The Shadow of the Holy Book is a 2007 documentary film directed by Arto Halonen. The film was written by Halonen and Kevin Frazier. It examines the totalitarian system of Turkmenistan, the Ruhnama cult that prevailed in the country, and the role of international corporations in maintaining it.
The Shadow of the Holy Book examines Turkmenistan's propaganda book Ruhnama and the personality cult associated with it. The documentary reveals how Western corporations translated the work into their own languages and thereby supported the country's authoritarian regime. At the same time, the film examines how international economic agreements affect the people of Turkmenistan, who are left as the weakest party in the country's political and economic system.
The Shadow of the Holy Book had its world premiere in the main competition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), after which it was widely screened at international film festivals. The film was shown at approximately 100 festivals around the world. These included the Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Documentary Fortnight in New York, as well as Canada's Hot Docs and Sheffield DocFest. The film was also screened at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, where Halonen was presented with the festival's Lifetime Achievement Award in connection with a special screening of The Shadow of the Holy Book.
The film won the Grand Prix at the International Human Rights Film Festival in Paris and the Audience Award at the Taiwan International Film Festival. It also received a Special Jury Award at the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia, as well as the Jurnal TV Special Award and an Honourable Mention from the jury at the CRONOGRAF International Documentary Film Festival in Moldova. In Finland, the film was awarded a The Finnish State Quality Production Award.
The film was nominated for the Prix Arte for Best Documentary of the year, as awarded by the European Film Academy. The award has been presented since 1989, and The Shadow of the Holy Book was the second Finnish documentary to receive a nomination.
In 2008, the film was selected as the opening film of Mexico's DocsDF documentary film festival. In 2015, it was selected as one of the 29 best documentaries of the festival's first decade. In 2020, as part of the festival's 15th-anniversary celebrations, The Shadow of the Holy Book was selected as the best film of 2008.
Mikko Piela of Uusi Suomi welcomed the fact that Finland was once again producing journalistic documentaries after a long period, although he felt that Halonen's style perhaps resembled Michael Moore's too closely. Piela nevertheless believed that Moore would not have dared to tackle such a sensitive subject. In his review, he even suggested that Halonen should receive the State Award for Public Information.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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