Description
The work In the Same Boat by Mia Malviniemi and Mervi Junkkonen will be shown on 3–4 February 2024 as part of the Shorts: The Political Body series at the DocPoint Festival.
Mia Malviniemi is a dance artist from Vaasa and the artistic director of Mia Malviniemi Company. She has previously collaborated with documentary filmmaker Mervi Junkkonen on the dance film Roots. In the Same Boat was born from dance sessions Malviniemi held with elderly participants. These sessions were intimate encounters whose meaning lay in the stories and their embodiment through movement.
Film was chosen as the medium because Malviniemi did not want to interpret others’ stories through her own movement, but rather bring the stories forward in the immediacy of encounter. Through film, it is easier to make visible how elderly people remain active and engaged members of society and the world. At the heart of these dance encounters are interaction and awareness of the human capacity to meet others and to learn new things throughout life.
Malviniemi originally intended to perform the dancer’s role herself, but the pandemic and her illness during the filming week changed the plans. The role was taken on by dancer and dance artist Nanna Rahikainen, who also had experience working with elderly people in dance sessions, making her participation particularly fitting. Malviniemi’s illness also meant that the directing process had to take place remotely.
The film is on display at the Helinä Rautavaara Museum until 18 February as part of the exhibition Stories of Finland. The film has already gained international recognition, winning first prize at the Dance on Screen Festival in Graz and receiving special mentions at the Multiplié Dance Film Festival in Trondheim and the International Dance Film Festival in Bucharest. In the future, the work will also be shown in Sweden and the Netherlands.