Aira Vehaskari started her storytelling career as a foreign correspondent and photojournalist in crisis areas and the developing world. She has a Master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, and has worked all over the world, from the Brazilian rainforests to the minefields of Cambodia. She began producing a number of short docs as a journalist for the Finnish National Broadcasting Company Yle and CNN before turning her skills to half-hour films. These include The Mountain Year (Vuosi Vuoristossa), a story of an ageing peacekeeper in Afghanistan, The Girl Can Play (Pasuunarakkautta), a tragedy and re-birth of a Finnish trombonist in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina, and Manning Up, a comedy documentary about a trans-man stand up comic's first years on testosterone. A dual American-Finnish citizen, she is currently based in New Orleans.

Films

• Manning Up (2019)