Finnish-made film on Russification of indigenous Nenets people takes main prize at Créteil Film Festival

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The film Sukunsa Viimeinen ("Pudana: Last of The Line"), directed by the husband-and-wife pairing of Markku Lehmuskallio and Anastasia Lapsui, has been awarded the Grand Jury Award for the best fiction feature film at the 32nd Festival International de Films de Femmes in Créteil in France.
      This is the second time that Lapsui and Lehmuskallio have carried off this award from Créteil - in 2000 their film Seitsemän laulua tundralta ("Seven Songs from the Tundra") won the same prize.
     
"Pudana. Last of the Line" is a story of change, of growth into adulthood, and also the erosion of cultural identity of a girl from the indigenous Nenets people of the Yamal Peninsula in the West Siberian districts of Northern Russia.
      Set in the Soviet era and reflecting the collectivisation and Russification measures imposed on the Nenets, the film is based on a true story from director Anastasia Lapsui's own childhood surroundings.
      A little Nenets girl, Neko, is taken against her will from her home to a boarding school in a remote Russian village.
     
The feature film, which was premièred in February at the Berlin International Film Festival, was produced for Illume by Jouko Aaltonen and Pertti Veijalainen.
      The Créteil International Women's Film Festival was first organized in 1979, and mainly concentrates on works by female filmmakers.
     
     
A longer feature article on the film will be published in our weeklies later today.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Final countdown for reindeer on Russian tundra (22.1.2008)

Links:
  Sukunsa viimeinen (IMDb)
  Nenets people (Wikipedia)
  An article on the resilience of the Yamal-Nenets people to change in the West Siberian Arctic regions
  Pudana: Last of the Line, official site
  Créteil International Women´s Film Festival

Helsingin Sanomat