31.12.2014 Views

2 Finnish Short Films 2011

2 Finnish Short Films 2011

2 Finnish Short Films 2011

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Contents<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> and Festival Success<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> short films and festival success 2<br />

Interview with film commissionner Joona Louhivuori 3<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> short film makers form a united front<br />

to face challenges 3<br />

Interview with director Kari Juusonen 4<br />

Interview with director Saara Cantell 5<br />

Making of the Death of an Insect 7<br />

<strong>Short</strong> fiction<br />

The Annunciation 8<br />

L’Artiste 8<br />

Burungo 9<br />

Elma & Liisa 10<br />

Georg and Lydia 11<br />

Largo 12<br />

Liv 12<br />

Meal with a Deal 13<br />

The Painting Sellers 14<br />

A Perfect Day 14<br />

The Variation 17<br />

<strong>Short</strong> Animations<br />

Booris the Råt Mends His Ways 8<br />

Edith 10<br />

Faruza 10<br />

Mangel 12<br />

Papa’s Boy 14<br />

Summer in Helsinki 16<br />

The Tongueling 17<br />

Ö 17<br />

<strong>Short</strong> documentaries<br />

Could You Love 9<br />

The Death of an Insect 9<br />

How to Pick Berries 11<br />

Inhale 11<br />

Minispectacles 1–3 13<br />

Old Man and the Lady 13<br />

Ruins of the Gaze 15<br />

Soul Catcher 15<br />

Tabula Rasa 16<br />

A Tall Man 16<br />

Contact information 18<br />

Coming up in <strong>2011</strong>:<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> feature films 19<br />

This magazine is in two parts. This part is devoted<br />

to new <strong>Finnish</strong> short films. When you turn the<br />

magazine upside down, you will find the part devoted<br />

to new documentaries. There you will also<br />

find information on documentary films that are<br />

longer than 30 minutes.<br />

More facts and figures about <strong>Finnish</strong> documentary<br />

films are available at our website:<br />

www.ses.fi – Statistics<br />

V<br />

Current Situation<br />

Despite limited resources, <strong>Finnish</strong> short<br />

films are doing well at international festivals.<br />

The short films that the <strong>Finnish</strong><br />

Film Foundation has been promoting internationally<br />

have received a notable amount of visibility<br />

during 2010 at several internationally significant<br />

film festivals and at other film events. Compared<br />

to 2009, the volume of exported films has<br />

increased, specifically in the genres of short and<br />

documentary films. The successful cooperation of<br />

AVEK (The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual<br />

Culture) and the <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation to advance<br />

the cultural export of short and documentary<br />

films has guaranteed an international audience<br />

for a genre that in Finland remains marginal. The<br />

audiences at international film festivals are a significant<br />

addition to the annual number of viewers<br />

of <strong>Finnish</strong> films.<br />

In 2010, the <strong>Finnish</strong> films that were screened<br />

the most at international festivals were Iris Olsson’s<br />

praiseworthy short documentary, Between<br />

Dreams, Hamy Ramezan’s award-winning short<br />

film, Over the Fence, Kaisa Penttilä’s actionpacked<br />

animated short film, The Egg Race, Jouni<br />

Hokkanen’s Kinbaku – Art of Bondage, an introduction<br />

to the Japanese art form, and Hannes<br />

Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen’s Hanasaari<br />

A and The Death of an Insect. Another sign of<br />

a successful year is that in early 2010 the world’s<br />

most important short film festival in Clermont-<br />

Ferrand, France, screened a record number of<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> short films. Also other world-class festivals,<br />

especially Sundance and Berlin, have in recent<br />

years screened several <strong>Finnish</strong> short films.<br />

Case of Hanasaari A<br />

For the past two years, the <strong>Finnish</strong> short film that<br />

has gained the most attention abroad has been<br />

Hanasaari A, directed by Hannes Vartiainen and<br />

Pekka Veikkolainen. The story of the destruction<br />

of Helsinki’s old coal plant and the irreversible<br />

change in the cityscape received the Risto Jarva<br />

Award at the Tampere Film Festival in March<br />

2009. Qualifying for the international competition<br />

was a major accomplishment for the young film<br />

makers and the 10 000 euros in prize money gave<br />

them several extra months to develop their next<br />

works.<br />

Despite the success in Tampere, Hanasaari A’s<br />

international breakthrough didn’t happen overnight.<br />

The doors of important film festivals began<br />

to gradually open in the summer and autumn of<br />

2009. During autumn 2009, the film was seen,<br />

among other places, at the <strong>Short</strong> Film Festival in<br />

Drama, Greece, the Nordisk Panorama in Reykjavik,<br />

Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, the<br />

Lübeck Nordic Film Days, and the Plus Camerimage<br />

in Lodz, a festival that emphasises artistic<br />

merits when making its film selections.<br />

Festivals have provided useful networking opportunities<br />

for Vartiainen and Veikkolainen and<br />

they have met many key people on the film festival<br />

circuit as well as other film makers. According<br />

to the pair, it has been a rewarding experience to<br />

see their film with different kinds of audiences.<br />

“It’s great that the <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation and<br />

