DIRECTORS' WORD

”The life in a boarding school is an excellent way to portray the lives of the minorities, when the smaller cultures are tried to be changed into the dominant culture. A different reality concerning the minorities is hidden inside the official schoolworld, and we wanted to discuss that in our film. The miniature world formed by the boarding school's students shows how cruel, internecine rasism may occur also between small cultures. The mutual prejudice and the schemes of things learned at home are ruthlessly exposed through the spontaneous acts and words of the children in the film.”

Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio

About the Directors
 
ANASTASIA LAPSUI (b. 1944, Yamal Peninsula, Russia)
The collaboration of Nenets born Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio has lasted for almost two decades comprising 18 feature films. The couple's films portraying traditional life in the subarctic areas have earned them recognition and awards worldwide. Lapsui has also worked as radio journalist, editor and scriptwriter.
 
MARKKU LEHMUSKALLIO (b. 1938, Rauma, Finland)
The grand-old-man of Finnish filmmaking and also one of the country's best known directors, Markku Lehmuskallio has directed films since 1973. The majority of Lehmuskallio's work portray traditional life in the Arctic hemisphere, and indigenous people and cultures play a leading role in his films. Local people performing in his fictions gives the films a touch of reality and verity that is seldom seen on screen.