John Webster turns to Burnt Earth at Focus on Finland doc showcase

After his multi-awarded Recipes for Disaster (2008) and Little Yellow Boots (2017), seasoned Finnish documentary filmmaker John Webster takes up again the burning subject of climate change with his upcoming film Burnt Earth, produced by Yellow Film & TV.

“I once again wish to find a cinematic way of portraying one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today,” said the director. “The way I have tried to approach this is by finding a story angle that is relatable and emotional to us as individuals,” he explained.

In the character-driven Burnt Earth (Maastofalo), Webster follows a Finnish firefighting unit of 24 men and a woman, which has joined the EU Civil Protection Pool to fight forest fires.

The group spends a full month training with a Portuguese firefighting field operation -“simply the best to combat large forest fires-” according to the director who underscores that the fires, nature is not the antagonist but humans’ damaging way of life and lack of care for planet Earth.

Yellow Film & TV producer Eveliina Kantola said she is looking for co-financiers, co-producers and a sales agent for the project, set to be delivered late 2024.

Omid-Hope (Kurkien äiti) directed by Iris Härmä for Guerilla Films, follows the extraordinary life story of Finnish pioneering nature conservationist Ellen Vuosalo (91), currently living in Iran and well-known locally as ‘The Mother of Cranes’.

Born in Canada to a family of Finnish immigrants, Ellen studied in a top US university before starting her own family with an Iranian man. One night, after her husband kidnapped her children, Ellen ended up in Iran where she has been living since.

Härmä and producer Visa Koiso-Kanttila who unveiled unique archive material in Helsinki, said they got a unique but very restricted access to their main protagonist from Iranian authorities, thanks to her celebrity status. “We went twice to Iran and got a very strict visa enabling us to shoot only in her home and garden, while agents from the Iranian Ministry of Culture would make regular checks during our shoot,” they said.

The film will be both an engaging portrait of an empowering woman spanning nearly 100 years, and of Iran during over the last five decades. The estimated delivery date for the film is 2024.

In The Arctic Circle of Lust (Pohjoinen intohimo), director Markku Heikkinen (Oh Boy) explores the sexuality of Northern Finnish family men, as they decide to hide or come out with their bisexuality, pressured by their spouses, friends or local community.

“You deal with love, sexual desire, how to be truthful, and redefine sexual norms,” said the director who will bring a tragi-comic twist to the heart-warming family film. So far the film has received support from the Finnish Film Foundation, AVEK, Yle, NDR/Arte. Delivery is set for 2025.

The fourth docu project looking for co-financiers, co-producers and sales is Shadowland, directed by Otso Tiainen for Kalle Kinnunen, Mark Lwoff and Misha Jaari of Finland’s established BUFO (Fallen Leaves).

In a hidden land of magic and make-believe, seekers of the Holy Grail have to confront dark truths about a former Hollywood filmmaker who claims to be a prophet. The film is due to be delivered in January 2024.

Meanwhile producer Janine Niskala of Vaski Film was on hand to present the Sámi-focused Homecoming (Máhccan) by Suvi West and Anssi Kömi, which just world premiere in Toronto.

Through the story of object repatriation from world museums, indigenous Sámi people finally get back their stolen ancestral heritage.

“With this film, I’ve come to understand the power of museums in image representation through the exhibited objects,” said the producer who was extremely pleased with the response from Toronto’s audiences.

Homecoming is due to open in Finland Friday September 22. First Hand Films handles sales.

Burnt Earth, Omid-Hope and The Arctic Circle of Lust, will be pitched again at Nordisk Panorama Forum in Malmö.

Focus on Finland’s documentary showcase at Helsinki’s Finnish Film Affair was co-organised by APFI (Audiovisual Producers Finland), AVEK, Yle and the Finnish Film Foundation.

AVEK director Ulla Simonen took advantage of the docs industry gathering in Helsinki’s picturesque Uunisaari island to introduce two Finnish documentary projects selected for the ‘Kehittämö’ talent development lab - see our story: Five rising Finnish talents receive €55,000 each from AVEK’s talent scheme

• Mootrix by Katri Myllyniemi is a ‘sci-fi doc about an ultramodern dairy farm where humans and cows are chained to a machine and algorithms that control their lives. Napafilms is producing.
• How we Die by Rabbe Sandström depicts the intimate journey of volunteers who offer their support to people living their last days on earth. Danish Bear Productions is producing.