In the central government, the promotion and development of film and other audiovisual production come under the Culture and Media Division of the Ministry of Education. Legislation pertaining to television comes under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Subordinate to the Ministry of Education are the National Audiovisual Archive and the Finnish Board of Film Classification.

National Audiovisual Archive is responsible for the acquisition of films and related material, the preservation and restoration of films, film research, and the promotion and dissemination of knowledge about cinema.

The Finnish Board of Film Classification inspects and classifies films and other audiovisual programmes.

The financial support of the production and distribution of Finnish films has been assigned to the Finnish Film Foundation. The Foundation also promotes Finnish films abroad and otherwise supports cinema.

At present there are about 10-13 Finnish film productions a year, which is a real achievement for a nation of five million. Finnish films used to be made for the domestic market, but this is changing. Until very recently, imported (American) films attracted the largest publics, but now many Finnish films are also drawing large audiences.