Going to Kansas City

Going to Kansas City is a 1998 Canadian-Finnish drama film directed by Pekka Mandart. The film is about a male exchange student from Finland, who falls in love with an American girl, whose father does not accept the relationship. Shot in Canada,^[2] the film is set in the rural town of Canaan that is located 120 miles west of Kansas City.^[1]

Going to Kansas City
Directed by	Pekka Mandart
Screenplay by	Morrie Ruvinsky
Story by	Tony MacNabb Pekka Mandart
Produced by	Robin Spry Paul E. Painter Alicia Wille Lise Abastado Pamela Mandart
Starring	Mikko Nousiainen Melissa Galianos Michael Ironside Susan Almgren
Cinematography	Pini Hellstedt
Edited by	David R. McLeod
Music by	Marty Simon
Production companies	Mandart Entertainment Telescene Film Group
Distributed by	Buena Vista International (Finland)
Release dates	February 1998 (1998-02) (Los Angeles Filmmarket[1]) July 31, 1998 (1998-07-31) (Finland)
Running time	98 minutes[1]
Countries	Canada Finland
Language	English
Budget	17 million mk[2]

Cast

• Mikko Nousiainen as Mikko Vihavainen
• Melissa Galianos as Carly Malone
• Michael Ironside as Deputy Sheriff Mike Malone
• Susan Almgren as Bonnie Bruckner
• Daniel Pilon as Jack Bruckner
• Kris Holden-Ried as Charlie Bruckner
• Mark Camacho as Billy Ossining
• Karine Dion as Karen Olson
• Shawn Potter as Tink Kolchek
• Adam MacDonald as Floyd Weaver

Source:^[1]

Production

The director Pekka Mandart adapted the idea of the story from a magazine article about a love story between a Finnish exchange student and an American girl.^[3]

Out of a total budget of 17 million Finnish markka (mk), 11 million mk came from the Canadian production company Telescene.^[2] The Finnish Film Foundation granted a three-million mk production support for Going to Kansas City. The total amount of production costs were 14,278,968 mk.^[1]

Reception

Going to Kansas City had a total of 42,524 admissions in Finnish theatres.^[1]

The film was a nominee for the Best Music at the 1999 Jussi Awards^[4] and the National Council for Cinema of Finland awarded it a 100,000 mk Quality support for film productions.^[1]