Mikael Opstrup: Iikka Vehkalahti

Iikka Vehkalahti is dead, and I am writing through tears. It’s not so easy, makes the screen blurry as are my thoughts.

I was a little afraid of him before I got to know him, he was so big and he seemed to have a sharp immediate analysis of everything.

Then we started working together, did so for 20 years: Ex Oriente, In-Docs, Twelve for the Future, Doc Forward, Below Zero, Story doc, Baltic Sea Docs, Nordoc, Latvian Code. Iikka was everywhere. And my distance changed to admiration. Or maybe first and foremost respect, respect for the dedication to the – it must be thousands – film makers he has worked with. Not consulted, not tutored, but talked to. You know this little … ‘maybe you should’ … ‘have you thought of’ …

Iikka was a producer, a director, a writer, a commissioning editor but I think it was these meetings with the film people that was closest to his heart. Except of course his wife and children, that he was so enormously proud of. We talked a lot about film of course but somehow always ended with Katri & the kids.

Damn it, how it feels empty without him.

We wrote together 2 days ago, I asked for some help, we had not talked for some months. I wrote that I missed him. Typically Iikka, he did not write ‘I miss you too’ as most of us would have done. But he wrote me back after 10 minutes with the help I needed. Typically Iikka.

We only cried together one time. At lunch at IDFA. I told him about an emotional experience and started crying and then Iikka started crying too. It felt good and we decided to write our memoirs together with the title ‘Big boys do cry’.

Of course, the humor. Iikka was so funny. Laughter all over and this little teasing glimpse in the eye.

I would like to end there. With the humor.

Above  a photo of Iikka and me as moderators at Below Zero, Tromsø, that we posted with a caption:

Was it you or me who should have invited the decision makers?

THANKS  my friend, I miss you. And not any more try to remind myself your name is with both 2 i’s and 2 k’s. IIKKA.

Mikael, Copenhagen, 23.12.2024

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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