded the film production company Kinosto, which was also the name of her grandfather's company.

Selected filmography as a director

*''Lotat'' (1995) *''Pikkusisar'' (1999) *''

Varasto ''The Storage'' ( fi, Varasto) is a 2011 Finnish comedy film directed by Taru Mäkelä. Cast * Kari-Pekka Toivonen as Antero Rousku * Minttu Mustakallio as Karita * Aku Hirviniemi as Raninen * Esko Salminen as Kataja * Juha Muje as Store man ...

'' (2011) *''

'' (2013) *''Varasto 2'' (2018) *''Täydellinen joulu'' (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Makela, Taru 1959 births Living people People from Tampere Finnish film directors Finnish screenwriters Finnish women film directors Finnish women screenwriters