The film is based on the research done by Jukka Gronow and Frank Trentmann that focused on the everyday life during crisis by diving into the stories and thoughts presented in the diaries from people in Finland, Germany, Italy and Sweden. The film offers a fine example of the creative dialogue between art and academic research and showcases the diversity of research and public outreach work done at CCSR.
The end result was a beautiful film that was illustrated by the artist Jessica Mountfield. The short film portrays the changes in people’s lives during the COVID-19 pandemic that were experienced as terrifying and hopeful, with a desire of freedom and anticipation of change when the crisis would be over. This thought-provoking story was also noticed by the Spotlight Documentary Film Awards.
Spotlight Documentary Film Awards is an international competition for independent documentary filmmakers. The judges awarded films in four categories of which “Covid Diaries: Everyday Life under Lockdown” won the Bronze award that is granted to films with high artistic achievement with the fourth highest scores from the panel of Spotlight Documentary Film Awards.
The short film was published online in the summer 2022.
© Jukka Gronow, Frank Trentmann, Jessica Mountfield