The Detour

«The Detour» goes on tour

Itinerant public-viewing of the film « The Detour » around the Gulf of Finland

"I was asking you why you did this film because I was really touched. I have connections with Finland, Russia and Karelia, I'm Estonian, and you managed to make in litttle time with delicately presented deep symbols (for us locals) something that is true. […]" Tallinn (EST), 29.09.2011

"[…] a thought-provoking angle towards the Nordic identity, history and memory, that despite of difficult times leaves space for little good and happy moments." Kunda (EST), 13.10.2011

"It was a very educationnal film which helps our young generation to understand the past andthe history […]" Kohtla-Järve (EST), 14.10.2011

"The end of the film created a true nostalgia – Tallinn Song festival grounds, snow, a few walkerson Sunday – [...] A very interesting, catching film!" Rakvere (EST), 16.10.2011

"Thanks for connecting different dots between 3 countries in a way that does not judge anybody." Narva (EST), 17.10.2011[…]

"That's very symbolic that you started from the older generation and in the end was the youngests! That's a great perspective also for us, people who were born in 1990." St Petersburg (RU), 20.10.2011

"The film deals more with feelings that anything else and I enjoyed it!" Koltushi (RU), 20.10.2011

"The very right thing to show at our school!" Lappeenranta (FI), 09.12.2011

"The Detour is a magnificient collection of people who belong to something or somewhere thatno longer exists but they keep it alive by carring it with them." Lappeenranta (FI), 09.12.2011

We could never have imagined completing the project “The Detour” without returning on the route one last time. Ever since the idea came into being, our ambition was for the finished film to be screened along the itinerary in order to share and discuss our perspective with the Estonians, Russians and Finns to whom the film is primarily addressed. It is one thing to observe, analyse and question the memory of one or more countries to which we do not belong. It is quite another to share these observations, analyses and questions with the people they concern. To this end, we contacted countless associations in the three countries in order to make these meetings possible : schools, museums, displaced persons’ associations, cultural centres, universities.

In all, 20 screenings took place in 20 different locations between Tallinn, St. Petersburg and Turku. One of the goals of the project, and of the film, was to address people from the three countries, but also the different generations : those who experienced the events first-hand, as well as those who have inherited a history of which they are sometimes unaware. We started the tour in the main hall of the passenger terminal of the port of Tallinn, where people gathered for the premiere to watch the film on the large screen setted up for the occasion. We travelled to the Russian-speaking city of Kohtla-Järve, in eastern Estonia, where secondary school pupils and pensioners gathered in the imposing “house of culture”, built in 1955 when Estonia was a part of the USSR. We went to Koltushi, a village on the outskirts of St. Petersburg where most of the inhabitants experienced the oppression of the Soviet regime. We met with the inhabitants of Vyborg, in the screening room of the municipal library, built by architect Alvar Aalto at a time when this city in western Russia belonged to Finland. We debated with the pupils of the small Finnish city of Pyhtää in the school sports hall, transformed into a screening room for the occasion.

The book in which we collected people’s comments represents just a tiny fraction of the discussions which we shared over the course of the screenings. Each one of these meetings confirmed to us that not only is it possible to bring a new perspective to the history and memory of countries other than our own, but also, and even more importantly, that it is necessary to do so.