RÖDE ORM FILM | Production Movie

Documentaries

STEAM OF LIFE (Documentaries)

81 minutes

Naked Finnish men sit in the sauna and speak straight from their heart. In the warmth of rusty stoves these men
cleanse themselves both physically and mentally.

The film takes us to many different Finnish saunas to let us hear touching stories about love, death, birth and
friendship; about life. In all of its simplicity camera records the landscapes, saunas and men in almost magical
pictures. The presence of the characters and the depth of the emotion reaches the limit where it is almost intolerable
for the viewer to watch. This film reveals the naked souls of these men exceptionally intimately and creates a poetic
portrayal of Finnish men.

Opening film at DocPoint!

Swedish Cinema distribution 2010 by Folkets Bio

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Production information

OKTOBER - PRODUCTION COMPANY

Oktober was established in 2004. It is owned by Joonas Berghäll, Katja Gauriloff and Mika Hotakainen. Oktober is a Finnish production company located in Helsinki. Oktober wants to profile itself as a creative production house with documentary and fiction films focusing on strong social issues. At the moment, Oktober has three ongoing documentary films in production.

JOONAS BERGHÄLL – DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER

Joonas Berghäll (born 1977) has been working as a producer at the Oktober production company since 2004. He has produced 4 documentary films and several short films. Currently he has 3 ongoing film productions in different stages from advance planning to marketing. Berghäll graduated from the Tampere School of Art and Media in 2005.

MIKA HOTAKAINEN - DIRECTOR

Mika Hotakainen (born 1977) graduated as a fiction director in 2004 from a four-year educational program at the Helsinki Polytechnic University, Stadia. Mika has been working in the television and film industry since 1998. Previously he has directed a long documentary film, Freedom to Serve. Visitor was his first professional short fiction. In the Steam Of Life is Mika’s second long documentary film.

In co-production with YLE TV2, Röde Orm Film.

With support from Finnish Film Foundation, Nordic Film & TV Fund, MEDIA Programme, AVEK, Tove Torbjörnsson Swedish Film Institute.