Tale of a Lake (Finnish: Järven tarina) is a 2016 Finnish nature documentary film directed by Marko Röhr [fi] and Kim Saarniluoto. It is about lakes in Finland, the wildlife in them and their place in Finnish folklore. The film features narration by Samuli Edelmann and Johanna Kurkela.
| Tale of a Lake | |
|---|---|
Film poster | |
| Directed by |
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| Written by |
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| Produced by | Marko Röhr |
| Narrated by | |
| Cinematography | Teemu Liakka |
| Edited by | Kim Saarniluoto |
| Music by | Panu Aaltio |
Production company | MRP Matila Röhr Productions [fi] |
| Distributed by | Nordisk Film |
Release date |
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Running time | 76 minutes |
| Country | Finland |
| Language | Finnish |
Tale of a Lake is a nature documentary mixed with Finnish mythology. A central figure is the female water spirit Ahitar, daughter of the gods Ahti and Vellamo. The film passes through the seasons of a year and portrays Finnish lakes and their wildlife, discussing how the terrain and animals feature in folklore.

Tale of a Forest was produced by Marko Röhr [fi] for MRP Matila Röhr Productions [fi] with support from the Finnish Film Foundation, Yle, AVEK [fi], the Raija and Ossi Tuuliainen Foundation and Creative Europe. Filming took place at various lakes in Finland between 2012 and 2016, with around 600 shooting days.[1]
Nordisk Film released Tale of a Forest in Finnish cinemas on 15 January 2016.[1] It sold 191,000 tickets, which was the highest number ever for a documentary film in Finland.[2]
Panu Aaltio received the 2016 IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Documentary and the 2017 Jussi Award for Best Original Score.[1]
Tale of a Lake is a standalone sequel to the 2012 film Tale of a Forest which is about forests and Finnish mythology. A third film in the series, Tale of the Sleeping Giants (2021), was filmed in the mountains of Sápmi.[3]