2020 | Finland | Documentary

Själö: Island Of Souls

  • Swedish, Finnish English 78 mins
  • Director | Lotta Petronella
  • Writer | Lotta Petronella, Seppo Parkkinen
  • Producer | Ilona Tolmunen

STATUS: Completed

This film is currently not available.   

For centuries, a closed institution served as a final destination for socially transgressive women at Själö, an isolated island in the Baltic Sea. The outcast women were kept there in detention, to be observed, studied and measured – in much the same way as the surrounding nature is by scientists at the now converted research center. While a young scientist is collecting samples around the island, the past emerges in the whispers of the unsent letters and empty rooms of the hospital. The space fills up with hidden memories as the invisible archives come alive. Whose stories are remembered and whose are forgotten?

archives memories building documentary institution destination women nature research scientist island