Rare Exports – Caged Santa for Sale in the UK!

Steve Barton |

Nov 25, 2010

Knowing how politically correct the US tries to be, this kind of marketing stunt in support of Foy’s favorite new film Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale would never fly here. In the UK, however … things can get wonderfully strange!

From 11am until 8pm on Thursday, 25th November shoppers in London’s West End had a rare opportunity to see a genuine Lapland Santa. The Santa Claus was kept safely caged and guarded by two experienced Lapland Santa Hunters.

All shoppers and photographers were given a set of rules for their own safety:

• No Alcohol
• No Arguing
• No Cursing
• No Frolicking
• No Smoking

Photography was permitted but visitors were asked to please not poke the Santa. A few select passersby were permitted to feed the Santa a gingerbread biscuit.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (review here) will open in cinemas across the UK Friday 3rd December 2010 Certificate 15.

Synopsis
It’s the eve of Christmas in northern Finland and an “archeological” dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn’t the one you want coming to town. When all the local children begin mysteriously disappearing, young Pietari and his father, Rauno, a reindeer hunter by trade, capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the misguided leader of the multinational corporation sponsoring the dig. Santa’s elves, however, will stop at nothing to free their fearless leader from captivity. What ensues is a wildly humorous nightmare – a fantastically bizarre polemic on modern-day morality. RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE is a re-imagining of the most classic of all childhood fantasies and is a darkly comic gem soon to be required perennial holiday viewing.