AVEK sponsor the festival trips. Then it’s pretty<br />

much up to the film makers themselves how they<br />

take advantage of the opportunities that are given<br />

to them. It’s been a delightful surprise that our<br />

film has found an audience and been in demand<br />

all around the world. We didn’t dare expect anything<br />

beforehand. Our festival tour has been a<br />

year and a half long series of happy surprises,”<br />

Vartiainen and Veikkolainen summarise.<br />

From Clermont-Ferrand to Hong Kong<br />

In the past two years, Hanasaari A has been<br />

screened at over 50 international film festivals.<br />

This is partly due to the fact that the film’s form<br />

has enabled it to be selected for both documentary<br />

and animated film festivals as well as for festivals<br />

devoted to experimental films. In 2010, the<br />

most significant festivals Hanasaari A was seen at<br />

were the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival in<br />

France, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival<br />

in the United States, and the internationally<br />

regarded Hong Kong Film Festival, where the<br />

film won the Grand Prix for Best <strong>Short</strong> Film. It<br />

has also received honourable mentions in Germany<br />

and Spain. For Vartiainen and Veikkolainen, the<br />

Clermont-Ferrand festival was one of the most<br />

memorable.<br />

“Clermont-Ferrand is in a class of its own as far<br />

as festivals for short films go. I doubt there’s another<br />

festival where the early afternoon screenings<br />

of experimental films are sold out,” Vartiainen and<br />

Veikkolainen marvel.<br />

The directors of Hanasaari A have broadened<br />

their knowledge of films by open-mindedly<br />

watching a lot of new films by other film makers.<br />

When festival schedules have permitted it,<br />

the pair have introduced their film before each<br />

showing. “It’s been fun talking to people after the<br />

showings. Jury members who have voted for Hanasaari<br />

A have come over at festival clubs and airports<br />

to explain why we didn’t win,” the pair say<br />

with a laugh.<br />

The director duo’s newest short film, The Death<br />

of an Insect, had its international premiere at the<br />

Venice Film Festival in September. During this<br />

past autumn, it was seen at almost twenty leading<br />

short film and documentary festivals. Both men<br />

have once again been enthusiastic guests at many<br />

of the festivals.<br />

“The film has aroused interest all over the<br />

world. We did decide right away that we wouldn’t<br />

make another film like Hanasaari A, but rather<br />

something different.”<br />

Clermont-Ferrand <strong>2011</strong><br />

This year, the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival’s<br />

International Competition will feature<br />

Markku Heikkinen’s short documentary Old<br />

Man and the Lady. The Lab Competition, which<br />

is devoted to experimental film, will feature Elli<br />

Vuorinen’s animated film Tongueling and Hannes<br />

Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen’s The Death<br />

of an Insect.<br />

Otto Suuronen<br />

2 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Joona Louhivuori –<br />

new film comissioner for short films<br />

Milla von Konow<br />

Joona Louhivuori<br />

Joona Louhivuori started his work<br />

as the film comissioner responsible<br />

for short films at the <strong>Finnish</strong> Film<br />

Foundation in autumn 2010. Louhivuori<br />

has studied film at the Aalto University<br />

School of Art and Design (formerly the<br />

University of Art and Design Helsinki)<br />

and worked as a freelance film editor for<br />

ten years. He has extensive experience in<br />

editing TV drama, trailers, commercials<br />

and music videos, a background that<br />

benefits him in his new position in a<br />

very concrete way.<br />

“I think my background as an editor<br />

is useful in my job as a film comissioner<br />

because, in both roles, you look at<br />

a film that’s being made from a certain<br />

distance, more so than the director. In<br />

both roles, you have to keep in mind<br />

that short films are a large whole where<br />

details rarely affect the work’s quality<br />

as much as the chosen viewpoint<br />

or the atmosphere being emphasised”,<br />

says Louhivuori, comparing his two job<br />

descriptions. He adds that, both as editor<br />

and on the funding side, he has to<br />

consider a film’s meaning in relation to<br />

the world around it, namely whether the<br />

story is treated in a way that has been<br />

done before or whether the subject is a<br />

current one.<br />

Perhaps the biggest difference between<br />

the two job descriptions in<br />

Louhivuori’s view is that, as an editor,<br />

he can become immersed in one work<br />

for months. As a film comissioner,<br />

on the other hand, he deals with numerous<br />

projects simultaneously and<br />

non-stop, which has been extremely<br />

refreshing.<br />

Has the altered point of view<br />

changed him as a film viewer “I<br />

probably watch movies the same way<br />

as before. I don’t think anything has<br />

changed. As an editor, I’ve always<br />

tried to see things from the moviegoer’s<br />

point of view. In other words, I’m<br />

always trying to maintain the viewing<br />

experience of someone who has seen<br />

the film for the first time.”<br />

Joona Louhivuori’s own goal is to<br />

help make funding decisions that enable<br />

the best projects to be realised<br />

and the most interesting filmmakers<br />

to keep working. “In the best case, it<br />

could raise the level of <strong>Finnish</strong> film<br />

narrative and in such a way that it<br />

would reach domestic audiences, in<br />

particular, even better than before”,<br />

Louhivuori sums up.<br />

Tytti Rantanen<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> short film makers form<br />

a united front to face challenges<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> short films entered the<br />

new decade in a challenging<br />

situation, but despite this,<br />

their high quality has brought international<br />

attention and success. Several<br />

films have been actively touring different<br />

festivals, including the Berlin,<br />

Cannes and Venice film festivals, the<br />

most prestigious events of their kind,<br />

the Clermont-Ferrand International<br />

<strong>Short</strong> Film Festival and the Nordisk<br />

Panorama short and documentary film<br />

festival, which was held in Norway.<br />

The busiest festival entrants have been<br />

the animation The Egg Race, which took<br />

part in 26 festivals, and the novella<br />

film Over the Fence, which participated<br />

in 29 festivals. <strong>Finnish</strong> short films also<br />

managed to grab some awards, as Juho<br />

Kuosmanen’s The Painting Sellers won<br />

the main prize in the Cinéfondation<br />

Series at Cannes.<br />

The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation and<br />

AVEK (The Promotion Centre for<br />

Audiovisual Culture) annually fund<br />

an average of 15 short films. A third<br />

important source of funding is the<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> Broadcasting Company YLE,<br />

which not only invests funds in <strong>Finnish</strong><br />

short films, but also offers a convenient<br />

channel for showing them to<br />

the public. In fact, <strong>Finnish</strong> short films<br />

have consolidated their position among<br />

YLE’s cultural programmes, being<br />

currently broadcast on two different<br />

channels. In 2009, YLE broadcast a<br />

total of 88 short films, 16 of which<br />

were shown for the first time.<br />

The challenges of the coming<br />

years will come as a result of a radical<br />

change on the production side of<br />

things. As a cost-saving measure, YLE<br />

plans to cut the number of external<br />

programme commissions and its participation<br />

in co-productions. Instead,<br />

the broadcasting company aims to shift<br />

its focus to in-house drama production.<br />

This will naturally raise nervous questions<br />

at small production companies.<br />

However, Sari Volanen, the<br />

producer in charge of short films in<br />

YLE’s co-production team, assures<br />

us that short films will continue to be<br />

produced in the future, even though<br />

there is no general policy concerning<br />

the media through which they will be<br />

broadcast. According to Volanen, YLE<br />

still intends to create good working<br />

relationships with new film-makers<br />

as part of a healthy film culture. Even<br />

amidst uncertainty, forming a united<br />

front is extremely important. YLE, the<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation and AVEK,<br />

together with directors, producers<br />

and <strong>Finnish</strong> film festivals, are seeking<br />

a sustainable solution to the current<br />

challenges.<br />

In addition to the united front,<br />

more emphasis has to be put on quality.<br />

“The Nordisk Panorama film festival<br />

was just given Oscar status, which<br />

means that the festival’s winner can<br />

Sari Volanen<br />

become an Oscar nominee. Will it take<br />

winning an Oscar for the political circles<br />

in Finland to become interested in<br />

short films In any case, what we need<br />

and want now are even better quality<br />

films and stories”, says Volanen.<br />

Tytti Rantanen<br />

Milla von Konow<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 3


Kari Juusonen<br />

Milla von Konow<br />

A rope extending to the heavens controls the Creatures<br />

Kari Juusonen’s animation “Ö” is an evolution story whose characters are protozoans from our planet’s ancient past.<br />

