March 2007

Pelicanman Best of the Festival in Riga

Pelicanman won the Best of the Festival Audience Award at Riga International Children's Film Festival.

May 2006

Pelicanman distributed in 31 countries

Pelicanman is distributed already in 31 countries, the latest being Indonesia, Turkey and Brazil.

March 2006

Two Main Prizes for Pelicanman in Cairo

Pelicanman has won two main prizes at Cairo International Film Festival for Children, March 2 – 9, 2006. Besides the Main Prize, Golden Cairo, it also received the Children's International Jury Prize. The main jury stressed that children's films “should be produced for children and not merely about them”. Pelicanman meets this prerequisite fine, which was proven once again by the fact that also the children´s jury considered it to be the best film at the festival.

December 2005

Teddy Bear Special Prize to Pelicanman in Moscow

Pelicanman has got another award, this time at Moscow International Film Festival for Children and Youth (December 20–27, 2005). The international jury gave Pelicanman one of the three Teddy Bear Special Prizes. According to the jury, all the different sectors of the film – script, directing, acting, cinematography and music – were well made to tell the story. In addition to the three Teddy Bears, there was a Grand Prix.

November 2005

Main Prize for Pelicanman in London

Pelicanman again won the hearts of child audiences. The child jury of the London Children's Film Festival gave Pelicanman one of the two main awards of the festival: First Light Young Jury Prize: Best Feature chosen by 7–11 olds. The jury consisted of ten children aged 7-11, who selected the film from among eight nominees. In the same category there were films from the Netherlands, India, Iran, Great Britain, Korea and the United States.

Best of the Fest Audience Award to Pelicanman in Chicago

Pelicanman continues to conquer the hearts of different audiences around the world. The audience of Chicago International Children´s Film Festival awarded it as “Best of the Fest”. The festival was organized for the 22 nd time and it is the largest festival of films for children in North America, featuring over 200 animated and live action films from 40 countries.

Pelicanman has been sold to theatrical and TV distribution in altogether 15 countries outside Finland, e.g. Japan, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxemburg and several East European countries.

August 2005

Pelicanman sold to several Eastern European countries

Pelicanman has been sold to several Eastern European countries. The Estonian company Tallinnfilm, and MCF operating in the area of Former Yugoslavia, have purchased all rights, and in these countries the film will start with a theatrical release. Eastern Europe TV-rights have been sold to Slovenia´s RTV, and to HBO which operates in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovak and Former Yugoslavia.

Pelicanman speaks several languages around the world: in Sweden it has been released dubbed in Swedish and in Brazil it tours the festivals dubbed in Portuguese. The Dutch distributor A-film, that purchased the rights for Benelux countries last spring, is dubbing it in Dutch. Pelicanman´s rights were sold last spring also to the Japanese Only Hearts.

Pelicanman premiered in Finland already in December 2004 but it´s still running in theatres. So far the audience figure is 114.365.

June 2005

Pelicanman sold for distribution in Japan

Six months in Finnish cinemas, Pelicanman has been sold for distribution in Japan. Local distributor has purchased all distribution rights to the film. Previous month, Pelicanman was sold for theatrical distribution in the Benelux countries. The DVD version will be released in Finland and Sweden in July.

US press continues to praise the film. Rob Nelson in Citypages writes about the ”ingenious Kari Ketonen”, leading actor, that his “method has as much to do with ornithology as acting” and adds: ”Particularly by the standards of most American movies for kids, Pelicanman is droll and refreshingly gentle.”

Spectators' and Children's Best Film Awards for Pelicanman at Zlín festival

Pan Pelikán (Pelicanman in Czech language) was given two main awards at Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth: The Main Prize of the Children's Jury for the Best Feature Film for Children (by an international children's jury) and The Spectators' Award for the Best Feature Film by the festival audience. The awards were accepted by Kari Ketonen who received excellent feedback for his leading role in the film.

May 2005

Pelicanman into theatrical distribution in the Benelux countries

Pelicanman has been sold for theatrical distribution in the Benelux countries. Distributed by the acclaimed Dutch A-Film, Pelicanman will premiere in the Netherlands in November 2005.

Having received Special Mention at Kristiansand International Children's Film Festival and being praised by international press, Pelicanman continues its festival tour. After New York, Newport Beach, Toronto, Montreal and Kristansand, there are Amsterdam, Munich, Sheffield, Poznan, Zlin and Sodankylä on the agenda. The film will also be screened in Minnesota in the USA and in Brazil, dubbed in Portuguese. In the autumn the film will be shown at film festivals in Israel and Iran, among others.

Pelicanman praised by US media

Pelicanman started its overseas tournée in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival, founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff. There were only two non-English speaking films in the Family Film category, Pelicanman being one of them. The film got a wonderful response in the US press. Read more.

Monsieur Pélican visits Canada

Pelicanman (in French: Monsieur Pélican) was screened at Montreal International Children’s Film Festival in Canada.

Two Jussi Awards for Pelicanman

Pelicanman received two Jussi Awards 2005 (National "Oscars") for sound design and production design.

January 2005

Pelicanman nominated for five Jussi Awards

Pelicanman has five nominations for the national Jussi Awards - the Finnish Oscars - in the categories best film, male leading role, cinematography, production design and sound design.

December 2004

Pelicanman in theatres

Family feature Pelicanman (directed by Liisa Helminen) received its long-awaited premiere on December 17, 2004.

Salminen receives an award for best cinematography

The cinematographer of Pelicanman, Timo Salminen, received the Golden Frog Award for the best cinematography for the film Man Without a Past at the Camerimage Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Lodz, Poland in December 2004.

November 2004

Pelicanman flies to Berlin

Family feature film Pelicanman was nominated for competition at the Berlin Film Festival in childrens' films category. The festival will be organized in February 2005.

Helminen awarded in Finland

Director Liisa Helminen was awarded with Matti Pellonpää award in Saarijärvi, as well as with the first Little Bear award by the Northern Film and Media Centre POEM at the Oulu International Childrens' Film Festival. Producer Hanna Hemilä and sound designer Pauli Jyrälä, both nominated for the first Finlandia film award for Pelicanman, were not lucky this time, but were consoled with the fact that 33,33 % of the nominees represented the film Pelicanman.

October 2004

State award for Nykänen

Editor Jukka Nykänen was given the State award.

February 2004

A foretaste of the film
 
The Pelicanman trailer started showing in cinemas in Finland on February 13, 2004 before the new Disney family feature Brother Bear.

November 2003

Filming of Pelicanman finalized

The chimpanzees at the Helsinki Zoo and leaves turning yellow were the last targets to be filmed for Pelicanman.

June 2003

Filming of Pelicanman started

The filming of family feature Pelicanman began on June 9, 2003 in Helsinki.