Huoneet

 

Antti Lempiäinen: Huoneet (FI 2025). My screenshot from the finale.

Documentary.

    FI © 2025 Superreel Productions Oy. P: Eliel Kilkki, Antti Lempiäinen.

    D+SC+Cin: Antti Lempiäinen. In colour and black and white. Mobile phone photography: Janne Poutiainen.  Colour grading, DCP, TV mastering: Whitepoint Digital. Graphic design: Kai Seppänen. M: K155A, Ville Huhtanen, Petrus Rapo. S+mixing: Petrus Rapo. ED: Hanna Kuirinlahti. Voice actor: Joona Mäkelä.

    Featuring Janne Poutiainen.

    Acknowledgements: VVA ry: Tupa-yksikkö, Hietaniemenkadun palvelukeskus, Pelastusarmeija: Pitäjänmäen asumispalveluyksikkö.

    37 min

    Loc: Helsinki, Imatra.

    Language: Finnish. English subtitles: Tiina Kinnunen.

    DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival 2025: winner of the National Short Film Competition.

    2026 Jussi Awards Nominee: Best Short.

    Vimeo link for Jussi Awards viewed at home in Paris, 26 Feb 2026

A film about homelessness.

AA: Antti Lempiäinen's Huoneet [literally: Rooms] is a documentary diary of the four year period of Janne Lempiäinen, a father of five, who falls to the bottom following divorce and cannot even manage alimony. The film is held together by a first person commentary. Janne wanders around in Helsinki by foot and on tram 3, sleeps in rock crevices, park benches, public lavatories, sheltered corners and under the open sky. He collects bottles to get a bite to eat. He is helped by VVA ry (Vailla Vakinaista Asuntoa ry / No Fixed Abode NGO), Hietaniemen palvelukeskus / Hietaniemenkatu Service Centre of the City of Helsinki and the Salvation Army's Asumispalveluyksikkö / Housing Service Unit, all fighting homelessness. A threat of violence is ubiquitous. He hardens himself by just walking and keeps a diary to clear his mind. There is a happy end, or at least a promise of better days. Janne gets an apartment and starts to write.

Antti Lempiäinen evidently shares the vision of the Salvation Army which pursues the principle of "residence first" for social rehabilitation. A residence is the starting point of getting one's life back. Watching this movie we live the part of the homeless and meet the existential insecurity in the city jungle. It is a desolate detour outside society, away from basic humanity. 

In cities like Helsinki and Paris I increasingly face outcasts of the society, beggars asking for money and food, too many to help individually, but I do my modest share via organizations and as a taxpayer. It is not a good society where this condition becomes more common.

A startling outsider perspective to society.