Thousands visit festival in Arctic Finland
The 29th Midnight Sun Film Festival held in Sodankylä, Lapland, wrapped up Sunday.
Last minute cancellations of several high-profile filmmaker guests such as Brit Peter Greenaway didn’t dampen the spirits of film enthusiasts, who flocked to the northern cult festival.
Among the international guests who made it to Sodankylä were French Olivier Assayas, Paweł Pawlikowski, Alice Rohrwacher, Veiko Õunpuu, Samantha Fuller, Katell Quillévéré and Hélier Cisterne.
In addition to screenings of award-winning world cinema in Finland, the festival once again boasted several premieres of Finnish films, including Anssi Mänttäri’s Will the Blues Ever Sleep? and Juha Wuolijoe’s Zarra’s Law.
Finland’s world-renowned film writer and filmmaker Peter von Bagh’s new movie Socialism was a big hit. Other sold-out screenings included a set of early short films by Charles Chaplin, Victor Sjöström’s The Outlaw and His Wife and a karaoke version of John Landis’ Blues Brothers.
The film that predictably received the greatest Finnish media attention was Pekka Lehto’s documentary Emergency Call – A Murder Mystery about the convoluted – and ongoing – criminal case of Anneli Auer.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Web doc sheds light on Inuit relocation in Arctic Canada, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: Midnight Sun Film Festival lights up Finland’s Arctic, Yle News
United States: Brace yourself: More Alaska reality TV on the way, Alaska Dispatch
