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, the film is set in the rural town of Canaan that is located 120 miles west of Kansas City.
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
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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.
Out of a total budget of 17 million Finnish markka (mk), 11 million mk came from the Canadian production company Telescene. 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.
Reception
Going to Kansas City had a total of 42,524 admissions in Finnish theatres.
The film was a nominee for the Best Music at the 1999 Jussi Awards and the National Council for Cinema of Finland awarded it a 100,000 mk Quality support for film productions.