‘Influencer’ Goes Behind the Scenes at First Social Media Academy

In 2022, the world’s first-ever higher-education program for social media was launched in Tampere, Finland, and Finnish director Jussi Sandhu was given unprecedented access for his feature debut “But I’m No Influencer,” which is part of a showcase of upcoming Nordic projects being presented this week at Helsinki’s Finnish Film Affair.

Sandhu, a veteran editor who’s worked alongside filmmakers including Teemu Nikki (“The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic”) and Håvard Bustness (“Phantoms of Sierra Madre”), was there on day one when the so-called “influencers academy” opened its doors at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK), the director’s alma mater.

The film, which is currently in development, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the program’s growing pains while examining Finland’s efforts to establish itself as a premium exporter of higher education and exploring the role of social media in shaping how we define ourselves.

“Everything has to be sold in today’s society. People have to make brands about themselves and education, also, has to make a brand about itself. And actually nations have to make brands for themselves like Finland does,” Sandhu told Variety. “We need attention, and we all work under those same rules that social media has [created].”

The English-language program in Tampere was announced to great fanfare in 2021, with Finnish influencer Joalin Loukamaa lending a public face to the course and more than two-dozen foreign students enrolling in the first year.

Within a few weeks, the director began to focus on a Filipino immigrant, Mark, a successful businessman in his home country who was studying in Tampere while trying to bring his family to Finland. Living and working in a foreign land, Mark was also “learning the culture shocks of being Finnish,” a process that — in keeping with his course requirements — he started to document on social…