Film info 5/2017 – The documentary film ”Light in the Wilderness” won the Gold Award at the WorldMediaFestival
May 2017
The documentary film ”Light in the Wilderness” won the Gold Award at the WorldMediaFestival
By Tauno Kohonen 3.5.2017
Oulu, Finland – The documentary film by Tauno Kohonen is awared with the gold medal at the WorldMediaFestival/Toursim in the documentary film category Nature and Wildlife. The WorldMediaFestival global competition for modern media is targeted to leading communication professionals and had participants from 32 countries. The entries were judged by an international team of experienced professionals in the fields of communications, film production as well as special field experts, including representants from TV-companies, universities, travel organisations and private companies. Mr Kohonen will receive the award on May 10th, 2017 at the WMF in Hamburg, Germany.
About the film ”Light in the Wilderness”
The documentary film ”Light in the Wilderness” tells about the relationship of man and nature, the pure nature of Kuusamo and Posio in North-Eastern Finland, its peace and quietness, as well as the colors of the light in the changing of the seasons. The film is a co-production of Rapid River and the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle and it was chosen to the Finland 100 years- program. The original title is ”Kitkajoki- rakas joki”. Finnish nature has been internationally recognized within the Finland 100 Years festive program, National Geographic Traveler has chosen Finland to 21 best countries for travelling, due to its clean nature, the Northern light and its quietness. Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel guide named Finland the third best travel destination. The British daily paper Guardian as well as the Daily Mail have praised the National Park Oulanka on their webpages.
In the film, the photographer Tauno Kohonen advocates the significance of pure water and unspoilt nature. The nature of the Kitkajoki-river is threatened by the planned gold mine alongside the river. Locals call it uran mine. The internationally valuable brown trout population rises to spawn from the big lakes on the Russian side up to their river of birth in Kuusamo. There was a time when when fishermen caught numerous large trouts in one night. Now the trout rises only rarely anymore and action needs to be taken for its rescue. The Kitkajoki-river is part of the National Park Oulanka in Kuusamo, Finland, close to the Russian border.
Aphorisms about the relationship of man and nature, by the late writer Reino Rinne from Kuusamo, are cited throughout the film. The film is seeking for an answer why humans don’t feel the calming effect of nature in themsleves anymore. Could objectification stand in their way? Have we lost our last connection to nature and the sense of us being part of nature? The film pictures of authentic nature in the changing of the seasons speak to the audience.
Script, directing and filming by Tauno Kohonen. Editor Antti Tuomiokoski, Music Rami Kaareston and Color Definition by Juha Laine.
About Tauno Kohonen
Tauno Kohonen is a nature photographer and founder of the production company Rapid River. Finnish audiovisual producers chose Tauno Kohonen as photographer of the year in 2001. In 2003, at the WorldMediaFestival he was awarded with the Grand Award special price for his nature photographs. He has published the phtographic book ‘Light in the Wilderness’ and has produced nature-related photo exhibitions that have been displayed around the world. The new book ‘Pure Water, pure nature’ informs about the significance of unspoilt nature for us all. It will be published in 2017, also in a digital version.
Contact: To learn more about the gold award winning film, please contact
Tauno Kohonen, Rapid River
+358 400 286 956
tauno.kohonen@rapidriver.fi www.kitkajoki.fi/en