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.  

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In her films Kira often deals with such themes as cultural memory and identity. She is fascinated by archival footage and likes to juxtapose moving images and still images. Kira was Nipkow fellow in 2013. Her latest film Northern Travelogues premiered in January 2019 and has won several prizes at film festivals around the world, including Grand Prix at the Golden Raven International Arctic Film Festival and Best Scientific Recording at Pärnu International Documentary film festival. 

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Since 2006 Kira has worked in different aspects of filmmaking for companies in Finland, Denmark and Germany.  She was the artistic director of Polish Film Weeks in Finland 2006-2018 and is a regular guest curator and a jury member at international film festivals. 

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Currently Kira lives in Finland developing her future projects with the support from Finnish Cultural Foundation. 

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Kira Jääskeläinen CV