Considered one of Finland’s<br />

leading animators, Kari<br />

Juusonen (born 1967) has<br />

switched techniques from clay animation<br />

to computer animation.<br />

Juusonen’s new 12-minute solo<br />

work is called Ö. Before this Juusonen<br />

had created the short clay animations<br />

Pizza Passionata (2001) and The Birthday<br />

(2004), with the former winning him<br />

the Prix du Jury award at the Cannes<br />

film festival.<br />

He has had a long break since his<br />

last work but he has a good reason for<br />

this. Juusonen has built a house and<br />

worked as a co-director in the feature-length<br />

computer animation Niko<br />

– The Way to the Stars (2008), by the<br />

Anima Vitae animation studio. The<br />

film’s other director was the Danish<br />

Michael Hegner. Distributed to over<br />

one hundred countries, the speedy and<br />

Christmas-themed Niko is one of the<br />

most internationally successful <strong>Finnish</strong><br />

films of all time.<br />

“Ö is a kind of reflective work”, says<br />

Juusonen.<br />

“It’s probably the fact that I’m middle-aged<br />

that creates a slightly introverted<br />

atmosphere sometimes. You can<br />

understand the passage of time in another<br />

way – I’ve tried to make time visible<br />

in the film using ropes that extend<br />

upwards out to the characters.”<br />

As described, the film’s protozoan<br />

creepy-crawly characters are attached<br />

to wire-like ropes that lead up, as if<br />

umbilical cords to the heavens.<br />

One of the creatures rises from the<br />

water onto an island, begins to explore<br />

the world with its limited senses and<br />

tries to fortify the island, but eventually<br />

realises it wants to make contact<br />

and spend time with others. This very<br />

original film seems like a metaphor<br />

for humans trying to find their way.<br />

When you watch Ö, you are reminded<br />

of the way the story is carried and the<br />

infinite savouring of existence that<br />

Pixar boldly displayed in the computer<br />

animation Wall-E.<br />

The imagery of Ö, however, is<br />

the work of one man, created in the<br />

boiler room of the new house built by<br />

Kari Juusonen. At the time of his first<br />

award-winning animation, Juusonen<br />

saw himself very much as a “manual<br />

labourer”, but tools change.<br />

“Initially I made a one-minute clay<br />

animation demo of Ö, but putting the<br />

ropes in proved too difficult. With<br />

computer animation you can make<br />

movement look the way you want it.<br />

The feel here had to be immaterial.”<br />

“The film as a whole, though, is<br />

carefully constructed. I don’t get ideas<br />

for films in my dreams. What is interesting<br />

is the rope, a force that draws<br />

the characters in a certain direction. I<br />

was intrigued by the thought of following<br />

this with the logic of a nature film<br />

that is as pure as possible.”<br />

During the working stage, Juusonen<br />

called the main character ‘Hemppa’<br />

and the other members of his species<br />

‘Creatures’. The film’s creatures, of<br />

course, cannot speak any clearly formed<br />

language. In the preliminary production<br />

information, the central character<br />

was called ‘Adam’.<br />

“After Niko, this short film feels like<br />

it’s a form of self expression. Although<br />

in the best cases, when working on a<br />

feature film, the filmmaker can share<br />

his ideas and even make confessions.”<br />

“I have a long-term plan for my own<br />

film that would be half live, half computer<br />

animation. I think I might make<br />

some kind of a live short film before<br />

that, though”, Juusonen promises.<br />

Niko the Reindeer’s stepfamily<br />

“There are lots of really interesting<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> short animation makers”, Juusonen<br />

says. Animation training and<br />

the opportunities offered by the industry<br />

are quite a new thing in Finland.<br />

When Juusonen was working on his<br />

debut film, Pizza Passionata, which is a<br />

love mystery taking place in a concrete<br />

suburb, he considered making the animations<br />

in Estonia. But within a dec-<br />

ade, an entire animation industry has<br />

been born in Finland, whose influencers<br />

include Petteri Pasanen, the untiring<br />

ambassador for the Niko project<br />

and the producer of Pizza Passionata.<br />

Now that Ö is finished, Juusonen<br />

has taken on a new job with Anima<br />

Vitae, which is creating a sequel for<br />

the story of Niko the little reindeer.<br />

The sequel is to be released for Christmas<br />

2012 and currently has the working<br />

title ‘N2’. “I’m responsible for<br />

image design and animation again.<br />

My co-director, the Danish charmer<br />

Jørgen Lerdam, will be responsible<br />

for character design.”<br />

“Niko’s story of growing up will<br />

continue quite naturally. He has to rediscover<br />

himself in relation to others –<br />

within a stepfamily. Niko’s mother has<br />

found a new husband and Niko gets a<br />

new stepbrother. Even though the film<br />

is a fantasy, it talks about issues that<br />

touch children here and now.”<br />

Jussi Karjalainen<br />

Ö, page 17<br />

Niko – The Way to the Stars<br />

4 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


How to Make a Very Good Film<br />

A short film is a director’s audiovisual calling card. It is an excellent, small scale way to practise the<br />

dramaturgy of feature length film, and an important leg on the road to fully mastering the art of the<br />

The difference between short and feature film becomes<br />

clear the moment the director applies for<br />

funding. How to describe a short film What is the<br />

duration of a short film What does one express with<br />

a short film Where will it be shown In her thesis,<br />

Cantell states that the main differences are dramaturgical.<br />

In my experience, short films are approached in much<br />

the same way as feature films when it comes to film teaching<br />

or to making decisions about funding and producing.<br />

Personally, I have often found it frustrating trying to apply<br />

dramaturgical models that fit feature films to analysing<br />

and planning short films. I have felt like someone who<br />

needs a screwdriver, but can only find a hammer, a saw, or<br />

a jackhammer.<br />

(Condensed to a Diamond, p. 5)<br />

feature film. It is a prelude to a great symphony.<br />

The notions associated with short film are<br />

strong, and they are based on the experiences<br />

of both the film makers and the viewers. Is<br />

it possible that short film has other dimensions, ones<br />

that have been ignored<br />

The inspiration for director Saara Cantell’s doctoral<br />

thesis was her personal affinity with short films,<br />

as well as the concrete need to increase the appreciation<br />

of a genre that is misunderstood and often also<br />

misused.<br />

“I was annoyed by how underrated short films are,<br />

especially since, in my own experience, they are terribly<br />

difficult to make. The common conception seems<br />

to be that short films are only a way to learn how to<br />

make real films. I have seen some wonderful short<br />

films that are regrettably seldom shown anywhere,”<br />

Cantell explains.<br />

The thesis, Timantiksi tiivistetty - Dramaturgia ja<br />

kerronnalliset keinot lyhyessä fiktiivisessä lyhytelokuvassa<br />

(Condensed to a Diamond – Dramaturgy and Narrative<br />

Means in <strong>Short</strong> Fiction <strong>Films</strong>, working title,<br />

