The 72-year-old Finn Esko Ketola is a four-times world champion weightlifter, and before the strong-as-an-ox senior resigns and leaves the stage to younger forces, he plans to take the first prize at a last World Cup. But the road to the podium and to the final triumph takes more than just discipline and hard training, and it is paved with events that even the stubborn Esko could not have predicted! Finnish deadpan meets ‘Rocky’ in an offbeat and different film about stopping while you are on top of the game –accompanied by Scandinavia’s answer to the soundtrack of a relaxed spaghetti western, recorded by the two directors Janiv Oskar and Terhi Romo themselves. The charming Iron Grandpa is both unmistakably Scandinavian in tone and fundamentally human in its narrative.

75 minutes. In Finnish with English subtitles.

Admission $8 | $4 for SCC members

Iron Grandpa – Teaser from Janiv Takala on Vimeo.