"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: Laestadian Films

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Laestadian Films

I'd like to start a list of films that are about Laestadianism in any way. If you know of any, please post them in the comments, and I'll add them to the list.

So far, I only know of these:

Popular Music from Vittula (Populärmusik från Vittula) (2004)
Forbidden Fruit (Kielletty hedelmä) (2009)
The Kautokeino Rebellion (Kautokeino-Opproret) (2009)

Can we add to this list?

14 comments:

  1. Popular Music from Vittula had some Laestadian themes running through it.

    In 2009, there will be a Swedish film based on the book by Bengt Pohjanen about the Korpela movement.

    Around 2010, a film about Laestadius will be released by Norwegian-Sami director Nils Gaup. I had the opportunity to talk to Nils Gaup about his film when he was in Minneapolis in April. His film will be much in the style of the film "Amadeus." Nils Gaup's mother is Laestadian.

    The documentary film Saamelainen, shown at the 2007 Minneapolis International Film Fest, touched on Laestadiansim as it had a profound effect on the Sami people.

    --Stranger in a Strange Land

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  2. Ingmar Bergman films. That might seem unlikely, but the bleakness of those that I've seen remind me of what 19th and early 20th century Sweden may have been like...and the conditions in which Laestadianism flourished.

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  3. You can find the following films about laestadianism on Youtube. An English version is coming:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klav40ty5Ng

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGIJII34oVU

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE7Y31cqnO0

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  4. Where can I get a dvd of Forbiden Fruit? Amazon.com has The Kautokainen Rebelion, but not this one. The link to Forbiden Fruit didn,t specify where to purchase a copy.

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  5. KJ, I don't think it's been released in the US yet.

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  6. "Forbidden Fruit" was just released in Finland on DVD last week, I happened to purchase a copy from the Anttila department store (of course it won't play on most US DVD players... :( ) It was a decent film, but I would have liked to see more about the day-to-day life of Laestadians living in Pohjanmaa and more history, but that was not really the aim of the movie. Interesting anyhow...

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  7. Hi everyone. All this is very interesting to me. I have been meaning to get into touch with people who know the history. I was was raised in Battle Ground and had lots of friends who were of the Laestadian faith. If someone would do me the honer of answering some of my questions. I promise you they will not be negative or ignorant.

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  8. I have made a film explaining laestadianism in USA.

    You can also look at other films about laestadianism on my channel.

    Click on my Nick!

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  9. LLLreader sez to anon 11:27--ask away!

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  10. LLLreader responds to anon11:27--ask away, somone will give you an answer. We have some pretty smart cookies on this site--and some really kind folks. Hope we hear from you.

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  11. The Laestadius film probably won't be released for 2-3 more years. I was going by hearsay when I posted previously it might be out this year.

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  12. I'd like to add Klaus Härö's film Elina - som om jag inte fanns or Näkymätön Elina in Finnish (2002). It's based on a novel by Kerstin Johansson i Backe. While It's not stated explicitly in the film, the Finnish-speaking villagers in Swedish Lapland whose lives it is depicting seem to be members of first-born branch of Laestadianism (e.g. the same branch as OALC in North America). In the novel the religious dynamics and the influence of the preachers on the community are depicted in more detail. The movie won the prize for the best children's movie at Berliin Film Festival in 2003 but is probably not commercially available in languages other than Finnish and Swedish.

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    Replies
    1. I have seen this film in the Finnish Television channel Teema.
      Its funny, that here in Finland its story has been taken as
      one describing the problem of the Finnish speaking minority in Sweden, as their own language and culture was neglected. For each single word of Finnish language there was a punishmment of collecting 10 small pieces of stone. This has been told me By a Laestadian lady, who lived her childhood in the Swedish Lappland.

      Somebody would also say, that Kautokeino activists were not Laestadians, but rather Samic nationalists.
      Their life unders the local Norwegian vicar Stockfleth - who visited the parish from far a way Kristiania (Oslo) 2 times a year - was hard.
      He violated the poor Samic congregatian roughly like
      a patron his slaves in the cotton fields of the south. Same kind of stories was told from the time of his precessor vicar Olav Hjort, who taught the christianity with his wooden pole and fist.
      So, the vague idea of the "living christianity" was a
      channel, like the rising reformation in Germany, who gave the spiritualists the opportunity to rise themselves into a riot.

      Kautokeino was former a Swedish community, but given to Norway under Danish crown, when the whole Lappland was divided. After the Swedish vicar, who died 1753, there was
      no own vicar under 100 years. The Lapps were totally on their own under the Norwegian reign.
      Curious Sheep

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