International Documentary Shorts

On Rubik’s Road

DIRECTOR: LAILA PAKALNIŅA ·LATVIA ·2010 ·30 MIN ·LATVIAN

If the entire world can be reflected in a single drop of dew (and it can!), then why couldn’t it fit onto a single bicycle road in Latvia? A film about a world that walks, runs, crawls, sits, rides, flies. And falls. A world alive. Acclaimed Latvian director Laila Pakalnina presents a vivid portrait of Latvian independence, documenting anonymous bike riders on Rubik’s Road, traveling trajectories only known to them.

Print Source: National Film Center of Latvia, Zanda Dudina, zanda.dudina@nfc.gov.lv

Göring's Baton

DIRECTOR: PIA ANDELL ·FINLAND ·2010 ·38 MIN ·FINNISH

This recently discovered footage of Finnish wartime history records the only time Adolf Hitler ventured outside Germany during WWII-- to visit Finland’s top general.  The hush-hush, archive reels, banned for more than 65 years, are now seen in this remarkable secret filming assignment captured by young and curious Finnish war cinematographer, Felix Forsman, as Hitler was trying to consolidate his Russian invasion.

Late in June 1942, Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the Commander in Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces, reluctantly paid a return visit to Germany after Adolf Hitler had visited Finland and congratulated Mannerheim on his 75^th birthday. Through his lens, Felix observed the Fuhrer, Hermann Göring and the conditions in Berlin, visited Goebbels UFA studios and Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair in Berchtesgaden in the summer of 1942. Just before Forsman died recently at age 90, the pristine footage was compiled and made available in this remarkable documentary.

Print Source: The Finnish Film Foundation, Otto Suuronen, otto.suuronen@ses.fi

The Fabulous Fiff and Fam

DIRECTOR: SOLVEIG MELKERAAEN ·NORWAY ·2010 ·29 MIN ·NORWEGIAN

The Fabulous Fiff and Fam is a feel-good documentary about the genuine pleasures and treasures of friendship between two women of 90 who have known each other since they were five. It is a story about being old on the outside, but young at heart.

Print Source: Norwegian Film Institute, knut.skinnarmo@nfi.no

How to Pick Berries

DIRECTOR: ELINA TALVENSAARI ·FINLAND ·2010 ·19 MIN ·FINNISH

Economy is stranger than fiction. Visitors from a distant place appear in the misty swamps of Northern Finland. The locals grow restless - things are changing, secret berry spots are revealed, and everything is getting uncomfortable. Who is to blame and who is profiting from all this? How to Pick Berries is an exploration of the Finnish mind and the absurdities of global economy. Recent graduate of ELO Film School in Helsinki, writer/director Elina Talvensaari screened her film in the Short Film Corner at Cannes and was awarded Best Documentary at the 2010 Tampere Film Festival.

Print Source: AALTO University - ELO Helsinki Film School, Saara Toivanen, saara.toivanen@aalto.fi