Common People Songs

See the dawn of a new proletarian era

Interweaving newsreel footage and film extracts with the voices of ‘Ajan laulu’ – a workers’ choir based in Kemi, the most leftist city in Finland – the essay film takes us on a historical journey examining the collective memory, dreams and traumas of the working class. Is there a future for the Finnish labour movement?

Director

Joel Karppanen