Behind the creation of this film is Maja Hagerman, Senior Lecturer in Moving Image Production at Dalarna University, who heads the course Film as a Narrative Medium for Cultural Heritage and History. Maja has a strong interest in historical material that she can create films with. This interest was a perfect match with the cultural film and sound archives at Dalarna's Museum and led to the premiere of the film on Monday at Mediehuset (Media House).
"There was already a presentation with pictures in place. You had already begun developing something that you could tell could be really special," states Maja Hagerman, turning to Jennie Tiderman-Österberg, Music Archivist at Dalarna's Museum, who provides the narrator's voice in the film.
"The fact we were able to put this project together is quite something. It's been educational. First and foremost, we build on our knowledge about how to make film and how to share knowledge about our cultural heritage and cultural phenomena. What is more, it is important that we have an established form of collaboration with Dalarna University - we are both of us institutes of knowledge within the same county," states Jennie.
The 15-minute film takes viewers on a journey through the cultural history of Dalarna, where women and their vocal expressions are the focus. The film is both about life on a fäbod - a fäbod meaning a mountain farm of sorts - and about the melodies, tones and songs that were used to communicate with lifestock and other farmers. Moving images from the archives and old photographs come together with newly filmed material. Jennie Tiderman-Österberg has conducted research on the subject and herself appears in the film, making the herding calls.
Both Maja and Jennie hope to continue working together as representatives from the museum and the University.
"Of course we'll keep going with this. Something we have managed to do so far is to get students from the Film and TV programme to go to the museum to complete their assignments using the material there. There are a number of different paths we can take to move forwards, but currently we are just happy that we have completed this film," states Maja Hagerman.
See the film "Kvinnors röster".