forthcoming), presented to the Department of Motion<br />

Picture, TV and Production Design at Aalto University’s<br />

School of Art and Design, is a welcome addition<br />

to film study by film makers themselves.<br />

In her thesis, Cantell wanted to define the dramaturgical<br />

differences between short and feature films<br />

from the director’s point of view. She narrowed her<br />

research material down to short fiction films that are<br />

shorter than 15 minutes. The thesis includes both a<br />

theoretical and an artistic element: five short films<br />

and a theoretical comparison of the process of making<br />

them.<br />

In Cantell’s experience, there has been very little<br />

scientific study of short films. But the attitudes taken<br />

towards short films can have a significant impact on,<br />

for example, the development of national film culture.<br />

Cantell recalls an interesting example from her<br />

own student days, when students from the School of<br />

Art and Design visited film students in Denmark.<br />

At the Danish film school, student exercises were not<br />

printed on film, nor were they sent to festivals.<br />

“Some really big directors have emerged from that<br />

generation, which doesn’t surprise me at all. They<br />

had the chance to experiment and take risks while<br />

doing the student exercises.”<br />

It wasn’t until the last year of school, when the<br />

students made a short film, that their works received<br />

a public screening.<br />

How to Get to the Crux of a <strong>Short</strong> Film<br />

The saw and the jackhammer, funding and distribution,<br />

are some of the main reasons for the rocky position<br />

of short film. If the director, financier, distributor,<br />

and even the viewer have difficulty defining short<br />

film and its place among film genres, how can it be<br />

given long-span support and developed further<br />

Cantell’s thesis defines the art form from the film<br />

maker’s point of view, in other words, from a practical<br />

point of view, which makes the study particularly<br />

valuable.<br />

Cantell admits that she occasionally went astray as<br />

she attempted to create an artificial connection between<br />

feature and short film.<br />

The genre grouping that is familiar from feature<br />

films was partly the result of a commercial need to<br />

define and categorise a film in order to market it more<br />

efficiently.<br />

Cantell started out trying to apply the grouping also<br />

to short films, but she quickly noticed that it was too<br />

fragmented. Also, the grouping gave no insight as to<br />

why certain kinds of short films are made.<br />

The genre grouping of feature films was no help<br />

in planning a short film, just the opposite: It merely<br />

steered Cantell towards a superficial dramatic structure.<br />

This sort of “learning the hard way” is what makes<br />

studies by film makers so important.<br />

The answer to defining short film was discovered<br />

by examining existing short films and their dramaturgical<br />

choices.<br />

One of the main theories that Cantell used in her<br />

thesis was Richard Raskin’s seven parameters for the<br />

examination and making of short films, each of which<br />

has a role in the creation of a good short film.<br />

Milla von Konow<br />

Saara Cantell<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 5


Heartbeats<br />

Cantell emphasises parameters six<br />

and seven: simplicity, but depth, and<br />

the economy of the narrative in relation<br />

to the whole, in other words, compactness.<br />

Cantell groups short films loosely<br />

into three genres that may overlap: joke<br />

film, poetic film, and metaphorical<br />

film.<br />

The largest genre is the so called<br />

joke film, consisting of films that<br />

culminate in a punch line, like the ingenious<br />

minute-long Natural Glasses<br />

(Naturlige briller, 2001) by Norwegian<br />

Jens Lien.<br />

The poetic film is structurally more<br />

open than the joke film. The story<br />

gains depth from simple references,<br />

and the ending may be left open, as a<br />

gateway for the viewer’s imagination.<br />

The temporal structure is continuous,<br />

moves in depth, and is not tied to real<br />

time. Marcel Ivány’s Cannes-awarded<br />

Wind (Szél, 1996) represents the poetic<br />

film genre at its finest.<br />

According to Cantell, the rarest and<br />

also the most difficult form of short<br />

film is the metaphorical film. Just like<br />

a poem, a short film can depict familiar<br />

things from a new perspective. A<br />

familiar object may become a metaphor<br />

of something greater. The metaphorical<br />

film is a metaphor in itself, a highly<br />

perfected observation of life. To create<br />

such a film, the film maker needs experience<br />

of both the instrument (film)<br />

and of the world. <strong>Films</strong> in this genre<br />

are often considered short film classics.<br />

The example Cantell gives is Roman<br />

Polanski’s Two Men and a Wardrobe<br />

(Dwaj ludzie z szaf¹), where<br />

the wardrobe is the metaphor: The<br />

inability to adjust to a community.<br />

From <strong>Short</strong> to Long<br />

After examining the anatomy of short<br />

film, Cantell believes that it is now<br />

easier for her to use the genres she discovered<br />

in her own work. But the thesis<br />

also reveals that even thorough research<br />

won’t result in a perfect short film.<br />

Cantell details the director’s work process<br />

and does not gloss over the pitfalls.<br />

Interestingly enough, Cantell’s long<br />

research did not result in just five short<br />

films and a stack of papers. To the director’s<br />

surprise, the discoveries made<br />

in the thesis found their way into a feature<br />

film, Heartbeats, that premiered in<br />

Finland on March 5, 2010.<br />

“In its narrative, Heartbeats uses<br />

many methods that I would define as<br />

characteristic of short films. The most essential<br />

ones are concentrating on the moment<br />

and allusiveness. Each independent<br />

episode of the film concentrates on one moment<br />

that has a partially open ending.”<br />

(Condensed to a Diamond, p. 207)<br />

As its main method, Heartbeats uses<br />

one of the characteristics of short film<br />

that Cantell discovered in her thesis:<br />

The principle of being in the moment<br />

and attentive presence. This is emphasised<br />

by the fact that each scene was<br />

shot in one long shot using a hand-held<br />

camera. Being in the moment is also<br />

a characteristic of documentary films,<br />

and it distinguishes Heartbeats from<br />

typical feature films that are moved<br />

along by a chain of cause-and-effect.<br />

Cantell’s stylistic choices make the<br />

film airy and fresh.<br />

How to Fund a <strong>Short</strong> Film<br />

Cantell’s thesis reveals how time-consuming,<br />

laborious, and even impossible<br />

it was to find funding for the five films<br />

needed for the thesis.<br />

“I thought I could concentrate on<br />

making a lot of short films, but it<br />

didn’t work out quite that way.”<br />

Ironically, after years of negotiations<br />

to get funding for the short films, it<br />

was surprisingly easy to get financial<br />

support for the feature film Heartbeats.<br />

This further emphasises the importance<br />

of established distribution and<br />

funding channels, and the significance<br />

of feature film research.<br />

To ensure funding for short films,<br />

it is critically important to think about<br />

how to support and distribute them,<br />

and how to enable the making of short<br />

films.<br />

According to Cantell, making short<br />

films is now more or less charity work<br />

for producers. It takes long-term planning<br />

to develop the genre:<br />

“Except for those who are just beginning<br />

their careers, there are few<br />

directors who want to waste their energy<br />

on short films, because they know<br />

that it’s a hopeless endeavour and that<br />

they’ll have to make compromises. It<br />

would be great to have masters’ series<br />

and collections that didn’t concentrate<br />

only on new talent,” Cantell ponders.<br />

An established system to support<br />

the distribution of short films would<br />

be one option.<br />

“For example, tax relief for producers<br />

and distributors who screen a five<br />

minute short before a feature film.<br />

That would be an easy and effective<br />

way to support short films.”<br />

<strong>Short</strong> film compilations that follow<br />

feature film norms might be another<br />

way to advance the marketing and distribution<br />

of short films. They would<br />

make it easier to use the established<br />

marketing channels of feature films.<br />

Cantell feels that the distribution of<br />

short films requires the examination<br />

and networking of various distribution<br />

channels, including digital and webbased,<br />

and television and festivals.<br />

When Only<br />

the Essential Remains<br />

Saara Cantell<br />

A comprehensive look at the structure<br />

of short film, Saara Cantell’s thesis reverses<br />

the established order of importance<br />

of short and feature film. In her<br />

study, short films are the master-pieces<br />

whose creation requires hard work and<br />

experience.<br />

According to Cantell’s tender manifesto,<br />

short film is the genre of the<br />

most gifted directors, where the gift<br />

for economical expression is valued.<br />

<strong>Short</strong> film is the true measure of a director’s<br />

talent.<br />

This is one of the reasons short<br />

films are so irresistible. How is it possible<br />

that one cinematic brush stroke<br />

can give a more profound picture of<br />

the world than any two-hour feature<br />

film<br />

Cantell admits that her journey is<br />

still unfinished.<br />

She mischievously says that she is<br />

practising with feature films, so that<br />

she could one day produce a real diamond:<br />

a short film that is only a couple<br />

of minutes long.<br />

Mirkka Maikola<br />

Saara Cantell’s short films<br />

for her thesis:<br />

Diagnoosi, 2002. 5 min. (Black and white)<br />

Potretti (Portrait), 2003. 5 min. (Colour)<br />

Mahdollisuus (What If), 2004. 7 min.<br />

(Colour)<br />

Tiistai, päivävuoro, 2004. 5 min. (Colour)<br />

Vaihtoehto, 2009. 1’30 (Colour)<br />

(A demo for a five-minute film)<br />

Milla von Konow<br />

6 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Making of<br />

The Death of an Insect<br />

Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen’s previous film, Hanasaari A,<br />

