When the Finnish power company Fennovoima announced their plans to build a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki in north of Finland in October 2011, news cameras captured ecstatically cheering business men and a widely smiling municipal manager. Jobs! New businesses! The fleeing investors and Russian Rosatom were still a long way off.

Nuclear Neighbour isn’t just a film about the nuclear plant project, where the end justifies the means. It is also a story about a regular person’s mammoth task. This person is Hanna Halmeenpää, a teacher who volunteers her evenings and weekends to save the unique natural environment of her home together with her fellow activists in the Pro Hanhikivi association.

When fighting a nuclear project, free time is a luxury you can’t afford. In promoting her cause, Hanna travels from one country to the next, poses difficult questions to the powers that be and, during a TV debate, silences a minister with her incisive argumentation. After reading to the children their bedtime story, Hanna returns to her laptop in the kitchen to continue the fight to save Hanhikivi. ’I have never before been an activist or political in any way,’ says Hanna. It takes a weighty cause to change everything.

Premiere at DocPoint 29/1 2016

Award:
– First Diploma at The Northern Character (Russia)
– Best world Documentary at Harlem International Film Festival (USA)
– Best film for covering goal: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (Kyrgyzstan)