Belly Button of the World

”Our world has its own Belly Button. It is located in the farthest corner of the earth in Kuopio, Northern Savo. Here we tend to do things a little bit differently. We have a unique realization of the way of living. Sometimes the darkness is overwhelming but in the dark times people in the belly button of the world flourish. Throught the dark months we help each other by bringing light to our lives through stories, through music.”

Belly Button of the World wants to break the traditional and customary ways of representing cultural institutions as well as people’s perceptions of us. Kuopio City Theatre and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra bring content, perspective and inspiration to people’s lives. Belly Button of the World wants to do the same. Sampo Jaakkola’s team has created a world that balances between realism and fantasy depicting our local culture as well as the meaning of culture and cultural experiences in our lives. We hope that the video reveals a new perspective to how these two cultural institutions can and do inspire us to attend concerts and theatre performances. We are all part of our culture.

The concept and the realization of this short film called Belly Button of the World are the result of a close collaboration between the film maker Sampo Jaakkola and Kuopio City Theatre, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and the City of Kuopio.

The video represents Kuopio City Theatre’s actors and actresses, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra’s musicians as well as amateurs from other cultural organizations and citizens of the Kuopio region.

Let us touch your belly button.

Kuopio City Theatre 
Kuopio Symphony Orchestra 
City of Kuopio

Film by Sampo Jaakkola 
Music and Sound Design: Roope Hakkarainen 
Gaffer and Camera Operator: Akseli Muraja
Color Grading: Mikko Suuronen 
Sound Mastering: Oskari Olkkonen