As If I Didn't Exist

Näkymätön Elina, feature film, 2002

DIRECTED BY: Klaus Härö

As If I Didn't Exist

CAST:
Natalie Minnevik (Elina),
Bibi Andersson (Tora Holm),
Marjaana Maijala (Marta),
Henrik Rafaelsen (Einar Björk)

SCRIPT:
Kjell Sundstedt (prema romanu Kerstin Johansson i Backe)

PHOTOGRAPHY:
Jarkko T. Laine

Synopsis:
Elina is a nine-year-old girl who lives with her mother and sister in northern Sweden. They belong to a minority that speaks Finnish. The film follows their daily lives, including Elina’s return to school after a bout of tuberculosis that killed her father several years before. In school Elina speaks Finnish. This upsets her new teacher, Miss Holm. Both of them are relentlessly stubborn and a battle of nerves begins… As If I Didn't Exist was the Finnish candidate for an Oscar in 2003.

color, 77 min