Following divorce and a serious accident Hannu lives alone on his farm in the West of Finland. An environment home to all kinds of wildlife – including the Eurasian lynx, a wildcat until recently almost extinct. When Hannu finds a dead lynx by the side of the road, it is like meeting an old friend: he realizes that the lynx who lived in the area during his childhood have returned. Filled with renewed vigour and lust for life, Hannu sets up trail cameras all over his land. Soon, 23 cameras are recording everything from moose to mice. Hannu starts to get to know the lynx personally, learning their habits and habitats, relationships and individual characteristics. The spirit of the lynx permeates deeper and deeper into Hannu’s world as he becomes increasingly fascinated by theirs.

Juha Suonpää (b. 1963) is an Adjunct Professor in Art, Environmental and Nature Photography, a photographer and filmmaker. Suonpää works as the principal lecturer of visual culture in the International Degree Programme in Media and Arts at Tampere University of Applied Sciences, and as a Senior Academy researcher in a research project of Finnish Academy. Suonpää has exhibited internationally and published documentary films, numerous academic monographs and articles and researched, for example, topics related to photography, visualizing science and the construction of the identity of a place. Suonpää’s earlier film Wolfman premiered at Visions Du Reel Film Festival in 2013.

anja.dziersk@riseandshine-berlin.de