Shelter (Suodji) is an adaptation of an old story from Utsjoki, Sápmi, to the present. It is a legend of what the director´s relative, Ovllá-Ivvár Helander, did during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 in Utsjoki. Ovllá-Ivvár decided to fool Death and take his fate into his own hands. Today we are facing similar threats. The protagonist of the film is walking in Ovllá-Ivvár´s footsteps. But at the end, who its really who?
Photographer Sami, maybe 35 and living in a loveless marriage, has to travel south to Pärnu, Estonia, to find his much younger brother Joni and get him back to Helsinki for treatment. Joni, around 20, is possibly fatally ill but would rather stay in Estonia enjoying a simple life together with a local girlfriend Rimma and her little baby.
Photographer Sami, maybe 35 and living in a loveless marriage, has to travel south to Pärnu, Estonia, to find his much younger brother Joni and get him back to Helsinki for treatment. Joni, around 20, is possibly fatally ill but would rather stay in Estonia enjoying a simple life together with a local girlfriend Rimma and her little baby.
