vegetarian filmsWanha Näätä
Story
Wanha Näätä follows a travelling salesman who drives around South Savo, until his easy-going routine takes an unexpected turn when he picks up a hitchhiker. Or perhaps hitchhiker is the wrong word: the man standing in the middle of the road stops the car, throws his backpack onto the back seat without asking and starts giving directions.
The larger-than-life passenger turns out to be a fierce enemy of private cars who sees no contradiction in his own behaviour. The encounter happens again and again, and the salesman, a professional at meeting people, has his patience put to the test.
Wanha Näätä is a very Finnish portrait of two men in a car, a place where you never have to look each other in the eye yet are still in an intimate space. A warm and absurd short film about humanity and the polarisation of our times.
Credits
- Directed by
- Jarmo Lampela
- Screenplay
- Topi Koljonen
- Cast
- Ismo Kotro, Juha Kukkonen
- Cinematography
- Harri Halonen
- Sound design
- Patrick Boullenger
- Producer
- Juha Kukkonen
- Production
- Vegetarian Films
- In collaboration with
- Municipality of Puumala
- Running time
- 28 min
Puumala
Wanha Näätä is shot in Puumala in South Savo, eastern Finland. The landscape supports the story: the Lietvesi road, often voted the most beautiful drive in Finland, runs along narrow ridges between the waters and changes with the seasons, a counterpoint to the salesman’s constant motion and the hitchhiker’s stubborn sermons.
Puumala’s landmark, the Puumalansalmi bridge, appears several times in the film. Like the salesman’s job it is all about getting from one place to another, and its view over the deep-water channel of Lake Saimaa gives a small human drama a sense of the wider world. The film is made in collaboration with the Municipality of Puumala.
Behind the scenes
