Screening: Tom of Finland

The Scandinavian Cultural Center is proud to once again partner with Boston’s Wicked Queer Film Festival group to present the new Tom of Finland film as a part of the Bright Lights Series. Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specializing in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution. Discussion led by faculty member and The New York Times Magazine Writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis to follow. Directed by Dome Karukoski, 115 minutes, Finland, 2017 Thursday, December 7th at 7pm, Free Admission This event will be hosted at The Paramount Center at Emerson College in downtown Boston and not in our Nordic Hall.