''Tale of the Sleeping Giants'' ( fi, Tunturin tarina) is a 2021 Finnish nature film directed by . It is about the fells of Sápmi and is the standalone third entry in a series of nature films, after ''

Tale of a Forest ''Tale of a Forest'' ( fi, Metsän tarina) is a 2012 Finnish nature documentary film directed by Kim Saarniluoto and . It combines footage from forests with narration about Finnish folklore. When it was released it broke the attendance record f ...

'' (2012) and '' Tale of a Lake'' (2016). Originally set for release in 2020, ''Tale of the Sleeping Giants'' was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. Without officially being premiered, it topped Finland's box-office solely from preview screenings. The official release date was eventually on December 3 2021.

Synopsis

''Tale of the Sleeping Giants'' revolves around the fells—barren mountains—of Sápmi in northern Europe. It is about the terrain, wildlife and mythology of the region.

Production

''Tale of the Sleeping Giants'' is based on an idea by Antti Tuuri and the screenplay was written by Tuuri and . The film was produced by Hanna Kauppi and Röhr for with support from the Finnish Film Foundation. It is the standalone third film in a trilogy about nature and mythology produced by MRP Matila Röhr Productions. By having an element of dramatic storytelling, it differs from the previous films, ''

'' (2012) and '' Tale of a Lake'' (2016), which are straight nature documentaries, and it received funding from the Finnish Film Foundation's drama department, not its documentary department. Filming took place over three years in northern Finland, Norway and Sweden. Production included sustained filming in temperatures as low as minus 42 degrees

Celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

. The team recorded 850 hours of footage, which were edited into the 77 minutes of the finished film.

Release

Distribution in Finland is handled by Nordisk Film. The Finnish theatrical release was initially set to 25 December 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. The premiere took eventually place on December 3 2021. Because of the delay, there was time to create a subtitled translation in Northern Sami, which was used during some screenings. A 53 minutes long documentary about the making of ''Tale of the Sleeping Giants'' was broadcast on Yle TV1 on 5 April 2021. Without officially being premiered and due to the restrictions imposed on cinema operators, ''Tale of the Sleeping Giants'' was able to top the Finnish box-office in February 2021 only through preview screenings. As of December 1 2021, it had sold 18,119 tickets in Finland.

Reception

of ''

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

'' wrote that ''Tale of the Sleeping Giants'' follows the formula from the two previous films and it shows that the filmmakers have developed a shared vision, where Virtanen especially complimented the cinematography. She compared the narrative element where fells are portrayed as sleeping giants to ', which used editing to create a dramatic story from nature footage. Virtanen described Panu Aaltio's soundtrack as powerful and effective in some scenes, but thought other scenes could have gained from not using music.

References

External links

Distributor's website

Production company's website
* {{IMDb title, 11460832 2021 films Finnish documentary films 2020s Finnish-language films Films based on Finno-Ugric mythology Documentary films about animals Mountains in fiction Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films shot in Finland Films shot in Norway Films shot in Sweden Films scored by Panu Aaltio 2021 documentary films