KAIJA SAARIAHO OR LOVE FROM AFAR

This is a portrait of the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, through the creation August 2000 in
Salzbourg of her first opera “Love at a Distance” – given that the artist and her work cannot be understood independently. The film follows Kaija Saariaho during this period, which marks a turning point in her work.Her opera is inspired by a story from the Middle Ages and is about troubadour Jaufré Rudel’s “love at a distance” for the Countess of Tripoli. Between East and West, summer and winter, the film is a journey into Kaija Saariaho’s creative mind. It is in her dialogues with director Peter Sellars, librettist Amin Maalouf, conductor Kent Nagano and the singers that the composer reveals herself.