The Circuit

by Penny Colston
The unmistakable warble of Woody Harrelson in “The People Vs. Larry Flynt” was booming from a striped circus tent. Not a hundred yards away grazed a large, antlered reindeer. Nearby, a camera crew huddled around the window of a parked car. Was that Milos Forman, special guest of the 23rd Annual Midnight Sun Film Festival, in the backseat?

Above the scene, like a fiery, orange eyeball, hung the midnight sun, the namesake of this small-but-respected festival, which was founded in 1986 by Finland’s famous filmmaker brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismaki and annually draws hundreds of film-goers to remote Sodankyla, Finland. The unassuming town of roughly 9,000 sits 75 miles inside the Arctic Circle in the heart of Lapland, a 12-hour drive from the Finnish capital, Helsinki.

This is a laid-back event, where cocktail parties and VIP tents common to many festivals are shunned. That said, the festival has over the years developed some traditions of its own, among them the annual showing of silent films to a live orchestra; and a large, muddy football match between guests and organizers that takes place at the end of the four-day event.

Another endearing festival quirk: films run 24 hours-a-day at Midnight Sun, whose geographic location ensures the sun never sets in summer.

The festival’s down-home feel hasn’t put off big-name filmmakers, who have set distance and luxury aside to receive honors at a festival where sausage stalls and accordion players have replaced red carpets and paparazzi. This year, Forman joined an impressive list of past guests that includes Francis Ford Coppola, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Krzystzof Kieslowski.

But the festival is also known for showcasing contemporary film, and this year Forman and John Cassavetes protégé Seymour Cassel (pictured with Forman) shared the spotlight with new artists, such as Estonian filmmaker Vieko Ounpuu. His bleak, modern drama, “Autumn Ball,” about the disillusioned inhabitants of a Soviet-era apartment complex in modern-day Tallin, was the subject of much festival buzz. Guests also welcomed renowned Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky, as well as a host of Finnish filmmakers, both emerging and well-known.

Still, Forman clearly was the festival darling, wooing the crowds with his dry wit and often-hysterical career anecdotes, delivered in his signature Czech accent. At a festival where mud-splashed parkas and Wellington boots are considered acceptable attire, he looked right at home at a press conference in jeans and a baggy sweater emblazoned with reindeer.

This visit wasn’t his first to Finland, Forman told reporters: in 1984 a local drove him more than 50 miles for help when his car broke down in the Lapland wilderness. Forman has had a fondness for Finland ever since – one that thins, perhaps, whenever the country beats his native Czech Republic in ice hockey, he joked.

It wasn’t long, however, before lighthearted conversation gave way to more serious questioning, namely about the controversy that has swirled around some Forman films. His “Fireman’s Ball” (1967) was banned by Czechoslovakian authorities for allegedly containing harmful political messages. His portrayal of Mozart in “Amadeus” (1984) outraged music historians, who deemed it inaccurate; and “The People Vs. Larry Flynt” (1996) drew widespread criticism from feminists, who said the film glorified pornography and wrongly portrayed Flynt as a crusader of First Amendment rights.

The controversy puzzles him to this day. His career, he said, has always been about telling stories – not making films with messages or meanings, he said.

“To attack ‘Larry Flynt’ for glorifying pornography is like attacking Romeo and Juliet for glorifying suicide,” he said.

“There is a message in everything we do,” he continued. “But consciously? No. I never put messages in my films.”

Forman said he has spent his career defending “Amadeus” and “Larry Flynt” against criticisms that the films are historically inaccurate by arguing that they were never meant as documentaries.

“When you make (dramatizations) you have to be faithful to the spirit of the facts, as opposed to a documentary, where you have to be faithful to the facts,” Forman said. “I’m not saying lying – but the nonsensical is much more interesting.”