Rostislav Aalto:
Cleaning Up! (Finland, 2001)
78 min - 35 mm - Finnish / English / Russian
Production: Zen Media
"We came from planet Clinus to clean the earth."
This movie is about the East European tour of Cleaning Women, a trio that has already achieved a cult status amongst its followers. In the early spring of 2000 the director, Rostislav Aalto, tagged along on the four-week shoestring budget tour across Estonia, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. With his camera he captured the life on stage, on backstage and on the road, heading towards the next gig.
Cleaning Women is without a doubt one the most original phenomenon in the Finnish rock scene, and definitely deserves its own movie. The trio in their women's suits and glamour make-up, playing instruments built from drying racks, conjures up a show that is truly one of a kind. In their own down-to-earth way this trio zigzags around Eastern Europe leaving confusion and excitement in its wake. Underneath their strong stage image we find three sympathetic country boys doing what is most important for them, in earnest, but not taking it too seriously.
The result is a no-nonsense road movie filled with uncompromising art making, dedication.
Rostislav Aalto
Rostislav Aalto was born in Moskow, but his family moved in Finland when he was 8 year old. Aalto has studied art and theatre in Helsinki University. Aalto has films company Zen Media. It concentrates editing and producing documentaries. Aalto works also as a freelancer.
