Storytellers who raise up new storytellers
Hurttimurtti is a Finnish Christian media organisation. After ten years of documentary work, we’re now focused on what lasts the longest: new makers.
What our work is about
Experience to share
Hurttimurtti's Christian documentaries have spread around the world and touched hearts in many languages. Making them – together with more than 20 years of varied experience in Christian media roles – has given us strong practical skill in content production, documentaries and international media work. God has led us to equip young people and young adults to make Christian media – in their own language, for their own audience.
Support for young people
We've noticed the same pattern again and again: many young people are creative and already producing content for social media. Yet they often work alone and long for support, guidance and encouragement so they can grow into confident, skilled creators. We see it as our calling to fill this gap. We walk alongside young people as “older siblings” and support their growth in skill, faith and courage. The goal is that these young people grow into media influencers within their own communities.
Read more about how we train and produce content: Christian media makers →
Our story
In 2013, a Christian Finnish couple, Mika and Ruut Ahonen, set out to produce high-quality Christian documentaries. Their first documentary, Sounds of the Night, was filmed under demanding conditions in Brooklyn, New York.
The documentary was offered to GOD TV, one of the world’s largest Christian television networks, who chose to air it. Distribution deals followed in the UK, Norway and Finland. That’s how Hurttimurtti’s story began.
In 2015, Hurttimurtti’s second documentary was completed, addressing human worth in the context of sex trafficking. It was picked up by TBN’s UK division, among others – one of the world’s largest Christian distribution networks.
In 2016 and 2017, the Hurttimurtti team produced two documentaries about Israel, which opened doors to new TV channels in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden.
In 2018, the team made a Finnish-language documentary about the asylum situation in Europe. The next international documentary, One Ruler – The Power of the Persecuted Church, was selected in 2020 for the official programme of international Christian film festivals in the United States and Canada.
Hurttimurtti’s seventh documentary, My Nazi Family (2022), portrays the impact of intergenerational war trauma and the process of finding freedom from it. It has also been shown in crisis regions around the world.
In 2023, the production team released a documentary shot in Germany called Not Yet Here. By 2024, Hurttimurtti’s documentaries had aired on 21 channels around the world. Every documentary has been made through volunteer work and donations.
After about ten years with Hurttimurtti, the couple felt called to multiply what they had learned by becoming media mentors to a younger generation. In 2024, they set out to put that into practice.
This media project is carried out in partnership with organisations such as Fida, Avainmedia and various churches. Hurttimurtti serves as the main channel for raising the funds it needs.
Behind the work
Mika Ahonen
Mika has worked in Christian media for over 15 years in a range of roles. He has served as a production manager, among other things, and has produced countless TV programmes for channels around the world. Alongside broad technical expertise, his strengths include strategic leadership through demanding change.
Ruut Ahonen
Ruut is a content-production professional for whom making television, radio and print content is second nature. In recent years she has served as editorial manager at Aikamedia and directed Christian documentaries that achieved international success.
“Our dream is to use all our skill, all our resources and everyone we know to help as many young people as possible carry out the task Jesus gave, through media.”
Questions and answers
We are committed to the Apostles’ Creed and the Lausanne Covenant. We respect the diversity of church traditions and want to work together with all Christian denominations. We hold to the authority of Scripture as God’s inerrant word. We bless Israel and the Jewish people everywhere in the world. Our values are rooted in the Bible’s view of humanity and the teaching of Jesus.
Our partners vary depending on the documentary’s subject, since different organisations bring their own area of expertise. Over the years we have worked with international Christian organisations including China Aid, ICEJ, Jews for Jesus, Metro World Child, OM and Youth With A Mission (YWAM). In Finland, we have long-standing partnerships with Fida and Avainmedia Mission Organisation.
Hurttimurtti works on shared Christian ground and partners with a range of denominations and movements, aiming to reach as many people as possible. Our documentaries have served at events held by the Pentecostal movement, Baptists, the Evangelical Free Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church and its revival movements alike.
Depending on the film, roughly €10,000 and up. Significant costs in making a documentary include licensing fees as well as travel costs and equipment such as cameras and editing systems.
The Christian TV channels that air our documentaries generally aren’t able to pay for them. If anything, it’s the other way around, with some wanting to charge for airtime. That’s why documentary production is funded through donations.
Yes. In Finland, the board and accountant of our supporting association oversee our operations, and we produce a monthly report on our activities. We also report annually to the Police Administration because of our fundraising permit. Hurttimurtti’s advisors include two pastors, a Bible school teacher and a representative from the business world.
It doesn’t mean anything in particular. Over the decades, our producer’s childhood memory of two characters from a classic of Finnish literature turned into a twist of a name that, after various stages, became our production team’s name.
We considered switching to something less dog-like, but noticed it had stuck well in the minds of international partners too, so we kept the original.
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IBAN FI58 1113 3000 6185 75
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Reference 3366
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Fund-raising permit RA/2020/1071, issued by the Police Administration in Finland on Sept. 10 2020, for raising funds in Finland excluding the Åland islands, since Jan 1 2021. The funds raised will be used for the production of Christian content and for the financing of facilities and equipment for spiritual activities, events and training sessions and for the activities described above.