Photo by Timo Peltonen
Kira Jääskeläinen was born in Warsaw into a Finnish-Polish family. She moved to Finland as a child, and the first part of her life she studied classical cello under the supervision of professor Seppo Laamanen in Helsinki.
Wanting to explore other countries, Kira moved to Copenhagen at the age of 19. She studied Russian studies at the University of Copenhagen. During several expeditions to north-eastern Siberia, Kira's interest in documentary filmmaking grew. She has studied film at the All Russian State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow and in several international documentary workshops, including Eurodoc and Nipkow Program.
Since 2006 Kira has worked in different aspects of filmmaking for companies in Finland, Denmark and Germany. She has also been part of several film festival teams, including Tampere Film Festival, Docpoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival and Odense Short Film Festival. Kira was the artistic director of Polish Film Weeks in Finland 2006-2018. She is a regular guest curator and a jury member at international film festivals.
Kira's new documentary film Northern Travelogues premiered in January 2019 and has won several prizes at film festivals around the world. Currently Kira lives and works in Finland. She is developing her future projects including a documentary about her 100 years old cello that was found in garbage.