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World Fantastic Cinema

Sauna

AJ ANNILA

Finland2008 83 min 35mm C Asian Premiere

Synopsis

Director Antti-Jussi ANNILA"s second film Sauna has a strong mythical element to it. His debut film Jade Warrior (2006) borrowed from Finnish and Chinese myths. At the end of a 25-year war, two brothers kill a girl on their way home. Now a ghost, the girl lingers around the two brothers and stirs up their guilt. They find a sauna along the way and try to cleanse themselves of their crime, but things don"t go so smoothly. Saunas are usually places to cleanse the body, but director ANNILA describes the sauna a place to cleanse the soul. That is why Sauna focuses on the brothers who suffer from guilt. It is interesting to note that it is in a wide open space that they are terrorized by the ghost of the girl. This is a solid production by the director without any special effects.(HUH Nam Woong)

Diretor

AJ ANNILA

He made his directorial debut with Jade Warrior (2006), which combined the mythology of Kalevala and Chinese wuxia. His second feature called Sauna (2008), a horror film set in 1595, which tells a story about sins and forgiveness. Sauna won the "Special Prize of the Jury" of "Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival".