Juuso Syrjä is a film and television director hailing from Helsinki, Finland.
He began directing music videos in the late 90s and quickly graduated to commercials. He has since directed over 500 commercials all over the globe for an impressive roster of clients and brands.
Due to his technical expertise in SFX and animation, Juuso was approached to adapt a beloved series of popular children’s songs into an animated film, Ella & Aleksi, that was theatrically released.
Juuso’s signature style led him to helm the critically acclaimed Finnish television series Bordertown. The series premiered in Finland in 2016 and was presented with three Golden Venla (Finland’s Emmy Awards) for Best Drama, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
The series premiere was watched by one-fifth of Finland’s population (1.3 million). The series firmly took its place in the canon of Nordic Noir. It caught the attention of streaming juggernaut Netflix, who snapped up streaming rights for the series. Bordertown became the first production hailing from Finland, acquired by Netflix USA, and went on to be sold to over 180 countries.
Bordertown was an immediate hit, and Juuso was tasked as a series director for season 2 of Bordertown. The second season was showcased as the only Nordic drama at Cannes MipTV’s first MipDrama Screenings. A third season was ordered on the heels of the second season’s triumphant premiere, and Juuso was hired as lead director.
After the third season of Bordertown, Juuso helmed the documentary Karalalahti about the tumultuous life of Jere Karalahti, a professional NHL hockey player whose career was a fascinating rollercoaster of triumph and horror. Karalahti premiered theatrically in May 2021.
The success of the Bordertown series led Netflix to green-light: Bordertown – The Mural Murders, a feature film spin-off based on the series. It had a national theatrical release in the fall of 2021 before the global rollout on Netflix. It is the first Finnish film released on Netflix USA.
Immediately after that, Juuso served as a lead director on the eight-part suspense thriller Helsinki Syndrome created by the team for Bordertown. Helsinki Syndrome was headlining Peter Franzén (Vikings).
After Helsinki Syndrome, Juuso spent 2022 directing Estonia, a character-driven eight-part series about the true story of one of the deadliest maritime disasters of the 20th century. It was the biggest TV budget in Finnish history. The premiere for Estonia is scheduled for the autumn of 2023.