Home and Away

One of the most prominent European documentary makers returns with a testament of what he calls “Finnishness in the 2020s”: an intimate documentation of different relationships between fathers and sons, and about outsiders putting down roots in Finnish society, following the footsteps of two contemporary basketball legends. Shawn Huff and Ervin Latimer Jr. are the children of two African-American basketball players – Leon Huff and Ervin Latimer Sr. – who moved to Finland in the 1970s. The fathers handed down their legacy of perseverance, ambition, and resistance to racism, and the sons have now grown up to become Finnish social and political influencers. The sons channel the experiences of the silent fathers and transform those experiences into action, and both generations fight for a more equal world. A documentary that comes at a time when racism scandals have been front and center for the Finnish government, and reminds us the power of example and identification, as well as the right (of the Self and the Other) to differ.

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Direction: Arto Halonen

Script: Arto Halonen

Cinematography: Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen

Editing: Katja Pällijeff, Saara Välimäki

Sound: Janne Jankeri

Music: Kalle Koivisto

Actors: Shawn Huff, Leon Huff, Ervin Latimer Jr., Ervin Latimer Sr.

Production: Art Films Production

Producers: Arto Halonen

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: Finland

Production Year: 2023

Duration: 112'

Contact: Arto Halonen

Arto Halonen

Filmography

1986 Ensi jouluna (fiction short)
1991 Valo varjon takana
1992 Ringside
1998 A Dreamer and the Dreamtribe
2007 Shadow of the Holy Book
2009 Magneettimies
2012 Sinivalkoinen valhe
2015 White Rage
2018 Back Towards Light
2023 Home and Away