Super F: Multimedia project that tells the story of an immigrant superhero who fights racism and discrimination in Finland with a set of unusual superpowers

Application summary

Look out! It’s an Uber ride! It’s an electric scooter! It’s a food courier! No! It’s Super F! Super F is a multimedia project that tells the story of an immigrant superhero who fights racism and discrimination in Helsinki with a set of unusual superpowers. The F stands for many things, like Foreigner, Feminist, Fantastic, or “F”, the name of our character. F is a food deliverer that gains superpowers after accidentally falling asleep in a sauna, in an attempt to integrate into the local community. The radioactivity in the rocks that heated the sauna gives our hero unusual supernatural abilities, like glowing when being ignored; extra-strong perfume to make racists dizzy; super hearing to detect xenophobic slurs; and many others. These quirky superpowers are used to push the boundaries of a polarized community and bring locals and foreigners together by socializing, breaking taboos, being critical, and encouraging diversity in Finnish society. Super F experiments with the "superhero" image as a gender-neutral character that questions preconceptions associated with this concept. Through humor and satire, this project challenges prevailing views, like stereotypes and biases, to tackle racism in Finland in its many layers and complexities. Super F aims to amplify the voice of people who escape what is considered “normal”, and are discriminated because of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or different capabilities.  This multidisciplinary project includes drawing, text, and film, on digital and analog platforms. To reach a plural and diverse audience, Super F will be developed as: - A comic strip published weekly online. - A graphic novel based on the comic strip, published online and in print. - A film based on the graphic novel. Super F takes place in Helsinki, but encourages a transnational spirit by taking inspiration from superheroes from peripheral countries and real stories from foreigners living in Finland. Super F is a superhero for our time!