An ideal setting for domestic production
Finnish filmmakers began shooting in Lapland in the 1950s, such as Erik Blomberg, who made The White Reindeer, an unusual genre film in which a hunter marries a witch who turns into a vampire reindeer, whom he must kill in spite of himself. It was awarded the "Prix du film légendaire" at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953. Even today, the film's sublime images have not aged a day, as the wind sweeps across the snow dunes of the icy expanse, its expressionist frames reminiscent of cult horror masterpieces. Snow radiates from the screen in this black-and-white film, and Lapland offers an unprecedented setting for a genre film that cinema has too often confined to gothic interiors.
The tundra lends itself well to fantastical tales. In 1959, Aleksandr Ptushko and Risto Orko filmed Sampo, a tale inspired by Finnish mythology, recounting Lemminkainen's exploits against the witch Louhi.
Finnish director Jalmari Helander is about to shoot a blockbuster in Lapland: Sisu, starring British actor Paul Anderson(Peaky Blinders), depicts one man's struggle against a Nazi extermination patrol in the Lapland wilderness. On the series front, the brand-new Arctic Circle (2018), a Finnish-German co-production co-created by Olli Haikka, unveils a dark thriller set against the backdrop of the spread of a deadly virus and human trafficking in Lapland.
Miia Tervo, local director
The filmmaker is a native of Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland. Born in 1980, she is part of the new generation of Finnish filmmakers. She recently made a name for herself with Aurora, released in 2019, which tells the story of Aurora and Darian, a Lapp woman and an Iranian man who meet at a hot dog stand in Lapland. Aurora is a party girl who has never committed to a relationship, but her encounter with Darian will shake up her lifestyle and preconceptions. Miia Tervo also directed a fragment of the seven-chapter collective film Force of Habit, released the same year. This film depicts, over the course of a day, moments in the lives of different women that are generally kept silent or hidden.
Some foreign successes
Aïlo, une odyssée en Laponie (2019) by Guillaume Maidatchevsky. This Franco-Finnish production follows the odyssey of a reindeer calf and his mother across the Lapland landscape to join their herd. Little Aïlo must face the many dangers that await him on the Finnish tundra. His first days are a race against time to find the safety of the group, a series of trials masterfully recorded in this animal and polar fiction. Aïlo's first few months were captured on no less than 600 hours of rushes, from which the film was edited. Aïlo offers viewers the splendor of Lapland's endless sunsets, enveloping the snow in an incomparably blue atmosphere, its majestic expanses suddenly illuminated by the marvelous colors of the northern lights. In short, everything you'd expect from a film shot in the region!
Sami, a youth in Lapland. In her 2018 film, Swedish director Amanda Kernell of Sami origin offers a politically engaged tale recalling the racism suffered by the Sami in 1930s Sweden. It features an old woman who has to travel to northern Sweden for a funeral out of spite. The character quickly shows her rejection of Sami culture, criticizing, for example, the traditional songs played on the radio. The film then goes back in time, retracing the woman's early years. Her name is Elle Marja (Lene Cecilia Sparrok) and she was sent 70 years ago to a small boarding school where a mediocre education was provided according to Swedish principles of Saami intelligence calculation. Sami, A Youth in Lapland portrays a young girl who gradually distances herself from her community to pass herself off as Swedish, rejecting her heritage. Amanda Kernell, unlike her heroine, seeks to recall the beauty of a culture and a country, and to highlight the Sami heritage by filming the beauty of the harmony of landscapes, elements of nature and community. At the same time, he depicts the process of assimilation or rejection that the indigenous people may have undergone.
With Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998), Spain's Julio Medem once again brought Lapland up to date with this touching tale of the romantic reunion of Otto and Ana, who have known each other since childhood but had lost touch, finally reunited in the polar region. For a change, War (2019), a Bollywood film with Indian star Hrithik Roshan, was partly shot in this northern region.
