Isäni tähtien takaa / My Father from Sirius

Isäni tähtien takaa / My Father from Sirius. The director Einari Paakkanen with his father, testing with a divining rod whether there is a place of cosmic energy there.

Tampere Film Festival
Kotimainen kilpailu 7

P11 | 10.3. FRI/PE 10:00 | PLEVNA 2 |
Language/kieli: Eng/Fin

ISÄNI TÄHTIEN TAKAA
MY FATHER FROM SIRIUS

Einari Paakkanen | Finland 2016 | Documentary | 84 min

TFF: Einari’s childhood could have been just like any other Finnish boy’s. His father Veikko worked a normal job in a small town’s tax office, and his mother was a journalist. Everything changed when Einari was 12 years old; father Veikko became enlightened, announcing that he was a messenger between the Earth and outer space. He said he saw aliens, could contact the beyond, and possessed paranormal healing abilities. Einari and Veikko became a team, for whom the entire universe was wide open. Now, 25 years later, Einari confronts his father with his suspicions.

Einarin lapsuus olisi voinut olla kuten muidenkin suomalaisten poikien. Isä Veikko kävi normaalisti töissä pikkukaupungin verotoimistossa ja äiti työskenteli toimittajana. Kaikki muuttui Einarin ollessa 12-vuotias; isä Veikko koki valaistumisen ilmoittaen olevansa Maan ja ulkoavaruuden välinen sanansaattaja. Hän kertoi näkevänsä avaruusolentoja, pystyen ottamaan yhteyttä tuonpuoleiseen ja omaavansa yliluonnollisia parannustaitoja. Einarista ja Veikosta tuli tiimi, jolle koko maailmankaikkeus oli avoinna. Nyt, 25 vuotta myöhemmin, Einari kohtaa isänsä epäilyksillään. TFF

AA: The film director Einari Paakkanen's first person narrative of his journey to the past. In 1992 his life changed when his father Veikko experienced a spiritual awakening. He started to receive messages from outer space. He was able to see in the future and the past. He turned into a miracle healer. He learned automatic writing. He had encounters with UFOs. He acquired a sensitivity to cosmic energy fields. He had a way with energy stones. He learned to understand the power of chaga mushrooms to cure cancer.

The main story takes place in the present, but there is a lot of home movie footage with which we keep returning to the past.

The incredulous director keeps wondering how he could face his father with the fact that he himself does not believe in these things. His father has been a superhero, and now he turns into an ordinary man.

We learn also important background information. The director's grandfather was a war veteran who was psychically broken in the war and started to drink afterwards. In reaction to that Veikko decided on abstinence. His mission was also to save his father in the spirit world. It is important to praise a man in his lifetime. If one fails to do that, one can try to rectify things afterwards.

In 1992 Veikko's wife, the director's mother, was in Nicaragua during the earthquake and the tsunami and was barely saved. That may also have had an impact in Veikko's profound change. The mother herself says that she has always had her feet firmly on the ground while Veikko has had his head in the clouds. "We both help weak ones".

One inexplicable experience remains. Einari remembers one evening when father came home and seemed like dozens of years younger, as young as Einari himself. They were like brothers. There was a burning hot stove. Veikko put his hand on it, but there were no signs of burns when he took his hand off. Veikko was shocked and felt that evil spirits from another dimension had tried to get him.

Nevertheless, finally Einari finds the courage to tell Veikko that he does not believe. There is no breakdown, but the relationship between Einari and Veikko changes forever. Things become ordinary. Life goes on.