KohtaamisiaBegegnungen / Heartbeats

Competition Narrative Films, Finland 2009, 81 Min., English subtitles

Kohtaamisia

Seven women, seven stories. All of them told by Saara Cantell, author and director of this unusual experiment that does away with editing: all of the episodes were shot in one take, the camera always following the actresses through realtime events. These in turn are incisive moments that mark the protagonists' lives unexpectedly. Martta, 78, is hiding a secret from her family. Nora, 14, must console her mother. Leila, 52, and Fardusa, 24, have come to Finland from Russia and from Somalia in search of a better future. Meri, 35, must deal with a boy next door. Anu, 39, flirts with a shoplifter and car thief. Olga, 33, misses her daughter. But as isolated as the individual episodes may seem at a first glance – the actresses interweave them on several levels, until the pieces come together in the epilogue,one at a time.

Director Saara Cantell

Screenplay Saara Cantell

Cast Anneli Sauli (Martta), Jenni Banerjee (Emmi), Meri Nenonen (Meri), Johanna af Schulten (Anu), Leena Uotila (Leila), Maryan Guuleed (Fardusa), Elena Spirina (Olga), Roosa Salomaa (Nora), Tommi Raitolehto (Petri), Sampo Sarkola, (Make) Yrjö Parjanne (Erkki)

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Screenings

No screenings are available for this film.