SYNOPSIS
In 2002, the Junkkonen family decide to leave the farm that they devoted their entire life to. The cows of the Junkkonen farm are taken to the slaughterhouse, and Maija and Pentti must begin a new life, leaving their farming life in the past. While Pentti spends his time in small-scale farming and political activities in the local community, Maija is at a loss as to what do do. Mervi, their oldest daughter, decides to record her parents¡¯ lives on the farm, and tries to understand why her parents must abandon their way of life. About a Farm delivers a heartbreaking, nostalgic elegy on the vanishing of the pastoral, peaceful life on a small farm, by juxtaposing 8mm footage and old photographs from the past, and the family¡¯s crisis in the present. This personal documentary is far more than a record of a family history: it also investigates the socio-historical situation confronting Finnish small farms as their traditional life-style and values are swept away by a strong wave of change. (Park Jin-hyung)
PROGRAM NOTE
In 2002, the Junkkonen family decide to leave the farm that they devoted their entire life to. The cows of the Junkkonen farm are taken to the slaughterhouse, and Maija and Pentti must begin a new life, leaving their farming life in the past. While Pentti spends his time in small-scale farming and political activities in the local community, Maija is at a loss as to what do do. Mervi, their oldest daughter, decides to record her parents¡¯ lives on the farm, and tries to understand why her parents must abandon their way of life. About a Farm delivers a heartbreaking, nostalgic elegy on the vanishing of the pastoral, peaceful life on a small farm, by juxtaposing 8mm footage and old photographs from the past, and the family¡¯s crisis in the present. This personal documentary is far more than a record of a family history: it also investigates the socio-historical situation confronting Finnish small farms as their traditional life-style and values are swept away by a strong wave of change. (Park Jin-hyung)