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 (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock compa ...

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 University School of Arts, Design and Architecture; ; ), was formed of two separate schools: the faculty of architecture (previously part of the Helsinki University of Technology) and the University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH, known in ...

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 (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

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

The Storage ''The Storage'' () is a 2011 Finnish comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy b ...

'' (2011) and '' August Fools'' (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 (, ) is an independent Foundation (charity), foundation with the task of supporting and developing Finland, Finnish film production, distribution and exhibition. It is supervised by the Department for Cultural Policy i ...

. 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 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'' () is a 2011 Finnish comedy film directed by Taru Mäkelä and based on the novel ''Varasto'' by Arto Salminen. Plot The central character of the film is Antero Rousku, a warehouse worker at a hardware store. However, Antero is ...

'' (2011) *'' August Fools'' (2013) *'' Varasto 2'' (2018) *''Täydellinen joulu'' (2019) *''

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the most commonly sung Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont. It is an unsettled question where and when Pierpont originally composed the song that would become known as "Jingle Bells". It ...

'' (2022)

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