I was invited to an obscure underground film festival in Savonlinna. It is a town of 30 000+ inhabitants in Eastern Finland (37th largest according to wikipedia) by the great Lake Saimaa. Traveling in Finland is quite easy if you’re going up north or southbound, however traveling ‘horizontally’ can take ages and be somewhat tedious. It definitely was worth it as my troubles were compensated tenfold.
The invitation came from a dear friend, mr Lauri Ainala who was also the event’s main organiser (alongside his associates). The festival was to take place at an old ranch he owns outside the town of Savonlinna. Knowing him and his works from before I knew I couldn’t miss this for the world as he’s always up to something strange. And I wasn’t wrong: it really was an adventure! I spent a few days sleeping poorly and a bit rough but all in all it was worth it. I got to meet brilliant people, saw a bunch of spectacular films and took a bunch of interesting photographs.
Lack of proper sleep almost made me miss my bus home. As I sat on the bus seat for my last leg homebound I started having thoughts: was it all true? What actually happened? Did I get any decent material (didn’t have flashes or my tripod with me as I needed to travel light)? It felt like as if it had been a dream or that I was dreaming in another dream, not yet having woken up.
After my return, a good night’s sleep and a loooooooong purifying shower I started to look into the photographic material I brought back. To my surprise there were some decent shots. Then came the epiphany: these pictures are a story on their own! At the event I wanted to focus on the screenings and figured you can only go so far with pictures of people sitting in a historic old croft. The premises, on the other hand, were special. I understood that what I have is solid gold (to me, at least): it’s an almost ready dream-like photo essay called Slumber in Savonlinna!
I’ve also written poem-like pieces to give the series a rhythm and to build the mood to the series. I’ll present the whole lot in a few parts so keep an eye out for updates.
This is an invitation for you to share the trip as I felt it.
This is different.
"Holy water" was also being used with cooking:
First of two saunas on the premises: Sauna (Ford) Fiesta
Stay tuned! The story continues
-Esa
Click for PART TWO