Anna Törrönen and Eveliina Pasanen

Filmmakers Anna Törrönen and Eveliina Pasanen are working in the Saari Residence on a television series about wolves and people by combining documentary and fictional narratives.

The pair has been working on the project for several years now. The background research has led them to wolf territories along Finland’s eastern border and in the Turku region. The core of their work is about exploring how to represent the wolf and understand the animal in humans.

There is a heated debate about the animal, with clashing views on the place of humans and wolves in nature, and on the views on social justice. In the attention economy, problem-focused headlines and polarised public discourse take over. The series examines the way we look at the animal while deconstructing the images we have created of the wolf. What else could the narrative about the wolf be? What are the mechanisms and structures behind our image of the wolf?

The Saari Residence is located in wolf territory, which allows us to continue our site-specific preliminary research. We have found that our work expands when we are physically in the same space, and this affects the flow of ideas, both the shared and the separate way we think.

During the residency, we expect to meet some of the locals and be able take walks in the forest, in addition to our writing work.

Eveliina Pasanen is a Turku-based screenwriter and filmmaker with a background in documentary film. Pasanen is inspired by the collaboration between the authors and, in her work, she is aiming to reach those moments where there are no more words. She has always hoped to meet a wolf in the wild and dreams of this finally happening during her Saari residence.

Anna Törrönen is a filmmaker based in Helsinki. Törrönen has studied creative writing at Oriveden Opisto (Orivesi College) and has represented Finland as a member of the jury of young people in the 67th annual Venice Biennale in 2010. She is inspired by worlds larger than us humans and by the unfinished.

The authors’ short films have toured both Finnish and international festivals. Both Törrönen and Pasanen are alumni of the Arts Academy’s film studies programme at Turku University of Applied Sciences and are currently studying at Aalto University; Törrönen in the Master of Arts programme in Documentary Film and Pasanen in Screenwriting.