A moving portrait of traditional Finnish American culture in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, highlighting that fragile community of memory connecting ourselves with parents and grandparents. A 92 year old immigrant grandfather asked his son and Finnish immigrant daughter-in-law to live on the farm and care for him. The barn will fall anyday; his three grandchildren are growing restless. This three-generation farm family works, celebrates, reflects, and grieves together.
Explore the meaning of family, ethnic history, aging and intergenerational bonds. Contrasts between the immigrant elder, his American-born son and the partially assimilated grandchildren illustrate change and continuity in the "sauna belt" of the Lake Superior Region.
Awards: American Film Festival council on International Non-Theatrical Events Finalist, Margaret Mead film Festival.
"...Loukinen demonstrates an extraordinary ability to enter into the emotional core of a culture on its own terms."
[Visual Sociology Review]To read more about the film click here.
