Salla, a small Finnish town on the border of Lapland. As we see from sprightly 8mm home movies, it was where filmmaker Markku Tuurna and his boyhood friend, Jyrki, spent many joyous years skiing, sledding, swimming, boating and fishing in the huge natural reserve.
Today, things are very different. Salla, as well as Markku’s friend, has been devastated by depopulation, recession and absurd income generating schemes. From a ski resort suffering from lack of snow, or selling a stay in Santa’s home village and Christmas beginning in November, to a giant theme park -- in Salla the bitter struggle between environmentalists, entrepreneurs, reindeer herders, and the area’s citizenry is played out leaving the Salla and the deep north as the greatest casualty. www.filmimaa.fi