Lotta Petronella
Själo, 78’ 2020

Själö (en. island of souls), has captured the destiny of countless women over hundreds of years. When the filmmaker begins to listen to the winds and spirits, hidden memories become visible. For centuries, a closed institution served as a final destination for socially transgressive women at Själö, an isolated island in the Baltic Sea. The outcast women were kept there in detention, to be observed, studied and measured – in much the same way as the surrounding nature is by scientists at the now converted research center. While a young scientist is collecting samples around the island, the past emerges in the whispers of the unsent letters and empty rooms of the hospital. The space fills up with hidden memories as the invisible archives come alive. Whose stories are remembered and whose are forgotten?

Lotta Petronella is a filmmaker, artist and curator based on the island of Ruissalo. She has worked with and on islands for the last 10 years and has 15 years of experience as a director, producer and writer of documentary and art films. Her films have been shown internationally at film festivals, art galleries and broadcasted widely. Petronella is trained as a fine artist at Chelsea College of Art in London where she worked and lived for 15 years working on a number of film and television productions. Besides her own work, she has collaborated with other artists, writers and film-makers on independent film and art projects.