Lentaja (aka The Airman)

Wartime Finland. The Russian Soviet army has taken over south east Finland after bitter fighting.

10 year old Tuomas and his family head out of their war ravaged town to stay with his grandfather at a farm house in Soviet occupied territory. One night a Russian bomber crashes in a nearby field.  All crew members are believed to be dead, but Tuomas finds the pilot alive, caught by his parachute in the forest trees. The Finnish villagers refuse to help the Russian and leave him to die overnight. When this fails they decide to shoot him and bury his body in the forest soil.  The next day, Tuomas finds the airman alive wandering across a field. The boy is faced with a dilemma; to tell the villagers that the pilot is alive or hide him. 

The Airman is a universal story of trust, prejudice and a simple act of humanity. 

The feature film debut of writer/director, Ian Cottage. Ian has directed films for the BBC, Channel Four, BFI and UK Film Council and was described by the Festival du Cinema Brittanique as "one of the foremost film makers of the moment".