{"id":595012,"date":"2026-10-28T13:19:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=595012"},"modified":"2026-10-28T14:25:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T11:25:43","slug":"between-an-ikea-fairy-tale-and-a-von-trier-horror-the-finale-of-pukst-in-the-north-is-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/between-an-ikea-fairy-tale-and-a-von-trier-horror-the-finale-of-pukst-in-the-north-is-out","title":{"rendered":"Between an IKEA Fairy Tale and a von Trier Horror: The Finale of \u201cPukst in the North\u201d Is Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>In the final episode, <strong>Siarhei Pukst<\/strong> explores what lies behind the picture-perfect image of Scandinavian well-being. The fifth and final episode of Reform.news\u2019s documentary project \u201cPukst in the North\u201d has been released on the \u201cSasha, What Are You Talking About?!\u201d YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1990s, Northern Europe seemed almost like a perfect world to Pukst. The music of ABBA, A-ha and The Cardigans, Danish cottages, the Swedish social model and the cosy concept of hygge promised safety and harmony amid the chaos of post-Soviet life. But gradually, another Scandinavia emerged from behind the caramel-coloured image: one with the inner demons of <strong>Ingmar Bergman,<\/strong> the dark provocations of <strong>Lars von Trier,<\/strong> the unsettling lyrics of favourite songs and a rather peculiar sense of humour.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_32447\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nt-RjMYAvLs?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=ru&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&rel=0&fs=0&playsinline=1&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/figure>\n<p>Pukst recalls Swedish Ambassador <strong>Stefan Eriksson,<\/strong> the \u201cplush toy landing force,\u201d encounters in Finland and cultural clashes that challenged his ideas about the North. In the end, what remains is not a flawless fairy tale but a more complex reality \u2014 one defined by directness, respect for personal boundaries and care expressed not through pretty words, but through concrete actions.<\/p>\n<p>All five episodes of the project are available on the \u201cSasha, What Are You Talking About?!\u201d YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p>Siarhei Pukst is the scriptwriter, narrator and musician. The project is directed by <strong>Artsiom Lobach.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The project was created by Reform.news with the support of the Nordic Council of Ministers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the final episode, Siarhei Pukst explores what lies behind the picture-perfect image of Scandinavian well-being. The fifth and final episode of Reform.news\u2019s documentary project \u201cPukst in the North\u201d has been released on the \u201cSasha, What Are You Talking About?!\u201d YouTube channel. In the 1990s, Northern Europe seemed almost like a perfect world to Pukst. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":595013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6ae1dbbcaa602.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Between an IKEA Fairy Tale and a von Trier Horror: The Finale of \u201cPukst in the North\u201d Is Out"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142375,142339,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-595012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-main","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595015,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595012\/revisions\/595015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}