ED AWARD for Nordic short film
How to Please
5. 9. 2024
14:30
Hraničář
original title
How to Please
directed by
Elina Talvensaari
produced by
Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka (Aamu Film Company)
year
2023
duration
28 minutes
country
Finland
language
Finnish with English and Czech subtitles
Synopsis
In How to Please Iraqi Wed Al-Asadi tells his story how he got stuck in the Finnish asylum system. He tries his best to get through the bureaucratic maze but realizes getting out becomes even more difficult than getting in.
The film participated in the IDFA 2023 or Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2024.
#documentary
Elina Talvensaari (1978) is a filmmaker from Helsinki with a background in sociology and anthropology. This background is often present in her films as a distant gaze questioning our own thinking and norms. Often the focus is on the structures of our society. Her film Lady Time premiered at IDFA 2019 and marks a turn to a more personal approach in her filmmaking. Lady Time opened bothDocpoint 2020 and Nordisk Panorama 2020 and won a Jussi, the Finnish “Oscar” for best documentary film in 2020. Her earlier films have also traveled the world and won various prizes - her short film How to pick berries opened at 67thVenice Film Festival and was nominated for EFA’s best short film in 2012. Talvensaari is passionate about documentary filmmaking and is working to keep the industry alive and prospering as part of film associations such as the Finnish Documentary Guild.
