David
Adegbola

I came to Finland as a student and haven't really stopped watching since. The country runs on systems that just work. Quietly, without ceremony. As an outsider from Nigeria, I kept gravitating toward the places other people barely noticed.

Documentary, for me, starts with curiosity and stays there. I'm not trying to explain Finland. I'm trying to understand it, one café, one restaurant, one Vappu at a time. The subjects I film are ones I'd spend days with whether or not a camera was involved.

The best documentaries make you feel the filmmaker didn't know how it would end when they started. That uncertainty is worth protecting. I write before I shoot and keep notes throughout. Writing is how I stay honest.

I'm Nigerian, based in Finland, and still learning Finnish. All three facts shape how I see things. Being African, Nordic-adjacent, and perpetually an outsider isn't something I try to neutralise. It's probably the most useful thing I bring into any room I film in.