{"id":58083,"date":"2026-10-08T12:56:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T10:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefictionfestival.org\/?post_type=film&p=58083"},"modified":"2026-10-08T12:56:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T10:56:57","slug":"the-squirrel","status":"publish","type":"film","link":"https:\/\/www.sciencefictionfestival.org\/en\/film\/the-squirrel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Squirrel"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Markus Lehmusruusu
Finlandia, Germania, Paesi Bassi, Svezia \/ Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden\u00a0 2026, 92\u2019<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tItalian Premiere
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Giorno 00 Novembre 2026
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Giorno 00 Novembre 2026
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In un futuro lontano, in un mondo sterile ormai privo di natura e animali, Pasi \u00e8 un solitario ed empatico designer di animali domestici sintetici che vive totalmente distaccato dall’ambiente circostante. Un giorno si imbatte per caso nell’ultimo scoiattolo vivente e decide di sfidare le severissime regole che vietano qualsiasi contatto con la natura per aiutare lo scoiattolino a tornare nel suo habitat. Tuttavia, quando le sue azioni innescano conseguenze impreviste, Pasi si trova di fronte a un profondo dilemma: avventurarsi nel mondo selvaggio insieme allo scoiattolo o mettere a rischio la sicurezza di quel mondo asettico tenendolo con s\u00e9?<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In the far future, in a sterile world without nature or animals – Pasi, a lonely, compassionate designer of synthetic robot pets, and a man completely estranged from the environment, stumbles upon the last surviving squirrel by chance. Pasi decides to defy the rules and\u00a0 very strict regulations of natural interaction and help the squirrel back into its natural habitat. However, when his actions lead to unexpected consequences, Pasi is confronted with a profound dilemma: should he venture into the wild with the squirrel or jeopardize the safety of the bacteria-free world by keeping the squirrel in the sterile world?<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00ab<\/span>L’idea per <\/span>The Squirrel<\/span><\/i> mi \u00e8 venuta mentre me ne stavo seduto nella foresta. Le news parlavano diffusamente di estinzioni. Nel giro di poche settimane, c’era una nuova lista, un nuovo elenco di nomi. \u00c8 una cosa a cui tenevo, e passavo anche molto tempo all’aria aperta, che \u00e8 una tacita presa di posizione sull’argomento. E nella foresta guardavo il mio telefono. Immagini generate dall’IA, svago, contenuti erotici, una serie infinita di cose pi\u00f9 coinvolgenti degli alberi intorno a me. Mi stavo allontanando proprio da ci\u00f2 che temevo di perdere, e non stavo facendo nulla al riguardo. A un certo punto la contraddizione \u00e8 diventata troppo forte per continuare a ignorarla, e mi sono reso conto di quali pensieri stavo facendo per renderla sopportabile.
<\/span>Ma forse, non ha importanza.
