Anu Pennanen

What if our greatest fear is not death but worthless life? Fifty years old Kati occupies a top position in a large company. Disappointed in life, leaving work she embarks on a journey into the end of despair. Encounter with another woman at night fails. Kati flees the world hiding inside a forest bunker. A flourishing primitive life turns her petrified life upside down. 

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Itä-Pasila, the rough-around-the-edges neighbourhood filled with concrete building blocks, office buildings and diverse inhabitants, is at the centre of Anu Pennanen’s experimental film that mixes documentary with fictional sequences. This mostly dialogue-free film, scored by Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1, explores the eastern side of the Helsinki borough divided in two by train tracks. As inhabitants of Itä-Pasila reminisce about everyday life in their beloved part of town, their thoughts are conveyed to the viewer through text on the screen. To some, Itä-Pasila is reminiscent of grey and depressing barracks, but to others the area is a cherished home filled with good memories.

What will the future look like in a world facing escalating climate change? Director and screenwriter Anu Pennanen asks random petrol station visitors to imagine what the future will look like. Will humans be able to solve the climate crisis and save our own lives? The petrol station serves as a starting point for future visions and dystopias. How is traffic in five years, and how do we move from one place to another? Can we avoid wars if we keep using fossil fuels?