Finnish War Film Will Be Shown Sunday

Documentary filmmaker Ben Strout will show his Emmy Awardwinning film "Fire and Ice: The Winter War," about Finland's fight for freedom from Russia in 1939, at 2 p.m. at Little Bear East Arena and Community Center in St. Ignace Sunday, February 10. Local residents of Finnish descent will also display war paraphernalia they have collected. The program is open to the public and free of charge.

Rudy Hennekes of St. Ignace, Joe Strohl of Madison, Wisconsin, and Jim Kippola of Marquette will show their collections of Finnish war artifacts.

The program was made possible through their relationship in the Ohio Valley Military Society, an international organization for dealers and collectors of military artifacts, Mr. Hennekes said.

"I met Ben Strout and Jim Kippola last year at the society's annual convention," said Mr. Hennekes. "That's how we got this started."

Mr. Strout has been writing and producing television documentaries since 1981 and founded Masters Work Media in 2003.

"Fire and Ice" was the first documentary released by Mr. Strout's company. It has been part of many film festivals and won Best Documentary at the Minneapolis- St. Paul International Film Festival in 2006 and won an Emmy Award last September.

Since its release, the documentary film has been broadcast on the Public Broadcast System and on television networks throughout Europe.

"The Winter War was an important event in Finnish history," said Judy Luoma of St. Ignace, who is helping promote Saturday's program. "But it was also a unique military campaign, in that a small country without an army and little in the way of military weapons demanded their freedom from Russia, the largest military power of that time."

Much of the two-hour film was portrayed by war reenactors, said Mr. Hennekes. He said anyone who is interested in history would enjoy the program.

"Though this program is targeted toward the Finnish community in the Upper Peninsula, I think anyone who comes will be really entertained and awed by this documentary and the many old artifacts that they will see there," said Mr. Hennekes.

Coffee and Finnish cardamom bread, known as pulla, will be served to participants.