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DocPoint Begins!

Published on January 25, 2012

The following is a guest post by Anya Kandel, filmmaker of the MTM9 film Why Do White People Have Black Spots?

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DocPoint, Helsinki’s well known documentary Film Festival, has launched its 11th rendition as Helsinki celebrates its year as World Design Capital and its 200th anniversary.

Thanks to The Media That Matters Film Festival, my film was noticed by DocPoint and invited (along with myself) to attend the festival. Join me!

First, breakfast: smoked salmon and roasted vegetables and a stunning view from the top of the Sokos building, overlooking large shopping centers housed in functionalist architecture.

Then, lunch: smoked herring and mashed potatoes, a Finnish specialty!

Oh yes, and the festival begins! I am met by my gracious host Tanya, a student in Juväskyla with hopes of starting her own documentary film festival there. We make our way to the Maxim Theater for the screening of DOKKINO, a documentary film event for you children and youth. My film, Why Do White People Have Black Spots? serves as the opening image films that address the importance of promoting tolerance and understanding difference, which has become of social and political importance here due to increasing immigration. While the subtitles were in Finnish, the stories carried beyond language.

One particularly stunning film was by director Fabio Caramaschi: Solo Andata, IL Viaggio Di Un Tuareg, which follows the story of a family who has moved to Italy from Niger. In Italy, the father works in a factory and the eldest son finds solace behind his camera. We sit in suspended time with the youngest son, who plays and in and around his family’s compound in Niger. Later we watch his eyes dart between trains, people, buildings and merchandise as he first arrives to meet his father and brother in Italy. Stunning images and a compelling story.

I spoke with the students afterward. Some of the places they would like to know more about are Somalia, North Korea, Russsia and Mongolia. Oh, and they also said to say ‘hi’ to New York.

I then made my way to a screening by the group A Wall Is A Screen. Our screens were a pack of snow beneath the Cathedral at Senate Square and a wall in the atrium of a shopping center. The tour was playful, as were the films. We ended our journey with This Is Alaska, tongue-in-cheek and brilliantly simple, Filmmakers Gunilla Heilborn and Mårten Nilsson tell the story of a couple who, after a workshop in Germany, become extreme individualists and move to Alaska. The Helsinki snow fell through the light of the projector and we could feel the chill of Alaska. Good timing all around.

The evening was topped by the premiere opening of Jälki elämässä – 4 tarinaa kidutuksesta (Afterlife – Four Stories of Torture) by Finnish Director Mervi Junkkonen about four men who have moved to Finland, but remain haunted by their past experiences of torture. Junkkonen’s honest and simple portrayal of these men does not allow the audience to stray into abstract ideas of politics. Instead she brings us intimately into the present moment of their struggle as the camera frames eyes, mouth, hands and silhouette, protecting their identity while inviting us into the details of emotion. The five years she has spent with these men shows in her work.

The night ended with a smashing party at the Virgin Oil Company with Lada Nuevo, a Finnish Band with a Baltic Twist. They dressed in fur hats and Oona Airola belted her way into our hearts.

Can you believe this was only my first day!

Stay posted.

Anya

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