His work, always with his ’Tom of Finland’ signature, becomes widely symbolic and fans the flames of the gay movement. But his drawings soon lead Touko to Berlin and from there to Los Angeles, where his art reaches a wide audience. For a while, Touko leads a regular life working in an advertisement agency, and falls in love with a dancer, Veli Mäkinen. To amuse himself and his friends, Touko starts to draw muscular, uninhibited and proud gay men, but these drawings have to be kept secret – even his sister Kaija doesn’t know about them. But post-war Finland is a bleak and moralistic place where homosexuality is illegal, so Touko has to be furtive about his sexual encounters. In the film, Touko returns home after serving his country in World War II. TOM OF FINLAND is the beautiful and exhilarating true story of Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen and his journey to international success.
