Kaisa Hämäläinen

This young actress astounded everyone with her profound performance in the acclaimed short film Taivasmatka (2001). Being only thirteen years old by the time of the filming, Kaisa faced a difficult task debuting in the leading role playing a young girl going through an emotional journey. Despite of the demanding requirements, she was able to make her character so believable that eventually it was her performance that carried the whole film. She said later on that she used a lot of her own experiences in life to achieve the emotions the part required. It is much due to her talent that the film was awarded later on.

A year later in the summer 2002 the same crew was filming a new film titled Niin lähellä, niin kaukana (2003) and Kaisa was attached again, this time in a supporting role. She played the part of the little sister called Maija. The role was written for her. Kaisa told afterwards that this time everything was easier, because the process of filmmaking was already familiar. Maija was also a lot like Kaisa, so she could use her own clothes and act like she would act in everyday life. This was only her second film and she worked already like a pro, knowing exactly how to build the character to make it convincible. The result in the final film was a genuine teenager, feeling both secure and insecure at the same time. Everyone who saw Kaisa performing couldn't quite understand how she actually did it. It looked so easy, like she wasn't acting at all. When the camera wasn't rolling, she was her joyful self, never in one place longer than a second. But as soon as "action" was yelled she disappeared into the role and became a professional actress. All you had to do was to look into her eyes and you noticed that Kaisa had vanished and you were looking at the character. She enjoyed acting and was looking forward to every scene, every line. And she was getting better all the time.