was an experimental documentary about the demolition of a power plant<br />

and it has enchanted audiences throughout the world. Now Hannes and<br />

Pekka explore new territory in The Death of an Insect, their latest film,<br />

which combines a number of animation techniques in a unique way.<br />

We started developing a film with dead insects already in 2006. The<br />

production started in January 2010 and during the spring we had to come<br />

up with quite special technical solutions for shooting these tiny characters.<br />

Building the 360° dance choreographies of real world insects started in 2006 with a<br />

white paper and an upside trash can. Later we glued markers around an ancient vinyl<br />

player to get shots at precise intervals, but for the production phase we set up a cosmic<br />

telescope motor and a timelapse camera to automate the process and get flawless loops<br />

of rotating insects.<br />

Pohjankonna Oy<br />

Most of the insects featured in the film<br />

were gathered from the forgotten corners<br />

of the city of Helsinki: Between window<br />

panels, dusty attics and cobwebs. Some of<br />

them come from old butterfly collections<br />

(the earliest samples are from the 1960s).<br />

The Giant Prickly Stick Insect with his<br />

tragic solo performance died in the 1990s<br />

of natural causes. After he passed away,<br />

the carcas was preserved and now 20 years<br />

later found to star in the film.<br />

Pohjankonna Oy<br />

A simple reflective floor surface was built in a 3D program, and in order to populate it<br />

with dancing white formations of bugs, a couple of different techniques had to be used.<br />

To get clean silhouettes of wasps, butterflies and other bugs, they were shot against a<br />

light table which produced beautiful results maintaining wing transparencies. Some bugs<br />

were really too tiny for any of our lenses, so they were sacrificed by crushing them flat<br />

inside a slide frame and scanned with high precision. Those scans and silhouette photos<br />

were then cleaned up and used as textures for the 3D dance.<br />

The spider in the end shot is a result of such scan. A tiny spider crushed flat, then rebuilt<br />

from pieces to be animated for the film.<br />

From the early drafts of the script we<br />

were sure that in order to have complete<br />

control over depicting tiny dead bugs we<br />

would have to be able to look inside them,<br />

or even be inside them if we so felt like. It<br />

turned out that around the world there are<br />

a few X-ray scanners for hire, that can scan<br />

fossils down to the size of a grain of sand.<br />

In February 2010 we paid a visit to the university of Ghent in Belgium. Their research<br />

team at the Centre for X-ray Tomography has built an X-ray scanner, which can create 3D<br />

models by combining hundreds of X-ray images taken of an object.<br />

From about one hundred flies we chose three with the most interesting death poses,<br />

and mailed them over to Belgium along with some beetles and a hawkmoth. The data<br />

came back a while later and Janne Pulkkinen helped us visualize the see-through insect<br />

carcasses through his self-built 3D engine.<br />

The black and white shots are the result of this work, and in one of the aerial shots you<br />

can see the 3D fly hanging over the city, glowing bright yellow.<br />

Pohjankonna Oy<br />

Janne Pulkkinen, Pekka Veikkolainen, Hannes Vartiainen Pohjankonna Oy Pohjankonna Oy<br />

In order to take the insects out to the streets, to have them race on the Baltic sea and dance on the ice, we had a 2 hour flight with a tiny Cessna plane, sunset time, over Helsinki.<br />

These shots were then tracked for the 3D implementation of dancing bugs.<br />

Death of An Insect, page 9<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 7


The Annunciation<br />

Booris the Råt<br />

Mends His Ways<br />

Råtta Booris parantaa tapansa<br />

Booris the Råt had lived a wicked life<br />

and was in the jam of a lifetime. Fortunately,<br />

he was saved by Anneli the Baltic<br />

herring, and in his gratitude Booris<br />

now wants to mend his nasty ways.<br />

Animation | <strong>2011</strong> | Digibeta | 16:9 |<br />

Stereo | 6 x 4’30’’<br />

Director, editing, animation: Leena Jääskeläinen,<br />

Kaisa Penttilä Script: Leena Jääskeläinen,<br />

Kaisa Penttilä, Janne Reinikainen<br />

Sound design, music: Sakari Salli Cast: Janne<br />

Reinikainen (Voice over) Producer: Liisa Penttilä<br />

Production company: Edith Film Production<br />

support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation<br />

Financing TV companies: YLE TV2<br />

Leena Jääskeläinen<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2009 The Changeling |<br />

2003 Many Complained of my Form<br />

The Annunciation<br />

Marian ilmestys<br />

The Annunciation is a fictional documentary<br />

in which one of the central<br />

motifs of Christian iconography is<br />

constructed and re-enacted through<br />

moving images. It is based on the narrative<br />

from the Gospel of Luke (1:26-38)<br />

and paintings of The Annunciation in<br />

which artists have, in various periods,<br />

depicted their visions of The Gospel’s<br />

events.<br />

The events of The Annunciation are<br />

set in the present. In addition to a reconstruction<br />

of the the Annunciation<br />

there is “The Making of…” footage<br />

showing how this film was prepared .<br />

Most of the principal photography was<br />

shot during the snowy winter of 2010<br />

in southern Finland’s Aulanko Nature<br />

Reserve. The entire cast, apart from<br />

two, are non-professionals and clients<br />

of the Helsinki Deaconess Institute’s<br />

women’s support services. Although<br />

based on an existing script, the events,<br />

roles and dialogue were adapted during<br />

the filming process in accordance with<br />

the actors’ own presence.<br />

Fiction, Documentary, Experimental |<br />

<strong>2011</strong> | 35mm | 1:1.78 | DD 5.1<br />

Director: Eija-Liisa Ahtila Script: Eija-Liisa<br />

Sattva-Hanna Toiviainen Costumes: Mari<br />

Savio Producer: Ilppo Pohjola Production<br />

company: Kristallisilmä Oy Production<br />

support: AVEK, Church Media Foundation,<br />

The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation Financing TV<br />

companies: YLE TV1 Co-Productions<br />

Eija-Liisa Ahtila<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2009 Where is where | 2009 The Hour<br />

of Prayer | 2002 Love is a Treasure | 1999<br />

Consolation Service | 1996 Today<br />

L’Artiste<br />

Marc, a young performance artist,<br />

arrives in the north, full of expectation.<br />

He soon learns that October<br />

weather and northern people are relatively<br />

cold. Marc tries his best to find<br />

joy in his new situation but soon starts<br />

to loose faith. He turns to alcohol and<br />

his art becomes a macabre travesty. He<br />

hits rock bottom when he ends up acting<br />

in a cheap porn film and finally<br />

he freezes into a stony statue. A young<br />

woman finds the petrified Marc and<br />

takes him to her sculptor’s atelier. In<br />

the morning we can see Marc’s wary<br />

smile. The young woman eyes Marc<br />

appraisingly and then picks up her<br />

hammer and chisel.<br />

Esa Illi<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2008 Jungle of Dreams | 2003 Brothers<br />

| 2000 Monkey Business | 1997 Midsummer’s<br />

Stories | 1993 Kili-Kali<br />

Esa Illi<br />

Booris the Råt Mends His Ways<br />

Kaisa Penttilä<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2009 Egg Race | 2005 Superhero’s Son |<br />

