30/5 — 5/6/2024
64th International Film Festival
for Children and Youth

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Section: Days of Swedish Cinema

Elina (2002) 10

Sweden, Finland | 2002 | 77 min.

Young Elina lives in an agricultural part of northern Sweden in the early 1950s. She returns to school after recovering from tuberculosis, which had killed her father some time ago. Elinina's family is part of the Finnish minority and her teacher is trying to force her not to speak her native language at school. Elina's mother, sister, and a young liberal teacher are trying get the media involved in this conflict, but young Elina runs away out into some dangerous bogs seeking solace in imaginary conversations with her dead father.

CountrySweden, Finland
Year2002
Duration77 min
Rating10
LanguageSwedish
SubtitleSimultanneous translation into
Directed by Klaus Härö
Screenplay Kjell Sundstedt, Jimmy Karlsson
Director of Photography Jarkko T. Laine
Music Tuomas Kantelinen
Edited by Riitta Poikselkä, Thomas Täng
Contact The Swedish Film Institute

Biography

A screenwriter and director from Finland, he studied directing and screenwriting at the University of Helsinki. He made his feature debut with the drama Elina (2002), with which he established himself. He was also awarded for the films Mother of Mine (Äideistä parhain, 2005), Letters to Father Jacob (Postia pappi Jaakobille, 2009) and The Fencer (Miekkailija, 2015).

Action + Adventure, Family, Childhood, Illness, Nature, School, Discrimination