THE STORY

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The production of this Documentary began in 2017. We were approached by a local historian Tuula Siltasaari from Järvenpää city. She wanted to tell a story of an important local character from Järvenpää’s history named Bjarne Westermarck. He was the reason that Järvenpää began growing from a small agricultural village to the city it is today. Bjarne was also a great benefactor of the industrialisation of agriculture in Finland in the early 20th century. 

We shot Westermarck in 2018. We really wanted to combine elements of both historically accurate reenactments and traditional documentaries. Therefore we shot five fictional scenes about the important moments in Bjarne Westermarck’s life. The scenes were shot in the real locations where Bjarne worked and spent his life. Bjarne’s life had never been documented before, not even in literature before this film. We have to thank Tuula Siltasari for her passion to tell this particular story.

This documentary was a real turning point for our team, since this was our first large film production. One would argue that this kind of work is the reason that we do what we do. 

It was a pleasure to work with Tuula Siltasari and her association, and with a local film company White Cloud Ltd, where the film's screenwriter Amanda Lehtola works. The funding of the film was provided by the city of Järvenpää, and their assistance made this production possible.