<\/span>Siamo una specie straordinariamente ingegnosa. Costruiamo cose che funzionano meglio degli originali: pi\u00f9 pulite, pi\u00f9 sicure, pi\u00f9 comode, disponibili su richiesta. Quindi se gli animali sparissero, ne creeremo semplicemente di nuovi. Forse possiamo sostituire la natura come abbiamo sostituito quasi tutto il resto. Non sapevo se ci credessi davvero o se fosse solo un pensiero rassicurante. Cos\u00ec mi sono chiesto: che aspetto avrebbe un mondo del genere? Nel mondo di <\/span>The Squirrel<\/span><\/i>, qualcuno si \u00e8 portato avanti e l’ha gi\u00e0 fatto. Non c\u2019\u00e8 stata nessuna catastrofe. \u00c8 stato scelto. Non c’\u00e8 nessun regime, nessun disastro, nessun movimento di resistenza a cui unirsi. Sporcizia, malattie, pericoli e imprevedibilit\u00e0 sono stati eliminati via via da ragionevoli miglioramenti, e la cosa funziona straordinariamente bene. Non volevo lanciare un monito, volevo un mondo che potessi immaginare come accettabile. Per me lo scoiattolo non \u00e8 un simbolo della natura. \u00c8 l’unica cosa nel film che non pu\u00f2 essere progettata. \u00c8 scomodo, irrazionale, maleducato e spesso ridicolo: in poche parole, \u00e8 vivo.<\/span>\u00bb
<\/span>Markus Lehmusruusu<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00ab<\/span>I got the idea for <\/span>The Squirrel<\/span><\/i> while sitting in a forest. The news was full of extinctions. Every few weeks there was another list, another set of names. I cared about it, and I also spent a lot of time outdoors, which I quietly counted as a position on the matter.And in the forest I looked at my phone. AI-generated images, entertainment, erotic content, an endless supply of things more absorbing than the trees around me. I was becoming alienated from the exact thing I was afraid of losing, and I was doing nothing about either. At some point the contradiction got too intense to keep ignoring, and I noticed the thought I was using to make it bearable.\u00a0
<\/span>Maybe it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0
<\/span>We\u2019re an extraordinarily inventive species. We build things that work better than the originals \u2014 cleaner, safer, more convenient, available on demand. So perhaps the animals can go and we’ll simply make new ones. Perhaps we can replace nature the way we\u2019ve replaced almost everything else. I couldn\u2019t tell whether I believed that or whether it was just a very comfortable thing to think. So I asked myself: what would a world like that look like? In the world of <\/span>The Squirrel<\/span><\/i> someone has gone ahead and done it. It wasn\u2019t destroyed by a catastrophe. It was chosen. There is no regime, no disaster, no resistance movement to join. Dirt, disease, danger and unpredictability have been engineered away one reasonable improvement at a time, and the result works remarkably well. I didn\u2019t want to make a warning \u2014 I wanted a world I could imagine agreeing to. For me the squirrel isn\u2019t a symbol of nature. It\u2019s the one thing in the film that can\u2019t be designed. It is inconvenient, irrational, badly behaved and often ridiculous\u2014simply put: it is alive.<\/span>\u00bb
<\/span>Markus Lehmusruusu<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Sceneggiatura \/ Screenplay
Markus Lehmusruusu<\/strong><\/p>

Fotografia \/ Cinematography
Max Smeds\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Montaggio \/ Editing
Florian Miosge\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Suono \/ Sound
Ranko Paukovic\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Musica \/ Music
Freya Arde\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Effetti Speciali \/ Special Effects
Patrick Menge\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Interpreti \/ Cast
Miro Lopperi, Mimosa Willamo, Hannu-Pekka Bj\u00f6rkman, Pirjo Heikkil\u00e4\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Produttori \/ Producers
Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Produzione \/ Productions
Bufo\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Distribuzione Internazionale \/ International Distribution
Reinvent Yellow Sales<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Markus Lehmusruusu
<\/strong>Sceneggiatore e regista, lavora a storie <\/span>high concept<\/span><\/i> che affrontano il dolore e l’ironia dell’esperienza umana. Dopo essersi laureato in regia cinematografica all’Universit\u00e0 Aalto nel 2015, ha diretto diverse serie televisive di successo, come il dramma familiare <\/span>Kakarat <\/span><\/i>(2019-2022), il giallo folkloristico <\/span>Lovi<\/span><\/i> (2021) e il poliziesco <\/span>Roba<\/span><\/i> (2021), oltre a cortometraggi e spot pubblicitari pluripremiati.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Markus Lehmusruusu<\/strong>
Screenwriter and director Markus Lehmusruusu (b. 1983) works on high concept stories that deal with the pain and humour of the human experience. Since graduating from his film directing studies at the Aalto University in 2015, he has directed several popular TV series such as the family drama <\/span>Kakarat<\/span><\/i> (2019\u20132022), the folkloristic mystery <\/span>Lovi<\/span><\/i> (2021) and the police drama <\/span>Roba<\/span><\/i> (2021) as well as award-winning short films and commercials.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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