M.Sc. Riitta Rask (formerly Riihonen, 1956), Helsinki screenwriter and documentary film director.

My life’s work has transported me through many stages and various artforms moulding me into an independent documentary filmmaker. In my youth, my path first took me to study costume designing and was followed with a summer job at the theatre as a costume designer. My work in the theatre led to a job opportunity at the Finnish national broadcast company TV-2, where a TV movie based on the Kalevala was planned. I was involved in the production for four years, which sparked my interest in film.

I continued my studies at the University of Art and Design (now Aalto University) in the Department of Photography. Alongside that, I studied film directing, screenwriting and dramaturgy at the Department of Cinematography. After that, as part of a working group of six women, a script was created for TV1’s summer series “Finnish Happiness”. From the six episodes I directed five. During my study years, co-operation with theatre and opera continued with director Kalle Holmberg.

In 1999-2000, I returned to the world of documentary film when my good friend, well-known photographer Jouko Lehtola, became seriously ill. By filming his last years, the documentary “In Light, Jouko Lehtola” was born.