Skip to main content
Lynx Man film image

Lynx Man

Ilveskuiskaaja

This event has passed

Upon discovering that Eurasian lynxes– hunted to near-extinction a century ago in Finland– have begun to prowl anew across his land, reclusive farmer Hannu sets up trail cameras to track the elusive wild cats he calls his friends: Joseph, Velvet Eyes, Grumpy Girl, and Spot. Hannu’s footage soon sees the night open up to all manner of delightful wildlife encounters: a fox frightened by geese; a moose’s stand-off with a mirror; lynx cubs trailing after their mother in single file. Inspired by this indirect contact with the animals he has sworn to protect, Hannu dons a whittled lynx mask and enacts a few playful, primal rituals of his own in the moonlight, where the distinctions between man and beast begin to blur.

Director Juha Suonpää’s projections of trail footage over sauna smoke imbue this quirky documentary with a uniquely mesmerizing quality.

 

Grand Prix, Cinemambiente 2023

 

Series Media Partner

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

Finland/Estonia

Year

2023

Series

Insights

Language

In Finnish with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
82 min
Documentary

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Producer

Pasi Hakkio, Niina Virtanen

Screenwriter

Juha Suonpää, Hanna Kaihlanen

Cinematography

Alexander Markus Lembke, Juha Suonpää

Editor

Tuuli Kuittinen, Hanna Kaihlanen

Original Music

Puuluup, Kimmo Helén, Tanel Kadalipp

Director

Juha Suonpää headshot

Photo by Juha Suonpää

Juha Suonpää

Juha Suonpää is an academic, photographer and filmmaker. Suonpää’s film Wolfman premiered in Visions Du Réel 2013. He continues to research and publish in the field of photography, visualizing science and the construction of the identity of a place.

Filmography: Vuores (2000); Wolfman (2013)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Rear Window

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
110 min

James Stewart is the man who sees too much. "Jeff" Jeffries is a sports photographer waylaid by a broken leg, doomed to spend the summer in a wheelchair in his New York apartment. That's how he comes to witness a murder in the dead of night (or does he?).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Vivaldi and Me

Dir. Damiano Michieletto
111 min

Venice, 1716. Composer Antonio Vivaldi teaches at an orphanage for abandoned girls, and establishes a deep rapport with violinist Cecelia — but their collaboration is threatened by her impending arranged marriage.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Whispers in the Woods

Dir. Vincent Munier
94 min

A luxuriant, healing immersion in nature with ravishing wildlife photography, this is the cinematic equivalent of "forest bathing," a trip deep into the Vosges, France, with photographer Vincent Munier (The Velvet Queen), his father and his son.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Three Colours: Red

Dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
99 min

Irène Jacob plays Valentine, a runway model living in Geneva, who crosses paths with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who's a bit of an eavesdropper. Initially repelled, she becomes intrigued by this man, as do we... Kieslowski's sublime adieu.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Dir. Mike Newell
118 min

Four Weddings begins with an onslaught of fucks. It's the first signal that this rom-com will break from tradition, despite the ritualized structural conceit described in the title. The witty screenplay is by Richard Curtis — it's still his best.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Camp

Dir. Avalon Fast
111 min

Reeling from two devastating tragedies, Emily (Zola Grimmer) takes refuge at a summer camp for troubled youth, where she has been offered a position as counsellor. She finds friendship, but also something more unexpected, something truly troubling...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre