Although the story may sound more like fiction, "The Mission" is a genuine documentary: the four US teenagers McKenna, Kai, Megan and Tyler set off on a trip to Finland at the end of their school years to convince the people there of their faith. All four are Mormons and belong to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". For their mission trip, they leave their home country for the first time in their lives: "These young people have chosen Europe's most irreligious, closed-minded and sceptical group of people, the Finns," says Director Tania Anderson and laughs. A tough nut to crack. Whether they are nevertheless successful at the end of their journey will be shown on the big screen next year.

The idea for "The Mission" came about in 2016 when the Director overheard a couple of young people in the countryside talking in English about the devil and all kinds of temptations. Anderson became curious and struck up a conversation with the young Mormons. She asked on the spot whether the young missionaries could imagine making a film about their journey. "And then one day they actually knocked on my door and gave me the contact details of the church's media officer in Finland. So the first contact was made very quickly - but then it became difficult," Anderson reveals. It took around a year to convince the media department that "The Mission" would not be an investigative film about the church. At its core, the documentary is a coming of age story that focuses on young people and all their problems in a foreign country.

At this time, the Finnish production company Danish Bear Productions with the two Executive Producers Isabella Karhu and Juho-Pekka Tanskanen also came on board and supported the approval process. Once the Finnish representation of the church was convinced, the film application went to the main headquarters in Salt Lake City, where it took another six months for the filming to be approved. In the meantime, it was 2019 - and the Directors met the kids for the first time via Skype to see who would be suitable for the Documentary. She selected six out of 13 young missionaries, who she then visited in the USA before their departure and filmed their first test shots. "I wanted to know what they were leaving behind, what their home was like. Their nervousness before they left, their excitement and their hopes. I wanted to include all of that in the film to show their whole journey from start to finish," says the filmmaker. After the film crew arrived in Las Vegas, they had to drive around 8,000 miles across the west of the USA to film the film. "It was a crazy and very intense time. We always had to drive around six hours to the next location and then shoot for another four hours straight away," says Anderson.

Before the main shoot started in Finland, Hamburg-based Executive Producer Dirk Manthey, who already knew Danish Bear from a film pitch in Trieste, joined the project. "I had already really liked their previous project "The last Misfits by the golden River" at the pitch - and "The Mission" also convinced me straight away," reveals the Hamburg-based producer. It therefore comes as no surprise that post production took place in the Hanseatic city in November and December 2021: Martin Heckmann and his company Kinopost were responsible for the colour grading, while Superhearo Studio in Ottensen is currently taking care of the sound design and the right mix: "It's always a special challenge when you're working with a language you don't understand - in this case Finnish. But I really like it because you can think outside the box," says founder and sound engineer Janis Grossmann-Alhambra.

Tania Anderson was also able to think outside the box with her debut film. The Swiss-born filmmaker, who grew up in France, previously worked as a journalist for magazines such as National Geographic. "The Mission" is therefore not only her first feature documentary, but her first film ever. "I am so incredibly grateful to my Executive Producers for giving a nobody this opportunity," says Anderson. She is currently learning every day, especially when it comes to technical understanding. "Luckily, I'm a fast learner. And I had a really great film crew who were very patient with me and explained things to me," she says and laughs. And the fact that her debut film ended up directly in the competition at the Sundance Film Festival is something that none of the entire team would have expected.

"I'm super happy and can't really believe it yet. Of course, you hope to get into a festival like this, but most people dismiss it as a nice joke at the same time," says Executive Producer Juho-Pekka Tanskanen, who supervised post production in Hamburg. The first meeting with the Sundance programmers was also funny and somewhat bizarre: "I put on make-up, got dressed up and was ready to fight for our baby and convince the jury. And then, right at the beginning of the conversation, they simply asked if we would accept their invitation to the competition. We were speechless," says Tania Anderson. Now, however, the mission is clear: the film is to be completed by the end of the year - and in January it will celebrate its premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2022. We are keeping all our fingers crossed.