Title of film : Eastern Memories
Director Name : Niklas Kullstrom,Martti Kaartinen
Cast & crew :
Producer : Niklas Kullstrom
Editor : Niklas Kullstrom
Cast :
Synopsis : Eastern Memories is an unexpected road movie into the Far East of Mongolia and Japan. Seamlessly intertwining the past and present into a visually stunning journey of adventure and exploration, love and death, conspiracies and the fall of nations - all told by a dead Finn from the distant north. The film brings together parallel realities of a bygone world and the transitory present, old beliefs and traditions clashing with a world of visionless capitalism. It shows the great divide between nature and cities, resources and consumption. Finnish linguist and diplomat G. J. Ramstedt takes us into the past world of spirits and deities. A world that came to a dramatic end in the early 20th century, due to communist ideology and market economy. Ramstedt is our witness of the past and our mirror to the present. We travel with him on unexpected roads together with Mongolian gangsta rappers, Chinese hipsters, Japanese lovers, buddhist monks, nomads from the vast steppe and the ubiquitous Salarymen populating every corner of Tokyo.
Director Bio : Niklas Kullstrom is a Finnish filmmaker, cinematographer, editor and media artist. He was born in Helsinki, Finland, but has lived extensively abroad, in Japan, Iceland, United Kingdom, Latvia and Russia. The short documentary film, “Say hello in Slovio”, which he made in the Balkans with British director May Abdalla, has been screened at Cannes Film Festival and was awarded at the Helsinki Short Film Festival. As a media and photo artist Kullström has concentrated on the aesthetic and social challenges created by digitalisation and technologization. His works have been internationally displayed at several different venues, most notably at the Hamburg Photography Triennial in 2015. In addition to art, Kullstrom also works as a producer, photographer and teacher. In 2016 he produced, edited and filmed the comedic-short “The Dijon Story”, directed by Mikko Myllylahti. He has also had a long standing collaboration with Serbian Director/Producer Boris Mitić, on his documentary feature “In Praise of Nothing”, which premiere at Locarno in 2017.
Director Bio : Martti Kaartinen is a Finnish filmmaker and scriptwriter. He has acted as a lead in short films, which have been shown at major festivals and broadcasted on tv. Background research for the documentary “Eastern Memories” took Kaartinen for a month to Tokyo, for six months to Mongolia and for several weeks to China, travelling and living alone with the local people. He is currently involved in several different film projects as a director, writer and an actor. As a journalist Kaartinen has written articles ranging from social to cultural issues, and done photo reports for various publications.
Filmography :
