Törhönen plans to revise rejected doctoral thesis

Film director Lauri Törhönen plans to revise and complete his doctoral thesis after years of legal proceedings over its rejection, Yle reports. Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court recently declined to grant him leave to appeal.

Törhönen’s thesis defence took place at the University of Lapland in October 2023. That December, the university’s Faculty of Art and Design council unanimously rejected the thesis, saying it did not meet the criteria for a doctoral dissertation.

Törhönen says he does not yet know how much of the original work needs to change. The 350-page thesis describes how films were made on film stock and in the period immediately afterwards. He says he will know what revisions are needed once he receives written instructions.

He also does not know who will supervise the work. One of his former supervisors, Mauri Ylä-Kotola, was dismissed by the university in 2024, while the other, Kaarina Määttä, had already retired.

Asked why he pursued legal action instead of revising the thesis immediately, Törhönen said he had written a work examining the filmmaking process in a way that could have served as a textbook, and suggested Yle ask the university.