Inka Rusi / Co-Founder / Director, Screenwriter & Producer
Born into a diplomatic family in New York City, Inka co-founded Onerva Pictures with the ambition to create a home for international film projects with a strong emphasis character-driven storylines inspired by true stories. In 2017, she received a Fulbright fellowship to pursue a graduate degree in film directing at California Institute of the Arts. Her thesis film BIND was selected to the 2021 CAA Moebius Showcase.
Before studying Inka worked on productions such The Devil’s Bride (Netflix) and Game of Thrones (HBO) as well as on commercial productions for clients such as British ELLE, C-More and MTV3.
She was the creative producer on the feature length documentary film BRAINWASHED:SEX-CAMERA-POWER excutive produced by Tim Disney and Abigail Disney that premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2022 and went on to screen at festivals such as The Berlinale Panorama, CPH:DOX, The BFI Film Festival and IDFA. Inka is a member of SELO, the Director’s Guild of Finland.
Tanja Rusi / Co-Founder / Head of Development / Producer
Tanja is a producer and co-founder of Onerva Pictures, an internationally facing production company based in London and Helsinki. Always a voracious reader and film geek, in 2019 Tanja transitioned to long form filmmaking and high end TV series production from a successful 15-year career in commercial publishing, where she specialised in branded video content for leading consumer magazines such as ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, GQ and WIRED in the UK.
Tanja is a partner in a sustainable production collective called ‘The Big Sky Earth’ in London. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Arts London, in Communication Design, specialising in moving image.
'I love it when a plan comes together.'
- Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith, The A-Team
The A-team was my favourite TV show as a kid growing up in New York. Each member of the team was a completely unique personality and very different, but together they were unstoppable. That, in a nutshell, is my inspiration for successful team work: Pick the most awesome people, as creative as possible, as diverse as possible, challenge each other, inspire each other, bring your own ideas to the table and most of all, have fun.
Katja Jokinen / Producer
With a wealth of experience in commercial film production, Katja brings her resilience and problem-solving skills to every project she is involved in.
Kajtja founded and managed the award-winning production company KENNEL HELSINKI (2007-2018) and has worked for the most established commercial film production company in her native Finland, GRILLIFILMS. She has nurtured new directors, along with working the best and most professional directors in the industry.
She graduated from The University of Tampere with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Production and worked as a freelancer in Finnish TV production companies before starting her career in commercial film. She is now excited to be part of the drama film production process again at Onerva Pictures.
"I like the fact that the business is in constant turmoil. It offers endless opportunities for diverse projects and gives me a front-row seat to meet new interesting people and learn".
The story behind the name Onerva Pictures
Onerva is an old Finnish name that is meaningful to us on many levels. It references two very different, pioneering women who have both been an inspiration to us in their own way.
Aili Onerva Putus (1912-1995) was our maternal grandmother. She was born in Vyborg (Viipuri), which is now a part of Russia. She was a professional English teacher, talented sportswoman and mother of five children. Her family lost everything during the war, their home in the city and a summer house by the sea.
She and her husband Martti rebuilt their lives from scratch and went on to have a good and full life. When she finally retired, Aili became a passionate photographer, carefully documenting the natural world around her. She was ahead of her time as ecologist, telling her grandchildren off for uprooting moss while we played on the rocks.
Hilja Onerva Lehtinen (1882-1972), or L.Onerva as she was widely known, was a Finnish poet and novelist. In her works, Onerva often dealt with the tension in women's lives concerning freedom and commitment. This tension, we feel, is still present in women’s lives today and we continue to seek ways to resolve it.
Onerva was a very contested and radical author who had the courage to write against conventional morality. She emphasised the individual's right to act freely and make choices independently. Her works were contentious among her contemporaries, but they were also successful: she received seven prestigious state literature prizes, for example.
Yet she is remembered more for her complicated relationship with the famous poet Eino Leino and her marriage to the composer Leevi Madetoja.