Ville Haapasalo will show the Finnish audience the Kazan Kremlin, the Al-Mardzhani Mosque, and the chack-chack Museum

The Finnish-Russian actor and director is shooting a series of programs on tourism potential and fishing in Tatarstan and its capital.

(KZN.RU, June 24, Alena Miroshnichenko). Ville Haapasalo, a Finnish-Russian actor and director, is filming in Tatarstan and its capital a series of programs about the republic's tourism potential and fishing. The artist will show the European viewer the Kremlin, the old mosque of Al-Mardzhani, the museum of chack-chack, one of the city baths, and also tell how to bake the Tatar national pie “belesh”. Today, during a break between shooting, Ville Haapasalo, together with Aigul Balakhontseva, the head of the tourism product promotion department of the State Committee of Tourism of the RT, met with journalists and told more about his project.

A series of programs about Tatarstan will consist of 10 episodes of 26 minutes. Two of them will be devoted to Kazan, and the rest to other settlements of the republic: Sviyazhsk, Kamskoe Ustie, Tetyushi, Bolgar, Chistopol, Naberezhnye Chelny, Elabuga, and Laishevsky district. Aigul Balakhontseva marked that the most attractive tourist places are recommended for shooting.

She noted that Finland is one of the priority countries for the development of tourism for Tatarstan. “Finns travel a lot for cultural and educational purposes. And people come to Tatarstan who are interested in history, culture, love the Volga, and fond of international festivals. Ville Haapasalo is a popular personality in both Russia and Finland, the author and producer of numerous travel popular programs. We believe that thanks to this project, Kazan will gain popularity in the Finnish market”, said A. Balakhontseva to reporters. She added that for 5 years, Helsinki and Kazan have been connected by direct flights.

Ville Haapasalo said that he originally intended to make only one program about Russia. “I was offended that I work in this country, and in general only bad things are said about it. And I decided to show this country as I see it, through its people”, said the actor and director. “I traveled by train from Moscow to Murom, talked with people who told me the story of their city. And then these programs became very popular. At first they watched it only in Finland, then the program became popular in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries’, said the artist. After that, he decided not to stop and continue his journey through Russia.

“I had planned to show Tatarstan for a long time. And Finland has a rather large and strong Tatar community. But I want my viewers to see how more than 130 nationalities live peacefully in this region professing different religions. In today's world, this is valuable”, said Ville Haapasalo. He added that the inhabitants will tell about all the customs, cuisine and culture of the peoples living in the republic.

The filming of Ville Haapasalo’s program in Tatarstan will last until July 4. It is expected that the first program about the republic will be released on its author's channel on one of Finland’s online video platforms on September 1.