News from the North

Orenda

1 hr. 57 min. | Drama, Thriller | Pegi 13

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Opera singer Nora travels to a Finnish island to bury her husband, but the local pastor, Natalia, greets her reluctantly. Amid the island’s magical landscape, a bond of guilt and grief grows between the two women. In the latest work by renowned Finnish documentarian Honkasalo – her first film after a ten-year creative hiatus – the story of loss is intertwined with the North American Indigenous myth of “orenda,” the invisible force that dwells within all living things.

Pirjo Honkasalo

Pirjo Honkasalo

Pirjo Honkasalo was born in 1947 in Helsinki. She entered film school at the age of just seventeen. Her first major directorial work, the historical drama Flame Top (1980), competed in the Cannes Film Festival’s official selection. As a documentarian, she is best known for her Trilogy of the Sacred and the Satanic. Scanorama has previously showcased three of her films: The 3 Rooms of Melancholia (2004), Ito – Diary of an Urban Priest (2009), and Concrete Night (2013).
Languages
Finnish
Subtitles
Lithuanian, English
Original title
Orenda
Produced
2025: Finland, Sweden, Estonia

Film information

Director
Pirjo Honkasalo
Producers
Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff
Screenplay
Pirkko Saisio
Music
Elias Salmenkallio, Sanna Salmenkallio
Cinematography
Max Smeds
Cast
Alma Pöysti, Pirkko Saisio, Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Luca Leino, Mikko Kauppila, Tambet Tuisk, Juhan Ulfsak
More information
www.imdb.com

Screenings

Saturday, 8 November

13:40

Forum Cinemas Kaune · 4

Past screening

Monday, 10 November

18:00

Forum Cinemas Vingis · 11

Past screening

Wednesday, 12 November

16:30

Forum Cinemas Vingis · 7

Past screening

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