1918 - huutoja ja kaikuja II / 1918 - Cries and Echoes II (a seminar on the Finnish Civil War)

Punaorvot valkoisessa Suomessa / [Red Orphans in White Finland].

A seminar on the movies of the 1918 civil war in Finland • organized by DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival / Risto Jarva Society / KAVI.
    Moderators: Ville Suhonen, Jouko Aaltonen
    Cinema Orion, Helsinki (Year of Remembrance 1918), 4 Feb 2018

Part II: Sunday 4.2.2018

10.00 Seppo Rustanius: Punaorvot valkoisessa Suomessa [Red Orphans in White Finland] (FI 1999). PC: Illume. 16 mm, magnetic sound. Screened on Betacam SP. 55 min
    Among the witnesses: Ilmi Elo, Eva Erkko.
    Score by Heikki Valpola.
    Reader: Pertti Sveholm.
   "The tale of the 20 000 red orphans who survived the bloody civil war. An attempt was made to relocate and integrate the voluminous bunch of red orphans into white Finland. Children were moved to the province of Ostrobothnia for re-education. Orphanages for red children were established. Some remained with their mother or relatives surviving on subsistence level. In this film the red orphans forgotten by official history can finally be heard."
    Remarks by Associate Professor Ulla-Maija Peltonen.
    AA: A precious record of living memory of red orphan children experiencing gross injustice at foster homes, schools, and the military. A heritage of harassment and slight.

11.15  Seppo Rustanius: Punaiset esiliinat / [Red Aprons] (FI 1997). PC: Illume. 16 mm, magnetic sound. Screened on Betacam SP. 65 min
    Score by Heikki Valpola.
    Readers: Eriikka Magnusson, Matti Paloheimo.
    Among the witnesses: Aili Eskola, Elli Forsström, Aira Hämäläinen, Eeva Mäkinen, Meeri Lindström, Elli Nurminen (archival tape), Paula Suotaala, Meeri Pitkänen, Hilkka Vuori, Marja Torikka, daughter of Ingrid Kuhlman, Ellen Harmovaara (archival tape), Martta Koivisto (archival tape), and Ilmi Elo.
    "A film about women in the Red Guards of Finland in 1918. The first documentary film on the subject".
    Remarks by writer Anneli Kanto.
    AA: Remarkable first generation records of the female red guard soldiers who not only participated in military action but were usually the most valiant elements in the civil war. After the war they became the victims of the most atrocious retribution. The surviving witnesses who were young girls at the time comment that they chose not to reminiscence about those times. "Only now I have started to think about them". "Those matters were never discussed". "Nobody asked". Not even their husbands and children necessarily knew.    

12.45 Seppo Rustanius: Uhrit 1918 [The Victims 1918] (FI 2008). PC: Illume. Screened on Digital Betacam. 52 min
    The two protagonists: Erik Grotenfelt and Matti Olmanketo.
   "A film about the victims of the 1918 civil war – the winners and the losers. During the 1918 civil war and especially afterwards thousands of Finns were executed. Mainly responsible for the executions were the winners. The film is an account of this time of dread and terror via two protagonists. One was an executioner, another was executed. Both were victims of the war."
    Remarks by PhD Aapo Roselius.
    AA: Numbers can be numbing. This movie brings us closer to the actuality of the war via two protagonists. Matti Olmanketo and Erik Grotenfelt were both artistically sensitive family fathers. Olmanketo, who belonged to the Reds, was executed. Grotenfelt became an executioner, but in 1919 he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.