Last Monday, December 23rd, we received the sad news of documentalist Iikka Vehkalahti’s passing. To honor his memory, and on behalf of our team, we share these heartfelt words written by Tue Steen Müller, former Head of Program and Founder of DocsBarcelona:
I write these words of remembrance on behalf of DocsBarcelona:
It was a shock for documentarians all over the world to hear that Iikka Vehkalati had passed away. Since the sad news came out on the 23rd of December the social media have been full of words of sorrow and sadness from directors, producers, festival, and market organizers. Accompanied by a huge praise to a man, who was the best and most generous helper you could think of. As a producer working at the Finnish broadcaster YLE or at different international workshops. He played a key role in building the Steps for the Future in Southern Africa as well as the DocEdge in India, a country he often visited, and filmed in. In this century he was a respected tutor and moderator part of the Ex-Oriente workshop for film projects from Eastern and Central Europe, and he set up the RCS, Rough Cut service, where filmmakers could get the important final advice before they went to picture lock.
Iikka went several times to DocsBarcelona to meet filmmakers. It was primarily in the early days of our festival, when he worked for YLE that was one of the few broadcasters with an international programming perspective. He offered his always kind and warm recommendations to the film directors and producers. I asked him once to answer the question what a good documentary is:
It is…”something which on one level is very private to the individual. Something that touches my life, but which also has something very universal. A great film is when the private goes through the heavy block of politics/ economics/ media and reaches the universal, is in dialogue with it. Every action a person takes reflects his/her values. There are things which are common to all of us in the world: basic values (like justice), basic emotions (like fear and joy) and experiences (like pain or falling in love) and a good documentary has this universal nature that makes it so dear to so many. Don’t try to make international films. Make films which are more near to you. The most local films are sometimes the most international, because they are universal…”
PS. On a personal level as Iikka loved football - we watched several matches together on tv. When Mikael (Opstrup) and I mentioned the importance of Mikael Laudrup for Barca, Iikka would say “Yes, but don’t forget another legend, who was also there, Jari Litmanen”.
RIP dearest friend.
Tue Steen Müller, Copenhagen, 27.12.2024
