Clusterfuck
A GROUP OF FRIENDS START KIDNAPPING EACH OTHER - WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
Clusterfuck is a coming-of-age drama about loneliness and the lengths we're willing to go to in order to feel accepted.
The story follows 17-year-old John, who moves from a small Finnish town to a new school after years of severe bullying. Determined to leave his past behind, he reinvents himself as tough and reckless, and quickly falls in with a wild group of students.
But the friendship is built on a cruel joke. What starts as a fun prank, kidnapping for a birthday surprise soon becomes a game within the group. Each prank escalates further, until one of them goes horribly wrong.
Director's note
Clusterfuck gives us the opportunity to dive into a sometimes tormenting world, which everyone who was once a teenager can understand. That period of life includes a feeling of immortality, outrageousness and, from an adult's perspective, completely insane actions. Many things that seemed like easy stuff as a teenager now seem pretty terrible when one looks back on them.
The car accident and the subsequent death of Antti are major turning points and the script leads organically towards this tragedy. It is clearly important for the screenwriter to be truthful in his text and I appreciate this very much. The kidnapping scenes, expressed in musical terms, form a kind of leading theme that the film always returns to. This structure tickles the music person in me and it opens up a lot of cinematic possibilities to tell the story in an interesting and cinematically ambitious way. The story, which always returns to these driving scenes - filled with by music - opens up really interesting cinematic narrative possibilities - youth, music, drugs and dark roads.
As thematic references of the film, I could mention Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados and Larry Clark's KIDS, which are truthful descriptions of youth with many, even dark, nuances. Clusterfuck will also be a film containing many shades of life. Although the film follows teenagers – children – the film will certainly appeal to other age groups as well. We need to remind adults from time to time that they too were once young and reckless. This will hopefully increase understanding towards all young people and is really important for all of our futures, especially in these times when the news is filled with alarming information about the malaise of youth and violence between them.
Screenwriter's note
Clusterfuck is a story about loneliness and what we’re prepared to do to in order to be loved and accepted. We all long to be part of a group, a community or a family. In our movie, our protagonist John has just moved to the suburbs from the countryside and is given a chance to start over, leaving behind a troubled past as a victim of bullying. John is determined to create a new life for himself. A new life as one of the cool kids. For the first time in his life, he’s got a chance to become popular and make friends. Even if it means turning into a bully himself.
At his new school, John quickly finds himself part of a gang of cocky teenagers and is eager to prove himself. When he suggests kidnapping one of his new friends as part of a birthday surprise, he unwittingly creates an entire new tradition and hobby for the group. At first it’s all fun and games, but for every moment the kidnappings escalate further, going into darker, more dangerous and more violent territories. It’s only a matter of time until something that can’t be taken back happens and our lead characters are left to pick up the pieces.
Recent years in Finland have seen an uptick in youth loneliness and violence. And not only that. They’re filming themselves robbing, beating up and humiliating each other and uploading it to social media in an effort to create some sort of image of themselves on these platforms. To belong somewhere. Which is what John does as well and that is why I believe this movie will resonate among young viewers as well as adult audiences – we’ve all been young, we’ve all done stupid and reckless stuff to find our tribe. The technology evolves, but the human experience of finding somewhere to belong doesn’t.
Producer's note
Director Juho-Pekka Tanskanen has already demonstrated a distinctive cinematic voice in his previous films Waiting for Barcelona and The Last Misfits by the Golden River. His work stands out through its unique atmosphere, nuanced portrayal of people, and strong visual storytelling. I deeply value his approach to filmmaking, and his background in documentary cinema brings a level of realism, authenticity, and emotional sensitivity that serves the world of this story exceptionally well.
Clusterfuck is not a film about monsters, it is a film about ordinary teenagers desperately trying to belong. While rooted in a specific environment, its themes are universal. Across cultures, young people struggle with loneliness, identity, and the need for acceptance. The film explores how the line between fun and bullying can gradually become blurred within a group dynamic, where laughter, loyalty, and peer pressure can normalize behaviour that would otherwise seem unthinkable.
The project is currently in development with support from the Finnish Film Foundation. We have completed the fourth draft of the screenplay, and approaching its final version. At the same time, we are in discussions with Finnish broadcaster Yle and distributors, with decisions expected in August. We are applying for production support later this year, with the aim to shoot next year.
We believe the film’s themes resonate beyond national borders. By combining a highly authentic portrayal of youth culture with a visually ambitious cinematic approach, Clusterfuck aims to speak to audiences internationally while remaining deeply rooted in its local reality.
Profile
Danish Bear Productions founded in 2015 in Helsinki. Their films have been screened at many A festivals internationally such as Sundance, distributed across Europe by Netflix and Disney+, received critical acclaim, and nominated for Finnish National Film Awards. At the moment Danish Bear is developing both documentary and fiction films.