Kultalähe (2026)

The film follows a journey to a Viena Karelian spring called Kultalähe (Golden Spring), located in the Finnish State border zone, near the Vartius border crossing station. Its waters are said to flow across national borders – into the Gulf of Bothnia and the White Sea. The spring bubbles up along the historical Bread Road, once travelled by Viena Karelian pack merchants heading to Finland, and by Finnish artists and scientists – Karelianists – journeying to Viena Karelia. Kultalähe reflects the layered meanings of the border through collaging a docufictional character Vasselei, oral tradition, archival materials, a museum exhibition, and the filmmaker’s personal memory into a fragmentary hybrid documentary.