Stuba Nikula as CEO of the Finnish Film Foundation

Finland the board of the film foundation has chosen a new CEO Stuba Nikulawho will start in the position in August 2026. Currently, Nikula is the CEO of the Helsinki Events Foundation, a position he started in 2018.

Nikula’s predecessor in the film foundation is Lasse Saarinenwho started in the position in 2016. Saarinen has worked in the position for the maximum time, as the CEO is elected for a maximum of five years at a time and after that for a maximum of one additional term.

A total of 32 people applied to succeed Saarinen as CEO of the Film Foundation, including many influential people in the cultural sector, such as Rosa Meriläinen, Tero Koistinen and Pauliina Ståhlberg.

In autumn In 2025, the film industry was threatened by a major funding cut decided during the budget tussle, which would have particularly affected the subsidies distributed by the Finnish Film Foundation. Later, however, the funding cut was canceled and it was decided to target for example, for the funding of universities and universities of applied sciences, as well as the funding of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

HS could not reach Stuba Nikula on Friday morning, but he commented on his appointment in the Film Foundation’s press release: “The combination of making art and commercial thinking makes film a particularly close and interesting field for me,” he says.