Strange lights in the sky are nothing new in the land of the aurora borealis, but during the 1960s and 1970s, northern Finland experienced regular waves of UFO sightings and odd luminary phenomena. Numerous residents reported them, newspapers were filled with eyewitness accounts, and even the Finnish Air Force admitted seeing unidentifiable objects on radar and from the air. For Maria Lax, a London-based photographer who grew up in Pudasjärvi, this weird history has a family connection: Her grandfather was the founder of a local paper, a journalist who covered the sightings, and author of a 1972 book on the subject.
Lax learned about the events as an adult, and, her professional curiosity piqued, she set out to make a film about them. But by the time she began the project, her grandfather had developed dementia and was unable to assist. She turned instead to creating still photos, subjectively interpreting the sightings and the feelings they sparked.
Using his book and press clippings, she researched and interviewed people who’d
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