June 2009
This year's introductory words to the Midnight Sun FF in Sodankyla, Finland sounded as follows:
Welcome to the festival that never sleeps, we are proud to present you this year's international guests: John Boorman, Robert Guediguian, Fatih Akin, Samira Makhmalbaf, Sergei Dvortsevoy, Andreas Dresen, two Finnish directors Markku Lahmuskallio and Anastasia Lapsui and more.
Screenings all night long
Besides seeing the contemporary cinema jewels, one has a chance to (re)discover film classics here, attend morning discussions with the guests led by festival director Peter von Bagh and attend master class screenings. As if this were not enough: one can attend film screenings literally all night long. Twenty four hours in a day seem not enough and the physical restrictions of the human body seem to be the biggest problem. Even though the famous white nights above the Polar Circle help people not to sleep too long, it is mostly young Finnish people who can deal with this wonderful marathon the longest and the best.
John Boorman introduces his Point Blank
Becoming a guest of this festival is not so easy, as the festival's preference is to invite filmmakers, creators, and artists rather than professionals from the industry. There are a handful of them, understandably, but there is no will and no need to expand their number. The MSFF was founded in 1986 by Finnish filmmakers, e.g. the Kaurismäki brothers, as a festival for quality films, creating the possibility to meet the filmmakers in person and it was meant for Finnish audiences mainly. Those come literally from all over Finland. And the names on the guest list have been really impressive since the beginning (one of the first being Samuel Fuller, but there are too many to name them all). Sodankyla is a real small place with one main hotel, one real cinema and two improvised screening places: the local school gym and a circus tent. Reason enough to be proud to become one of those rare film industry professionals guests – thanks to the Finnish Film Foundation and its Head of Feature Film Promotion, Jaana Puskala.
Precious morning discussions
The opening of the festival immediately marks the quality of the event: during a short opening and the introduction of the film Point Blank by the great master John Boorman, the audience is privileged to hear his personal memories and explanations of the film and then, during those five festival days to see in total nine of his films. One of the pearls being the autobiographical project Hope and Glory that is, as the director says, one of his films that are so very close and dear to him.
Morning discussions with Robert Guediguian, John Boorman, Sergei Dvortsevoy, Samira Makhmalbaf and Fatih Akin are the very precious meetings for which one is ready to give up even seeing some of the films. Whether you are a professional or a film lover, everyone can learn a lot here.
Karaoke screening
The discussions are vivid, full of information and deep thoughts, serious and funny at the same time. One must join the queue at least half an hour before they start, otherwise there is no chance of obtaining a seat in the gym hall, or even a place on the floor... It is exactly at such moments that I realise how much the atmosphere of Sodankyla's Midnight Sun Film Festival makes me think of IFF Rotterdam as I remember it from the early nineties, when I visited it as a then student ‘hungry to see and hear everything’. IFFR has grown enormously since then, and I feel privileged to be part of the team now.
What at first seems to be an entirely Finnish event turns into one of the most pleasant and entertaining hours one evening when we as foreign guests come to have a quick look in the circus tent. There is a karaoke screening of the Finnish film from 1959 - Suuri Savelparaati, in the presence of the great Finnish actor Sakari Kuosmanen (he acted in Aki Kaurismäki's Juha, a.o.) who sits in front of the screen and leads the karaoke singing. The original words in Finnish appear in electronic subtitles above the screen, so we join the crowd and sing along. Who would think we could ever sing in Finnish! Another Finnish event to be proud to be a part of is the world premiere of the film-essay Maan Muisti (Earth Evocation) by Markku Lahmuskallio and Anastasia Lapsui, covering thousands of years of history of mankind, of Finland in particular.
At one of the official dinners, I sit next to the new director of Cannes' Director Fortnight, Frederic Boyer and we exchange impressions from a freshly seen performance: Chaplin's Gold Rush accompanied live by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra conducted by Timothy Brock. We didn't know then that we would get even more of this kind of pleasure – on the last evening, there was another impressive screening – that of Richard Flaherty's Nanook of the North with music of outstanding young Finnish musicians Pekka Kuuisto and Johanna Juhola.
I am aware of the superlative tone of my words when writing about the Midnight Sun Film festival in Sodankyla but really, I cannot help it. And yes, there were reindeers, saunas and a wonderful nature too. And we had the greatest luck as both the brothers Kaurismäki were present. I mustn’t forget to mention karaoke – a lot of it, as I was told that this is what the Finnish people have in common with people from Asia. The explanation for it being that they can better express their feelings by singing than by talking.