Finnish director Vivi Friedman has lost a long and courageous battle with cancer and died this Monday at the age of 44. Friedman visited Helsinki International Film Festival in 2010 with her first feature film THE FAMILY TREE. The film boasts a star-studded cast like Cristina Hendricksin, Dermot Mulroneyn, Selma Blair, Jane Seymour, and others. Friedman's black comedy premiered also in US, before the director passed away.

Friedman was born in Helsinki in 1967. She spent her childhood years in Nummela, Southern Finland. Friedman was well-known in the advertising world and later she studied filmmaking at Rochester University in New York and at UCLA in Los Angeles living permanently in the US. In 2003 Vivi shot her short film CERTAINLY NOT A FAIRY TALE for Fox Searchlight’s acclaimed Searchlab developing the next generation of filmmakers.

Search: Finntimes