2002 Air Mail<br />

Kaisa Penttilä<br />

Ahtila Cinematography: Arto Kaivanto<br />

Editing: Heikki Kotsalo Sound design:<br />

Peter Nordström Set design:<br />

Fiction | 2010 | HD | 1:1,85 | Stereo 5.1 |<br />

13’36’’<br />

Director, script, editing, music: Esa Illi<br />

Cinematography: Timo Heinänen Sound<br />

design: Janne Laine Set design, costumes:<br />

Kristiina Saha Cast: Marc Gassot Producer:<br />

Petri Rossi Production company: Cine<br />

Works Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong><br />

Film Foundation Financing TV companies:<br />

YLE Co-Productions International sales:<br />

Eija-Liisa Ahtila<br />

Cine Works<br />

L’Artiste<br />

8 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Burungo<br />

Could You Love<br />

Burungo<br />

Burungo has two meanings in the Sheng slang used in the slums of Kenya: girl and<br />

merchandise. This is a fictional story of a family with a mother, father, and six<br />

children. The family’s two teenaged daughters try to raise money so they can buy<br />

a new dress for their mother. But raising money in a Nairobi slum is not only difficult<br />

but also dangerous.<br />

Fiction | 2010 | 1920x1080p, Canon 5D Mark II | 16:9 |<br />

Dolby Stereo 2.0 24bit 48 kHz | 13’30’’<br />

Director: Dome Karukoski and Pamela Tola Script: Pamela Tola and Dome Karukoski<br />

Cinematography: Pini Hellstedt Editing: Tuuli Hirvonen, Kati Pukarinen and Harri Ylönen<br />

Sound design: Micke Nyström Music: Panu Aaltio Set design: Jussi Halonen Costumes:<br />

Paula Konttinen Cast: Mwende Musau, Ruguru Munio, Jazz Moll, Magdalene Muchoki, Joel<br />

Kennedy, Geoffrey Jefferson Producer: Aleksi Bardy and Annika Sucksdorff Production<br />

company: Helsinki-filmi Oy Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, Ministry for<br />

Foreign Affairs of Finland Financing TV companies: Yle Co-Productions<br />

Dome Karukoski<br />

Could You Love<br />

Voitko rakastaa<br />

Dome Karukoski Selected filmography<br />

2010 Lapland Odyssey | 2009 Forbidden Fruit | 2008 The Home<br />

of Dark Butterflies | 2008 Brothers (TV mini-serie) | 2005 Beauty<br />

and the Bastard<br />

Pamela Tola Selected filmography<br />

2010 Lapland Odyssey (actor) | 2006 Soap (actor) | 2005 Beauty<br />

and the Bastard (actor) | 2005 Frozen Land (actor) | 2003 Pearls<br />

and Pigs (actor)<br />

Could You Love is a documentary film about memories and oblivion. Mother and<br />

daughter are looking for moments they could share over a telephone conversation<br />

after twenty-four years of absence in each other’s lives. In this subjective documentary<br />

the moment of remembering is created by combining a phone call with 8 mm<br />

films and footage from the present day.<br />

The film creates remembering by demonstrating the subjectivity of memories: images<br />

are deleted, paused and fast-forwarded according to the person’s needs. A private<br />

story expands to a more general level and emphasizes the importance of remembering.<br />

Director Johanna Vanhala<br />

I am interested in memories and remembering because the topics<br />

are so closely related to identity. What we remember and<br />

what we have forgotten affect our decisions every day and thus<br />

also determine the direction of our lives. The topic is relevant to<br />

everyone and is entwined closely to humanity and to the ways<br />

we experience the world. For this reason I feel it is important to<br />

reflect on this phenomenon.<br />

The Death of an Insect<br />

Erään hyönteisen tuho<br />

In a lifeless urban landscape where time itself has stopped its crawl, a mad ballet is<br />

commencing and a newly hatched butterfly is about to die.<br />

This tragic story was constructed using dead insects gathered from forgotten<br />

attics and tool sheds, between window panels and cobwebs. It combines a number<br />

of animation techniques from classic stop-motion animation to animated 3D<br />

models of x-ray CT-scanned insects.<br />

Documentary | 2010 | 35 mm | 1:1,85 | Dolby Digital | 7’<br />

Directors, script, cinematography, editing, animation: Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen<br />

Mixing consultant: Olli Huhtanen Music: Joonatan Portaankorva Producers:<br />

Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen Production company: Pohjankonna Oy<br />

Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, AVEK Financing TV company: YLE<br />

International sales: Pohjankonna Oy<br />

Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen<br />

Hannes Vartiainen (born 1980) has a background<br />

in film. Pekka Veikkolainen (born 1982) has been<br />

working with animation and illustration since 2000.<br />

In 2008 the two started their own production<br />

company. Their first film together was Hanasaari A<br />

(2009, 15 min, 35 mm, experimental documentary)<br />

Hannes Vartiainen and<br />

Pekka Veikkolainen<br />

Johanna Vanhala<br />

Pohjankonna Oy<br />

Documentary | 2010 | HDCAM, DigiBeta | 16:9 | Stereo | 15’<br />

Director, script, cinematography: Johanna Vanhala Editing: Tommi Lind Sound design,<br />

music: Iiro Hokkanen Producer: Ulla Simonen Production company: Elokuvayhtiö Aamu Ltd.<br />

Production support: AVEK, The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation Financing TV company: YLE International<br />

sales: Elokuvayhtiö Aamu Ltd.<br />

Johanna Vanhala<br />

Johanna Vanhala has studied in the Media and Arts school of Tampere in Finland. Her documentary<br />

film Nimeni on Alma was awarded at several festivals. Could You Love is her first<br />

documentary film after graduating and it was awarded as the best documentary film at<br />

the Kettupäivät short film festival in November 2010. Vanhala also does new media art and<br />

interactive installations.<br />

Selected filmography:<br />

2010 Could You Love | 2007 Katiska | 2006 My Name is Alma | 2004 Viima<br />

The Death of an Insect<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 9


Edith<br />

Elma & Liisa – Pamela Tola & Pihla Viitala<br />

Edith<br />

Edith lives in a dream world that consists of memories and fragments of reality.<br />

