Risto Räppääjä film shoot forces Helsinki-to-Nurmes train journey

Filming for the eleventh Risto Räppääjä movie forced a special train journey from Helsinki to Nurmes in North Karelia, a route the children’s book character had never taken before.

The production used two VR locomotives, one to bring the crew north and another to travel within the region. Joensuu-based driver Antti Haverinen operated both trains, calling the assignment the most memorable of his nearly 17 years with VR.

“My three kids have seen every Risto Räppääjä film,” Haverinen said. “We’ll watch the new one together when it comes out next winter.”

The film’s plot centers on Risto’s search for his favorite ice-cream flavor, a storyline inspired by an incident from author Tiina Nopola’s own daughter’s childhood. The production shot scenes on moving trains and at stations, including Nurmes, to capture North Karelian landscapes for the first time in the franchise.

Child actors Emil Paloniemi, 12, and Miisa Kivimäki, 13, star as Risto and Nelli in their first Risto Räppääjä roles. Both completed four weeks of rehearsals before the shoot, which ended the same week Finnish schools resume.

“I’d like to keep acting, but I don’t know what I’ll want to do in ten years,” Paloniemi said. Kivimäki echoed the uncertainty: “Maybe I’ll be an actor—it’s one option, but we’ll see.”

Veteran cast member Jenni Kokander appears in her fifth Risto Räppääjä film as freezer Elvi. Author Tiina Nopola also makes a cameo, though she emphasized her focus remains on the books. A new Risto Räppääjä novel, the first in several years, is scheduled for release next year to mark the series’ 30th anniversary.