{"id":30933,"date":"2026-05-22T09:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/?post_type=guests&p=30933"},"modified":"2026-05-22T09:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:42:08","slug":"martti-koskenniemi","status":"publish","type":"guests","link":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/","title":{"rendered":"Martti Koskenniemi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Koskenniemi is, however, better known for his extensive career. In 2023, the emeritus professor of international law was awarded the honorary Finnish title of Academician, and internationally he is recognized as a leading scholar in the field. Koskenniemi has served as a visiting or a part-time professor at institutions including New York University, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, and Sorbonne University in Paris.<\/span><\/p>\n

His passion for film has continued throughout his assignments abroad. Koskenniemi describes himself as a film fan \u2014 \u201cabsolutely\u201d \u2014 although he does not consider himself to have pursued the hobby seriously. He has never kept records of the films he has seen or the feelings they stirred in him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, some works have left a strong impression even without notes. For his Carte blanche series, Koskenniemi selected two films: <\/span>The Conversation<\/a>,<\/span><\/i> Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s paranoid classic from 1974, and <\/span>The Long Day Closes<\/span><\/i><\/a>, Terence Davies\u2019 masterful family story. His reasons are clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The Conversation<\/span><\/i><\/a> represents the significant flourishing period of American cinema that began in the 1970s \u2014 and at the same time the stage of life when my spouse and I learned that films could be more than mere entertainment: they could be both art and political expression,\u201d Koskenniemi says.<\/span><\/p>\n

His reasons for choosing <\/span>The Long Day Close<\/a>s<\/span><\/i> are more personal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the Liverpool of the early 1950s depicted in the film was very different from Turku in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the film awakened in me certain feelings and memories familiar from childhood. The portrayal of the protagonist\u2019s world and family is subtle, and together with the background music it creates a powerful nostalgic whole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And just like Koskenniemi as a boy in Turku, the main character of <\/span>The Long Day Closes<\/span><\/i><\/a> also feeds his imagination through movies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaisu Tervonen<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse…. View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":30936,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30933","guests","type-guests","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMartti Koskenniemi — Midnight Sun Film Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Martti Koskenniemi — Midnight Sun Film Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Midnight Sun Film Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MidnightSunFilmFestival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"469\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@msfilmfest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/\",\"name\":\"Martti Koskenniemi — Midnight Sun Film Festival\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-22T06:42:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg\",\"width\":469,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Martti Koskenniemi\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Etusivu\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Guests\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/vieraat\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Martti Koskenniemi\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/\",\"name\":\"Midnight Sun Film Festival\",\"description\":\"Midnight Sun Film Festival - Sodankyl\u00e4n Elokuvajuhlat\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sodankyl\u00e4n elokuvajuhlat\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/MSFF-LOGOx2-v2-e1496143012921.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/MSFF-LOGOx2-v2-e1496143012921.png\",\"width\":957,\"height\":77,\"caption\":\"Sodankyl\u00e4n elokuvajuhlat\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MidnightSunFilmFestival\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/msfilmfest\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/midnightsunfilmfestival\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Martti Koskenniemi — Midnight Sun Film Festival","description":"Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Martti Koskenniemi — Midnight Sun Film Festival","og_description":"Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse.","og_url":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/","og_site_name":"Midnight Sun Film Festival","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MidnightSunFilmFestival\/","og_image":[{"width":469,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@msfilmfest","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/","url":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/","name":"Martti Koskenniemi — Midnight Sun Film Festival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-22T06:42:08+00:00","description":"Before Martti Koskenniemi was a well-known expert in law \u2014 or even an adult \u2014 he was a film enthusiast. Koskenniemi\u2019s father took his young son to the movies in their hometown of Turku, and during his student years the young man eased his \u201cSunday evening angst\u201d by going to the cinema with his spouse.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/02PRINT_Martti_Koskenniemi002.jpeg","width":469,"height":640,"caption":"Martti Koskenniemi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/martti-koskenniemi\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Etusivu","item":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Guests","item":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/vieraat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Martti Koskenniemi"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/","name":"Midnight Sun Film Festival","description":"Midnight Sun Film Festival - Sodankyl\u00e4n Elokuvajuhlat","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#organization","name":"Sodankyl\u00e4n elokuvajuhlat","url":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/MSFF-LOGOx2-v2-e1496143012921.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/MSFF-LOGOx2-v2-e1496143012921.png","width":957,"height":77,"caption":"Sodankyl\u00e4n elokuvajuhlat"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MidnightSunFilmFestival\/","https:\/\/x.com\/msfilmfest","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/midnightsunfilmfestival\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guests\/30933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guests"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/guests"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guests\/30933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31147,"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guests\/30933\/revisions\/31147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}