Screaming Men

CREDITS

Director
Script
Photography
Editor
Sound
Music
Producer
Production
Co-Producer
In Co-Operation with

Production Support

International Sales
Festival Distribution

Mika Ronkainen
Mika Ronkainen
Vesa Taipaleenmäki
Pernille Bech Christensen
Esa Nissi
Olli Tuomainen
Kimmo Paananen
Klaffi Productions
Carsten Holst / Zentropa Real
Yle TV 1 Co-Productions / Eila Werning
Mediakeskus POEM / Markku Flink
SES / Petri Rossi
AVEK / Timo Humaloja
Danish Film Institute / Jacob Hogel
ESEK & LUSES
DR
Oulun läänin taidetoimikunta
Suomen kulttuurirahaston Pohjois-Pohjanmaan rahasto
Oulun kaupungin Taiteilijatyöpaja

Trust Film Sales
Finnish Film Foundation

SYNOPSIS

Meet the choir of screaming men that travels from Finland to Tokyo with the goal of getting good photographs of their Japanese audience while performing Japanese national anthem. Meet the choir that screams the French national anthem La Marseillaise at the museum of modern art in Paris even though the museum and the embassy of Finland try to prevent them. Meet the choir that treats nationalism, fascism, and power - and can only be led by a total dictator.

The Finnish Screaming Male Choir, Mieskuoro Huutajat, dressed in black suits, white shirts, and rubber ties is a unique choir which performs its repertoire by shouting and screaming. Led by the conductor Petri Sirviö, the choir has traveled during 15 years of existence from an idea in a bar table all the way to the front line of modern European performing arts, receiving the same strong reaction everywhere: the audience has been mostly exalted, and sometimes also shocked and bewildered.

The appeal of the performance of Huutajat is based on combinations of strong contrasts. The disciplined and smartly dressed male choir shouts patriotic songs and marches as well as children's songs in original languages. Exact articulation mixes with howling and comical turns into serious without a warning. Their versions of national anthems of different countries do not always make everybody happy. When Huutajat was performing at the museum of modern art in Paris, both the museum and the Finnish embassy tried to prevent them from performing the French national anthem. When Huutajat was performing in Iceland, where it is prohibited by the law to perform the national anthem in any other version than the original, they had to find another solution.

SCREAMING MEN is an entertaining film about power, nationalism, intransigence and firm belief in your own art. The creative process of conductor Sirviö often leads to conflicts between the choir and the outside world - sometimes also within the choir. The film follows the choir both in Finland and on international concert trips (France, Japan, and Iceland) during a time span of five years. Similarly to the choir, the documentary walks the thin line between the dead serious and the absurd.

TECHNICAL DATA

Shooting Format
Screening Format
Audio
Duration
Short TV version
Year of Production
Domestic cinema release
Other cinema releases

DVCAM, DigiBeta, 8mm, Beta SP
35 mm, Digital Betacam 16:9
Dolby Digital, Stereo
76 min
58 min
2004
2004
UK 2004, Poland 2005

AWARDS

Sundance Film Festival 2004 / Park City, Utah, USA
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2004 / China
DocAviv 2004 / Tel Aviv, Israel
Miami International Film Festival 2004 / USA
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2004 / Durham, USA
Nashville Film Festival 2004 / USA
DOXA Documentary Film and Video Festival 2004 / Vancouver, Canada
Revelation Perth International Film Festival 2004 / Perth, Australia
Orinda Film Festival 2004 / USA
Documenta Madrid 2004 / Spain
Woodstock Film Festival 2004 / USA
Milwaukee International Film Festival 2004 / USA
Tromsö International Film Festival 2004 / Norway
Festival du Cinéma Nordique 2004 / Rouen, France
Sound Unseen Film and Music Festival 2004 / Minneapolis, USA
True/False Film Festival 2004 / Columbia, USA
Auckland Film Festival 2004 / New Zealand
Wellington Film Festival 2004 / New Zealand
FILMSTOCK International Film Festival 2004 / Luton, UK
DOCS REVIEW 2004, Warsaw/Poland
REAL: Life on Film 2004, Australia
European Documentary Film Festival 2004 / Oslo, Norway
Cinema &/è Lavoro – Umbria Film Festival 2004 / Italy
International Festival of Films on Art 2004 / Montreal, Canada
Film Festival Reykjavik Shorts & Docs 2004 / Iceland
Edinburgh International Film Festival 2003 / UK
Flanders International Film Festival 2003 / Ghent, Belgium
Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival 2003 / UK
IDFA 2003 / Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nordisk Panorama 2003 / Malmö, Sweden
Black Night Film Festival 2003 / Tallin, Estonia
Marseille International Documentary Film Festival 2003
Festival dei Popoli 2003 / Firenze, Italy
CPH:DOX 2003 / Copenhagen, Denmark
Filmfestival Antwerpen 2003 / Belgium
Bergen International Film Festival 2003 / Norway
Nordische Filmtage Lubeck 2003 / Germany
Cork Film festival 2003 / Ireland
Tempo Documentary Film Festival 2003 / Stockholm, Sweden
Tampere Film Festival 2003 / Finland
Umeå Film Festival 2004 / Sweden
Farmington Funny Film Festival 2004 / USA
Århus Film Festival 2004 / Denmark
First Person Cinema 2004 / Seattle, USA
ESCENARIOS 2004 / Mexico
Indie 2004 / Brazil
Northern Lights Film Festival 2004 / USA
Santa Fe Film Festival 2004 / USA
Cinema and Reality 2005 / Athens, Greece
Magnificent 7 / Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro
Tiburon Film Festival 2005 / USA

plus several others

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