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Irja Askola is the first female Bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. With her fight for women’s rights, her work against social and racial discrimination and with her support for same-sex couples she has gained popularity and is loved by people. The Bishop believes that the church shouldn’t be afraid of change and that its main task is to support the people whose voice hasn’t been heard before.
In this episode, Irja Askola and Aspazija (played by Eva Ikstena-Strapcāne) interpret the aphorism by Rainis, which was written in 2 April 1925, “Oh lonely, quivering, smouldering soul. Come, speak to me.”
“On one hand, it seems paradoxical that in the modern-day Europe we still have to talk about equality, tolerance and mutual understanding. However, these issues are topical in Latvia, Finland and other countries. The meeting with Irja Askola left a strong impression on the whole #mindpower team. She is not afraid to be courageous as a representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and a persistent advocate of minorities,” the director Olafs Okonovs tells about the creation of this episode.
“We managed to bring a part of our culture to the Bishop, too. She was deeply touched by Rainis’ aphorism used in the short film. And I hope that her words will inspire the European society to look differently on these issues,” admits the director.
The #mindpower (#domasspēks in Latvian) project features a collection of 29 short films in which celebrities from all the EU Member States read excerpts from the works of Rainis and Aspazija in their native language and transform them into images of their culture. Each week a new video is released on the Presidency’s website EU2015.LV.
You can also watch the episodes on the Presidency’s official Youtube channel.
