FILMS, VIDEO, AND VISUAL EXPERIENCES.

What started as a hobby turned into a serious passion and eventually became Rostén’s professional future.

At the age of nine, through a fascination with special make-up and visual effects, Rostén discovered the world of animation. He got an old VHS-C camcorder that his father had used to shoot home videos. The camera had a stop-motion function, which instantly sparked a stop-motion hobby in Rostén.

Later Rostén moved more into live action, and made numerous short films, stunt videos, practical special effect tests and skit comedy with his friends. Praised and instigated by his art teacher, he continued making films and got a scholarship in art. In his pre-teens he started to find interest in writing, film criticism, cinema history and analyzing cinema, and with his own name and with pseudonym he wrote articles and reviews for zines, magazines and online platforms. He made his first special effects heavy feature before attending Juhana Herttua art, theatre and media based high school.

While still in high school, Rostén joined several feature film shoots in Turku as a background actor, not so much to appear on camera, but to get a front-row seat to observe a film set in action.

After making his second independent feature film, Rostén gained recognition in underground film circles in Finland and abroad. He decided to pursue this professional path further and studied Film & Television at Turku University of Applied Sciences, Arts Academy. By his second year, he was already making a living as a freelance director and editor in commercials and music videos. He graduated as a director and editor in the spring of 2017, having worked on 92 different AV-industry projects and films during his studies, including two short films and two feature films funded by the Finnish Film Foundation. For his thesis, he wrote about street casting and directed and edited the short film The Defiler. The short was critically acclaimed, nominated, and awarded in several national and international competitions, and his works have been featured in festivals worldwide. After the graduation, he has written four films, three shorts and one feature, with the Finnish Film Foundation scriptwriting grant and edited two feature films, ‘Free Skate’ and ‘Mis?’, for theatrical release.

His experience in demanding low-budget and indie film productions has equipped him with the resilience, adaptability, and collaborative skills needed to thrive under pressure and contribute effectively to team efforts, even with limited time or resources, and still have clearly defined artistic point of view and consistent visual storytelling across his body of work.

To date Rostén has directed countless short films, several music videos and three feature films. On the side he has worked as electrician and gaffer in many projects and gained his skills as a cinematographer. He has DP:d for short film productions, feature films and music videos. His work as cinematographer is known for communicating story (not just purely technical execution), emotional intent and heightened realism within genre film aesthetics. His first feature film ‘The Glass Coffin’ will be released in 2026 and he will be shooting his second feature ‘Kotiaresti’ as DP late 2025.

(Behind the scenes images © Juho Liukkonen)