Movie Picnic
Movie Picnic in Riihisaari:
Beautiful Vera - Ballad from the lake Saimaa and Little Willie Mehto
Saturday 19.8. at 19:30
The movie picnic in the historical heart of Savonlinna in Riihisaari is one of the highlights of the festival. In the darkening evening, you can bring picnic snacks and spread a blanket on the rock and lawns of Riihisaari. As the evening falls, the magic of the movie will take you away! Event is free of charge.
In case of rain, the show will be moved to Riihisaari museum.
Picnic food from Riihisaari!
Pizzanen a.o is a pop-up -pizzeria owned by two friends from Savonlinna. You can enjoy their delicious artesan pizzas at Riihisaari.
Beautiful Vera
Ville Salminen | Finland | 1950 | 82 min | Finnish | Subtitles: - | Classification: S
Screening will start at 21:15.
A long awaited film is finally arriving at the festival and its traditional movie picnic! The historical romance Kaunis Veera - Balladi Saimaalta (Beautiful Vera - A Ballad from Lake Saimaa) directed by Ville Salminen is one of the masterpieces of Finnish film from the 1950’s, and it is one of the ten most watched Finnish movies of all time. This comedic musical helped Lake Saimaa leave its mark on the minds and souls of the Finns.
The steamship Princess Armada travels on Saimaa, through the canal all the way to Saint Petersburg and back. Actress Assi Nortia in the title role brings the charm, Kipparikvartetti-quartet brings the music and the dance sequences bring the authentic spirit of musicals!
Cinematographer Timo Salminen, the son of the film’s director Ville Salminen, was filming the same landscapes as his father for the Kaurismäki brothers’ first film The Saimaa Gesture, which was our picnic film two years ago. What could be a better place to screen this SF-classic than by the shores of Saimaa at Riihisaari where the world’s last authentic wooden steamship “s/s Mikko” floats!
Text | Nikke Kaartinen / Museum director of Riihisaari – Savonlinna’s museum
Little Willie Mehto
Place: Riihisaari | Saturday 19.8. | Price: Free
The show will start at 20:00.
Little Willie Mehto is part of the new generation of blues musicians and thrives on roots music. He has drawn his playing influence from the original blues masters and also sought to learn from Finnish experts in the field, such as Pepe Ahlqvist. Willie is a singing multi-instrumentalist who plays harmonica, cigar box guitar and acoustic guitar. Sometimes he grabs a clothesboard or an oil can guitar. Along with his own songs, Little Willie Mehto performs country and delta blues classics, e.g. Muddy Waters and Brownie In the spirit of MgGhee & Sonny Terry. Willie's sleight of hand with slide pipe and dobro, on the other hand, reminds of the great masters of the field such as Robert Johnson and Bukka White.
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Riihisaari Blues
Riihisaari Blues is the Savonlinna museum's annual blues music festival, which is organized this year for the third time. Riihisaaari's 170-year-old brick warehouse serves as the main stage of the event. Bringing light to the darkness of November, Riihisaari Blues will play this year on November 9-12, 2023.