National Competition 6: Do No Harm & Eila Babushka – The Past is a Foreign Country

Two true stories that have been irrevocably impacted by actions by Russia and the Soviet Union.

Language: Fin, Eng Duration: 100 min Age Limit: 12+

  • Nainen auringonkukkien keskellä auringonlaskun aikaan.

    Do No Harm

    Director: Satu Majava, Joel Tainio
    Country: Finland
    Year: 2024
    Genre: Documentary
    Duration: 59 min

    Oksana, a Ukrainian doctor, is living in Finland when Russia attacks Ukraine. She hops on a bus with Finnish volunteers and heads to the border of Ukraine and Poland. The goal of these rescue operations is to bring as many Ukrainians fleeing the war to Finland as possible.

  • Vanha, hattupäinen nainen katsoo kameraa kohti sateessa vihreä pelto takanaan.

    Eila Babushka – Mummoni on toista maata

    Eila Babushka – The Past Is a Foreign Country
    Director: Matti Elo
    Country: Finland
    Year: 2024
    Genre: Documentary
    Duration: 41 min

    Kim moved to Finland as a 5-year-old. Now he is about to hear his family’s story for the first time, at the table of his grandmother. Eila was born in Ingria in 1938, as a Finn in the Soviet Union. In 1941 Ingrian Finns were evactuated to Finland for agricultural work, then back again, and in the 1990’s the family moved to Finland as Ingrian returnees. But the family falls silent on difficult issues, and the shooting of Kim’s father in Moscow is still a taboo in the family.

    The documentary is almost finished, when Russia invades Ukraine in February 2022. Again, women and children flee the war. Surprisingly, when talking about the war and the reasons behind it, Kim and Eila take very different stands. Eila Babushka is a documentary film about Ingrian Finn returnees, rootlessness and the affect of Soviet propaganda.