She is sinking deeper and deeper into dementia, but is she suffering Edith is a<br />

film that attempts to portray the mental landscape of an old woman.<br />

Animation | 2010 | DigiBeta PAL | 16:9 | Stereo | 5’30’’<br />

Director, script, editing: Taru Varpumaa Sound design: Salla Hämäläinen Music: Anna<br />

Huuskonen Musicians: Jenni Harra (cello) Essi Hänninen (percussions) Johanna Kröger<br />

(flute) Minna Lehtinen (clarinet) Esko Mäkinen (contrabass) Animation: Taru Varpumaa,<br />

Sara Wahl, Pinja Partanen, Samppa Kukkonen, Ami Lindholm Compositing: Samppa Kukkonen,<br />

Lauri Järvenpää Voice actors: Kerttu Jankeri, Tiina Kaartinen Producer: Jyrki Kaipainen<br />

Production company: Camera Cagliostro Financing TV company: YLE co-productions<br />

Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, AVEK, West Finland Film Commission,<br />

The Central Union for the Welfare of the Aged<br />

Taru Varpumaa<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2008 The Royal Family | 2005 The Great Hunter |<br />

2004 Minä olen murhaaja<br />

Elma & Liisa<br />

Taru Varpumaa<br />

Elma and Liisa are reunited after many years of separation. They decide to take<br />

a road trip to get away from their torturous lives of ennui.. Though left behind,<br />

their past continues to haunt them. What starts out as mere fun becomes a trip of<br />

self-discovery with the girls contemplating what they really want out of life. Elma<br />

and Liisa is a tragicomedy about friendship, choices and separation. How well can<br />

one know ones best friend How well can we even know ourselves<br />

Fiction | 2010 | Digital Cinema Package, DVD | 1:2,39 | 5.1 | 38’<br />

Directors, script, set design, costumes: Pamela Tola and Pihla Viitala Cinematography:<br />

Jean-Noël Mustonen Editing: Antti Reikko Sound design: Pietu Korhonen Music: Mikael<br />

Kivelä Cast: Pamela Tola, Pihla Viitala, Kasimir Balzar, Anita Salonen Producers: Pauli Waroma<br />

and Artturi Mutanen Production company: Mutanen Enterprises Production support:<br />

Johanna Tarvainen, Kaisla Viitala, Iina Keskinen Financing TV companies: YLE<br />

Two young, talented <strong>Finnish</strong> actresses, Pamela Tola and Pihla Viitala,<br />

make their debute as directors.<br />

Faruza<br />

Faruza is a medieval story of an isolated island kingdom in the Red Sea, where the<br />

rulers abide by a strict law: the women must wear a copper mask from the day they<br />

turn twelve until the day they die. The law makes the lives of the island’s fishing<br />

families difficult in many ways: The families can afford the mask only after several<br />

years of saving, and because they are weighed down by the heavy copper, the<br />

women can’t take part in fishing on the stormy sea.<br />

As her birthday approaches, Faruza, the daughter of a poor fisherman decides<br />

to rebel. In secret, she befriends the island’s hated and lonely blacksmith, who has<br />

longed for a change in his life. Together the rebels escape to the joyous court of<br />

the pearl fishers on the neighbouring island.<br />

But Faruza’s fate is to return to her home island where the women await her.<br />

But as it happens, the island’s queen has also had her fill of the mask...<br />

Animation | 2010 | Digi Beta | 16:9 | Stereo | ~13’<br />

Director, script, editing: Katariina Lillqvist<br />

Cinematography: Miloslav Spala<br />

Music: Rezgar Fatahi Set design: Veronika<br />

Doutlikova Animation: Alfons Mensdorf<br />

Pouilly Producer: Jyrki Kaipainen Production<br />

company: Camera Cagliostro Production<br />

support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation,<br />

AVEK Financing TV company: YLE TV1 Co-<br />

Productions International sales: Camera<br />

Cagliostro<br />

Katariina Lillqvist<br />

Selected Filmography<br />

2008 Far away from Ural | 2008 This Land<br />

was not My Land | 2001–2003 Mire Bala<br />

Kale Hin | 1996 The Country Doctor | 1995<br />

The Maiden and the Soldier<br />

Faruza<br />

Katariina Lillqvist<br />

10 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Georg and Lydia<br />

How to Pick Berries<br />

Georg and Lydia<br />

Georg och Lydia<br />

Georg and Lydia is a road movie with a most unlikely pair. Lydia (age 30) is a young<br />

and talented organist who crosses paths with Georg (age 70) who is in declining<br />

health, trying to come to terms with the end of his life.<br />

Lydia desperately tries to prepare her debut concert, but is suffering from a creative<br />

block. Georg is on his way from Stockholm to Finland to meet his son before<br />

the heart surgery that may cost him his life<br />

When they meet, Georg has just been pulled over by the police for driving<br />

without a license. Lydia needs a lift, and offers to drive his car. Before long, Georg<br />

suffers a seizure. Lydia realizes how important it is that Georg meets his son,<br />

Pavel, before the operation and she decides to take Georg to him rather than the<br />

hospital. Upon meeting, Georg can’t bring himself to tell Pavel that he believes his<br />

death is imminent.<br />

Elina Talvensaari Selected filmography<br />

2008 Palm tree | 2008 Invisible Hand<br />

Director Elina Talvensaari:<br />

The twisted logic of global economy never fails to amaze me. For<br />

me it is the most sci-fi thing there is, but real. At the same time<br />

I’m very curious about the relationship between identity and landscape.<br />

Those two favourite themes of mine met in the subject of<br />

this film, which is also a tribute to my childhood memories.<br />

Inhale<br />

Syvä hengitys sisään<br />

Elina Talvensaari<br />

Fiction | 2010 | 1920 x 1080p, RED ONE | 16:9 | Dolby Stereo 2.0 24bit 48kHz | 59’<br />

Director, script: Anna Maria Jòakimsdottir Hutri Cinematography: Mark Stubbs Editing:<br />

Helena Öst Sound Design: Micke Nyström Music: John Grönvall Set design: Kaisa Mäki nen<br />

Costumes: Sari Suominen Cast: Maria Salomaa, Sven Wollter<br />

Producers: Aleksi Bardy & Annika Sucksdorff Production company:<br />

Helsinki-filmi Oy Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation,<br />

Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, Föreningen konstsamfundet,<br />

Helsinki-filmi Financing TV companies: YLE FST5, SVT<br />

Anna Maria Jòakimsdottir Hutri<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2009 Apple Thieves | 2009 Blue Dolphin | 2005 Sam |<br />

2001 All of this Feels like a Dream | 2001 Lilja<br />

How to Pick Berries<br />

Miten marjoja poimitaan<br />

Visitors from a distant place appear in the misty swamps of Northern Finland. As<br />

harmless as they are, their foreign presence unwittingly disrupts the pace of local<br />

habits. They have come to look for berries, an activity that all of a sudden seems to<br />

embody all the values of local culture. Who is to blame and where do the profits<br />

end up How to Pick Berries is an exploration of the <strong>Finnish</strong> mind and the absurdities<br />

of global economy.<br />

Documentary | 2010 | 35mm, Digibeta,<br />

Beta SP, Blu-Ray | 1:2,35 Anamorphic |<br />

Dolby Stereo 5.1 (35 mm + Bluray) | 19’<br />

Anna Maria<br />

Jòakimsdottir Hutri<br />

“I cannot trust my body anymore.<br />

All that I have ever been is through my body”<br />

The dancer is at home in a large room full of light. In spite of continuous pain<br />

and uncertainty, she wants to have a ballet lesson by herself. The dancer dreams<br />

about dancing, about the way she moved before her illness. Images of childhood<br />

ballet lessons reaffirm that movement and dance are at the core of her identity.<br />

