Snowline

Snowline directed by Sanni Priha.

Original title: Jäähyväiset lumelle – Lumiraja
Genre: Documentary
Duration: appr. 30’
Trailer: Alison Taylor
Script: Sanni Priha & Jarkko Kela 
Director: Sanni Priha 
DOPs: Mauri Lähdesmäki / Fount Films, Sanni Priha, Jaakko Ruuska
Drone Cinematographer: 
Merja Paakkanen / Luontosuhde
Sound Design: Jarkko Kela
Music: Olavi Louhivuori
Animations:
Pekka Veikkolainen
Jonatan Hildén / Hildén+Koponen
Consultation:
Anna Kontu, Sirpa Rasmus
Graphic Design: Anne Virta
Finance:
Artist grant: Kone Foundation
Script grant: AVEK
Development grants:
Finnish Film Foundation / Iris Olsson
AVEK / Oskar Forstén
Production grant:
Finnish Cultural Foudation
In Collaboration with:
Finnish Environment Institute
Finnish Meteorological Institute
University of Lapland
Filmed: 100 %
Phase: In post-production
Forums: Doc Lisboa Nebulae 2023
Premiere: 2026
Producer: Tuuli Penttinen-Lampisuo /
Poike Productio

Rough-cut by request:
t u u l i @ p o i k e . f i

What would snow say if it could talk? Snow crystals and snow cover can tell the distance traveled by snow, and the weather conditions it experienced. The film follows snow researchers at the Arctic Space Centre, observing the continuous, invisible micro-motion of snow as crystals transform, layers merge, and masses move.

The optical properties of snow change and as it ages, its albedo decreases. Snow is an irreplaceable companion of life, as the reflectivity of snow protects the Earth from heating.

In Snowline, the intimate examination of snow expands to over a century of measurement history: Julia skis on the fells in Iittovuoma, taking monthly snowline measurements. In Helsinki, Yrjö from the Finnish Environment Institute receives and checks observation series stored in a database. The film moves between different perspectives, embodying satellite technology, human bodies and geophysical experience with snow.

The film was shot in 2023–2024 in Kilpisjärvi, Sodankylä, Ridnitšohkka and Helsinki. The project is related to Sanni Priha’s doctoral research at the University of Lapland, where she is studying film as a means of identifying and evoking environmental grief.