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The latest documentary from the Newcastle-on-Tyne collective, Amber Films (previous MIFF Kino Award winners with Writing On The Sand), follows the journey of Finnish born photographer, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, as she travels back to Finland with her daughter Katja to rediscover her roots and attempt to come to terms with the complex feelings around personal and national identity.
Whilst many personal documentaries in recent years have tended to be self-indulgent, this film avoids too much personal storytelling and instead explores philosophical ideas about national identity in a most accessible way.
Beautifully crafted with stunning images of the seasons in Finland, the film has a multi-layered feminine texture involving diary, documentary and home movie footage.
"Perhaps the freedom I wanted most, was the freedom not to know which journeys I might embark on in my life, and where they might take me. And like so many others, perhaps I had to leave in order to find just what I had left behind."
- Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen