Saija Mäki-Nevala

The dance film about burnout is based on the experiences of dance artist Hanna Heino as a COVID nurse in the spring of 2020. We are connected to other beings through touch and the air we breathe. How can one overcome and find physical and mental connection in the midst of a pandemic?

They Go Gentle Into That Night Work is a dreamlike essay revolving around a train driver, a metalworker, and a mailman’s average night. The nightfalls’s meditative and repetitive routines create a monotonous, yet simultaneously poetic atmosphere in this hypnotic experience. The slow-paced storytelling combined with the experimental soundscape paints a harsh, yet romantic, picture of the ever-revolving night lives of the trio.

Documentary film about love, relationships and sexuality of elderly men and women. Five couples show how intimacy is still strong even though age and body has changed.

Director Saija Mäki-Nevala was born in Kihniö but moved away as soon as it became possible. The village road with few buildings, and faces that were all to familiar to her, wasn’t enough. The real life and the possibilities of achieving dreams seemed to be somewhere else. After 18 years she goes back to look at Kihniö. She observes the ex-home village with feelings between love and foreignness. Is Kihniö more than its inhabitants? Is Kihniö just a name for the roots which we can’t either choose or forget? This observational documentary is a portrait of silent village, but the main role still belongs to its people. They are proud of living in a safe place where they all know each other. The most important goals in life are to have a permanent job and to own a house. When they achieve those things and can have their family around, everything is just fine. You don’t need anything else.

Director Saija Mäki-Nevala was born in Kihniö but moved away as soon as it became possible. The village road with few buildings, and faces that were all to familiar to her, wasn’t enough. The real life and the possibilities of achieving dreams seemed to be somewhere else. After 18 years she goes back to look at Kihniö. She observes the ex-home village with feelings between love and foreignness. Is Kihniö more than its inhabitants? Is Kihniö just a name for the roots which we can’t either choose or forget? This observational documentary is a portrait of silent village, but the main role still belongs to its people. They are proud of living in a safe place where they all know each other. The most important goals in life are to have a permanent job and to own a house. When they achieve those things and can have their family around, everything is just fine. You don’t need anything else.

The story of a boy and his journey deep into the dark, snow-bound forest, his fight to save a girl's life, and growth towards understanding.

A documentary about a young Finnish Romany Carmen, 11, who lives with her grandmother and aunt in the suburb of a small town in Northern Finland.