The music of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) has introduced countless non-Finns to the Kalevala. Sibelius visited Karelia in the 1890s and was enchanted by the rune singers. He based many of his orchestras on Kalevala poems. An appendix listing his works can be found in Keith Bosley's 1989 translation of the Kalevala. Recordings of Sibelius's music can be found in the classical music sections of most music stores.

Though the Kalevala has inspired many Finnish film and television productions, most have not been translated for English-speaking audiences. The 1959 film The Day the Earth Froze is based on the Sampo cycle and Louhi's theft of the sun and moon (it is dubbed in English and available on videocassette from J & J Video, Whitedstone, NY). A rather campy movie, The Day the Earth Froze is porably more familiar to American television viewers as episode #422 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (produced...