My mother Paivi was a very strong willed Finn with a lot of the famous Finnish trait, sisu. This strength, as well as the Finnish pride she instilled in me has made me who I am today. My mother embodied the core essence of sisu and like my mother I also live with this strength as my mindset. My entire existence has been shaped by sisu.
“SISU is a part of my soul. SISU is a Finnish word and way of life for over 500 years and roughly translates into courage, perseverance and the ability to conquer tragedy.
Sisu Film is a powerful personal and emotional 5 year voyage for me. I started with the idea for this film when I found out my wife was pregnant with our twins. I wanted to show them where i came from, who my Mom was and is, who our family in Finland is and how important SISU was in life.
Shortly after I started planning the film, my mothers only surviving brother informed us all that he had terminal pancreatic cancer and a short time to live. I traveled to Finland 6-7 times over 2012-2014 filming and spending time with my family.
The reason I produced this film is to spread and empower SISU to those who need it especially families that have gone through death. We all have our battles to fight, SISU can help us all win.” Filmmaker – Marko Albrecht
