Living (t)here video project

Content available soon

What is it like to live (t)here?

Our video project gathers life stories of individuals of different ages, genders, and horizons who were born in Finland and have roots in the Middle East / SWANA area or who arrived here as children, teenagers, or adults. What is it like to grow up in Finland with a multicultural background? How do you perceive your identity and navigate plural feelings of belonging? What is it like to move here from the SWANA area? How does Finnish society look and what does it feel like? How does one relate to their historical heritage and imagine possible futures?

Watch our interviews to learn what it feels like to be part of different societies at the same time, to live in and in between different lifestyles and atmospheres, in a word to live (t)here.

Interviews available soon

The video project team

My name is Caroline Wallis and I am the director of the video project. I grew up in France in an English-speaking family with roots in England, New Zealand, Ireland and Denmark. As a child I often wondered about the differences between my family and my friends’ family. I decided to study anthropology and learn about the diversity of human societies and ways of seeing the world. My main drive is to discover biographies and life-stories, to explore subjectivities, how they are formed and how they change. I lived in Finland for over three years and am the mother of three children.

My name is Rose-Marie Kivijärvi and I am a technical assistant for the documentary. My professional background is in documentary film and education. I graduated with a Master’s degree in Visual Anthropology from Goldsmiths College in London in 2010 and my films have been shown in various festivals and tv channels. Perhaps due to my Finnish-Iranian background, issues of inclusivity have always been close to my heart. I was born in Iran, lived in Singapore and went to school in Finland, before leaving to study and work abroad, in the UK, Uganda, Iran, and back in Finland.