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Mummola

Family Time
Encounters 2023
© Sami Kuokkanen / Aamu Filmcompany
Mummola begins with a door that keeps on opening to let its characters into a house surrounded by nature that will be the setting of much of the film, and welcomes the audience into a small world that is portrayed with fierce tenderness and surprising rigour. Three generations come together for the holidays and re-enact a seasonal ritual of traditions, conversations and household chores. These elements would seem to indicate the return of the Nordic family drama, but Tia Kouvo’s debut is more of a “comédie humaine” that opts instead for an analysis of behaviour, relationships and private spaces that is both ironic and harrowing. In between meals around the table, anecdotes, TV programmes and, yes, saunas, there are no secrets or traumas to be revealed, but above all gestures to observe and silences to interpret. The film becomes an elegy on the ordinary, supported by a screenplay that is at its most expressive when reducing language to a minimum or dispensing entirely with verbalising or even “writing” anything that cannot be said or that characters do not know how to say. The adults are the ones who mainly struggle for words; the only dialogue that seems possible takes place between the older generation and the children, in between past regrets and the future, between what has passed and what remains, all fused together with a clear-cut ending.
by Tia Kouvo
with Ria Kataja, Elina Knihtilä, Leena Uotila, Tom Wentzel, Jarkko Pajunen, Sakari Topi, Elli Paajanen, Toomas Talikka Finland / Sweden 2023 Finnish 114’ Colour World premiere | Debut film

With

  • Ria Kataja (Susanna)
  • Elina Knihtilä (Helena)
  • Leena Uotila (Ella)
  • Tom Wentzel (Lasse)
  • Jarkko Pajunen (Risto)
  • Sakari Topi (Simo)
  • Elli Paajanen (Hilla)
  • Toomas Talikka (Kassu)

Crew

Director Tia Kouvo
Screenplay Tia Kouvo
Cinematography Jesse Jalonen
Editing Okku Nuutilainen
Sound Design Jorma Kaulanen
Production Design Nanna Hirvonen
Costumes Mirva Mietala
Make-Up Heidi Huovinen
Assistant Director Aija Ronkainen
Production Manager Paria Eskandari
Producers Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka
Co-Producers Fredrik Lange, Kristina Börjeson
Co-Production Vilda Bomben Film Göteborg

World sales

The Match Factory

http://www.the-match-factory.com http://www.the-match-factory.com

Produced by

Aamu Film Company

https://www.aamufilmcompany.fi/ https://www.aamufilmcompany.fi/

Photos

Tia Kouvo

© Carlo Askander

The screenwriter and director studied social psychology before attending the HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design in Gothenburg. Her debut feature film Family Time is based on the eponymous short with which she graduated in 2018 and which went on to win awards at the Love & Anarchy Film Festival and the Tampere International Film Festival. She has developed her distinct observational style in this and her other shorts. She is based in Gothenburg and works in both Sweden and Finland.

Filmography

2011 Rio Rita; short documentary 2014 Chat with Me; short film 2016 Doubter of Spring; short film 2018 Growing Pains; short film · Family Time; short film · We Retired People; short film 2023 Mummola (Family Time)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023