If Tears Were Pearls
Jos helmiä kyyneleet oisDetails
If Tears Were Pearls paints a cinematic portrait of forestry loggers and other living creatures in a remote area of eastern Finland. One day a forestry machine operator crossed a river and, without realizing, crushed thousands of highly endangered freshwater pearl mussels.
While the story centers on one of the most severe environmental crimes in the country’s history, the film ultimately explores deeper themes: our perception of time and the growing alienation of humans from the ecosystems that sustain us.
DIRECTOR: Virpi Suutari
SCRIPTWRITER: Virpi Suutari
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Teemu Liakka F.S.C.
SOUND DESIGN: Olli Huhtanen
EDITING: Jussi Rautaniemi F.S.E.
MUSIC: Sampo Kasurinen
PRODUCER: Virpi Suutari
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Euphoria Film
Director
Virpi Suutari
Virpi Suutari is an acclaimed director and producer known for films such as Once Upon a Time in a Forest (CPH:DOX 2024 premiere, IDFA Signed program), AALTO (2020), Entrepreneur (2018, IDFA Masters), and Garden Lovers (Visions du Réel 2014). Her work has earned four Finnish National Film Awards and three Best Nordic Documentary Awards at Nordisk Panorama. She was also nominated for the EFA Best European Documentary for The Idle Ones (2001). In 2025, Suutari received the Apollo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Helsinki Documentary Film Festival DocPoint.
Contact
Suvi Railo
Advisor / International Promotion and Cultural Export of Documentary Films
• festival distribution strategy for documentary films
• travel, project and material and marketing support for documentary films
+358 9 6220 3021