Doc highlights supermarket workers' sacrifices

Called 294, this 10-minute documentary is a simply shot but very emotional film from Tolkien director Dome Karukoski.

The film's title refers to a study that ranked grocery workers as Finland's 294th most respected profession out of 379, and highlights the struggle of a workforce coping with the strains of a global pandemic and near-global lockdown.

294 was commissioned by Finnish retail, grocery and restaurant leader HOK-Elanto, was created via Bob The Robot Helsinki, and is a candid and sometimes harrowing journey through the lives of its employees as they work through the pandemic, putting names and faces to their unique stories and providing them a platform to share their feelings of fear, loss, and hope. 

“The documentary is a thanks, a tribute, to those who keep our lives normal during this abnormal time,” said Karukoski. “The store staff do their daily work in places the rest of us are afraid to go. Now is the time to show appreciation.”