On March 11, the Tampere Film Festival is screening what is seen to be a groundbreaking documentary.
Director Joonas Neuvonen highlights the lives of drug addicts in the northern city of Rovaniemi in his new film Reindeer Spotting.
The material, shot in 2003 and 2004, examines the joys and sorrows of a group of friends.
Neuvonen says that it was hard to find a production company that would not have tried to censor his material.
The main character, Jani, was 19 years old at the time that the film was shot. He takes the drug Subutex intravenously, steals, shoots amphetamine, and tries to deal with drug debts.
We agreed with Jani and the others that we would make a film that does not moralize from above, and that it should show real life from our point of view," he told the Helsingin Sanomat.
Neuvonen sees his film as a part of the debate on drug policy. He says that addicts have been deprived of their human rights in Finland.
I was just in a place where the guys were making comparisons about how they had been beaten by the cops. The current trend is not sustainable. It causes suffering among those who are the victims, he said.
Reindeer Spotting...Pako Joulumaasta
Director Joonas Neuvonen highlights the lives of drug addicts in the northern city of Rovaniemi in his new film, called Reindeer Spotting.
Published: 11.03.2010 14:37
