Kaija Saariaho ou l'amour de loin
Serge Steyer
2001 - 55 min - Digital vidéo - Couleur - France, Finlande

A portrait of the composer Kaija Saariaho, confronted to the world premiere of her first opera "Love from Afar" during the summer 2000 at the Salzburg Festival. Anne Grange and Serge Steyer accompany her all along the human and artistic adventure of her self-portrait.
The libretto is based on the story of Jaufré Rudel, a troubadour who is in live with the faraway Countess of Tripoli whose Beauty he heard from a Pilgrim. The singers Dawn Upshaw, Dagmar Peckova and Dwayne Croft find their voices, the orchestra and the stage their colors, the piece becomes reality, while Kaija Saariaho is thinking about the next piece she is about to create in Helsinki.
The composer reveals herself straight out, taking part to the team work. Her partners Amin Maalouf, Peter Sellars end Kent Nagano gives us their own keys to the opera. From a piece to an other, between Helsinki, Freiburg and Salzburg, this documentary film becomes a travel in Kaija Saariaho's creative world.