Event

Mother of Snow Cranes

Location
National Museum of Asian Art
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Films
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Watch the Trailer

In Person: Iiris Härmä, director; Visa Koiso-Kanttila, producer

Co-presented with the Embassy of Finland

This documentary details the extraordinary life of Ellen Vuosalo, known as the “mother of snow cranes” for dedicating her life to protecting the Siberian cranes that winter in Iran. Vuosalo was born in Canada in 1931 to a family of Finnish immigrants. She later studied biology at UCLA, then married and started a family with an Iranian man. Her abusive husband fled with the children to Iran when she asked for a divorce. Vuosalo followed him to get her children back and settled in Iran, where she spent over five decades on conservation, ornithology, and local environmental initiatives. Iiris Härmä’s film is a stirring portrait of a strong, adventurous woman.

Director: Iiris Härmä. Country: Finland. Released: 2024. Length: 75 min. Format: DCP. Languages: English and Persian with English subtitles.
Image courtesy of the Finnish Film Foundation

On View At

Side-by-side view of the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, each with banners at the entrance and surrounded by greenery
National Museum of Asian Art
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art is made up of two buildings—the West Building (Freer Gallery of Art) and the adjoining East Building (Arthur M. Sackler Gallery).
Location
Washington, DC
10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily
Museum