The article deals with creation of Pirjo Honkasalo (b. 1947), one of the most talented and interesting filmmakers in contemporary Finnish cinema. Her films have gained certain recognition in Europe but are hardly known among Russian viewers - despite the fact that the subjects of a number of her documentaries are directly related to Russia. Pirjo Honkasalo is internationally known as the author of poetic documentaries marked with profound philosophical and religious issues. It was Honkasalo’s documentary Three rooms melancholia (Melancholian 3 huonetta, 2004), that lent eclat to her. The director debuted as an independent filmmaker with the low-budget picture Mysterion (Mysterion, 1991), and further on brightly developed her personal manner of cinematography and cutting. To better understand the method of her direction some passages from her recent interview with the Russian journalist M. Kuvshinova are included, where Honkasalo tells of her opinion on difference between documentary and feature helmer work. Special attention is paid to the feature films by Honkasalo focusing on the problems of a dysfunctional family (single mother with two children negligent). It is important to note that though Fire-eater (Tulennielija, 1998) and Concrete Night (Betoniyo, 2013) were filmed with an interval of 15 years, the similarity between them is traced both in a storyline, as well as in an aesthetic approach. Having considered creation of Pirjo Honkasalo, the author assumes, that the director, staying within genre of drama, richly varies her manner, presenting multifaceted experience in different directions, marked with a dialogue with the audience held in the language of ideas and symbols.