The dancer dances the movements in her mind, but the body is not yet ready.<br />

We all have to face our existential loneliness and the limitations of our bodies.<br />

Life brings surprises to all of us. The little dancer still jumps and dances; hope<br />

and freedom are not lost.<br />

Documentary | 2010 | DigiBeta, Blue ray, DVD | 16:9 | 5.1 / Stereo | 13’<br />

Director, sound design, music: Päivi Takala Script: Hanna Brotherus, Janice Redman, Päivi<br />

Takala Choreography: Hanna Brotherus Cinematography: Päivi Kettunen Editing: Kimmo<br />

Kohtamäki Set design, costumes: Alisha Davidow Cast:<br />

Janice Redman, Elsa Brotherus Producer: Päivi Takala<br />

Production company: Soundsgood Productions Oy<br />

Production support: AVEK, <strong>Finnish</strong> Cultural Fund<br />

Financing TV companies:YLE Co-productions<br />

Päivä Takala<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2007 Learned by Heart | 2002 Thousands of Jackets |<br />

1993 Boys, Boys | 1991 Zulei | 1989 Mwe Bana Bandi<br />

Päivi Takala<br />

Director: Elina Talvensaari Script: Elina<br />

Talvensaari, Mauro Fariñas Cinematography:<br />

Joonas Pulkkanen Editing: Markus<br />

Leppälä Sound design, music: Pinja<br />

Mäki Producer: Elina Talvensaari Production<br />

company: Aalto University, School of<br />

Art and Design, Department of Motion<br />

Picture, Television and Production Design<br />

International sales: Aalto University,<br />

School of Art and Design, Department of<br />

Motion Picture, Television and Production<br />

Design<br />

Inhale<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 11


Largo<br />

Liv<br />

Largo<br />

The girl doesn’t know why there seems to be an invisible wall between them.<br />

Why is her mother just going through the motions and refusing help Why<br />

does her father watch television with the sound off And why have the children<br />

been shut out of everything Touching is difficult. Conversation is only a memory.<br />

The girl practises leaving and gathers strength from it.<br />

Finally, she decides to pack up her dearest belongings and say goodbye to her<br />

family and childhood home. Maybe that will open the eyes of her father and<br />

mother and encourage them to accept the truth. At the same time she hopes that<br />

they won’t forget her.<br />

Largo is the fragile story of a rural family that has lost the ability to communicate.<br />

Seen through the eyes of their 17-year-old daughter, this short film with<br />

dance depicts the moment when the parents’ ungrieved grief becomes alive.<br />

Fiction, Experimental | 2010 | DVCPRO50 | 16:9 | Stereo | ~19’<br />

Director: Kimmo Leed Script: Kimmo Leed, Tuomo Leino, Jenni Kivelä Cinematography:<br />

JP Passi Editing: Tuomo Leino Sound design: Pekka Karjalainen Music: Tuomo Leino, Petri<br />

Nieminen Set design: Otso Linnalaakso Costumes: Karoliina Koiso-Kanttila Producer: Tuomo<br />

Leino Production company: Leino Production Oy Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film<br />

Foundation, AVEK Financing TV company: YLE TV1 International sales: Interprod<br />

Kimmo Leed<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2003 Replay |<br />

2002 Greetings from Sochi! |<br />

2000 Das Monolith<br />

Riikka Sundqvist<br />

Liv<br />

9 year old Liv feels left out when her dad organizes a house warming party for his<br />

new boyfriend. She decides to teach the grown-ups a lesson they will not soon forget.<br />

A strong girl sends a strong message and gets her way.<br />

Fiction | 2010 | HDCAM | 1920x1080 | Stereo | 14’30’’<br />

Director, script: Johan Karrento Cinematography: Marita Hällfors Editing: Pauliina Punkki<br />

Sound Design: Pietu Korhonen Music: Ville Riippa, Petter Lindholm Set Design, costumes:<br />

Sarah Bowen-Walsh Cast: Sophia Knight, Niklas Groundstroem, Jan-Christian Söderholm,<br />

Marc Svanhström, Sonja Ahlfors Producer: Janina Kokkonen, Johan Karrento, Hans Mikael<br />

Holmström Procuction Company: Refuture Ventures Co-Producers: Inbreed Film Production<br />

Support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, AVEK, Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland,<br />

Föreningen Konstsamfundet Financing TV Company: YLE FST 5<br />

Johan Karrento<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2010 Guns | 2010 This is Hollywood |<br />

2009 Loi Loi | 2006–2008 Videoschlager |<br />

2007 Telematic Heroes<br />

Mangel<br />

Mankeli<br />

Johan Karrento<br />

Mangel is a male angel who descends from the heaven and falls in love<br />

with a tree…<br />

Animation | <strong>2011</strong> | BetaSP, DigiBeta, SD, HD | 16:9 | Stereo 5.1 | 10’<br />

Kimmo Leed<br />

Directors, script, set design: Jan Andersson and Katja Kettu Cinematography: Antti<br />

Takkunen Editing: Jan Andersson Sound design: Pirkko Tiitinen Music: Eero Turkka &<br />

Mamo ensemble Animation: Jan Andersson,<br />

Katja Kettu, Risto Jankkila Cast:<br />

Hannu Nurmio Producer: Tomi Riionheimo<br />

Production company: Indie <strong>Films</strong> Oy Production<br />

support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation<br />

International sales: Indie <strong>Films</strong> Oy<br />

Jan Andersson<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2010 Combat | 2010 The Illustrated City |<br />

2003 Hankercifs For Sale<br />

Katja Kettu<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2007 Ei rakkautta saa… | 2006 When I’m<br />

Gone | 2004 The Easy Writer<br />

Mangel<br />

Katja Kettu and Jan Andersson<br />

12 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Meal with a Deal<br />

Documentary | 2010 | Digibeta | 16:9 | Digibeta 2.0 Stereo, DVD 5.1. Dolby | 3 x 1’ trilogy<br />

Director, script: Maarit Suomi-Väänänen Cinematography: Maarit Suomi-Väänänen, Sari<br />

Aaltonen Editing: Maarit Suomi-Väänänen, Heikki Kotsalo Sound design: Kyösti Väntänen,<br />

Pirkko Tiitinen Music: Pirkko Tiitinen Special effects: Konsta Mannerheimo Colours: Parastus,<br />

Toast Post Translator: David Mitchell Producer: Maarit Suomi-Väänänen Production<br />

support: Arts Council of Finland, AVEK The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture International<br />

sales: AV-arkki (The Distribution Centre for <strong>Finnish</strong> Media Art)<br />

Maarit Suomi-Väänänen<br />

M.A. Maarit Suomi-Väänänen works as a filmmaker and media artist. Her work also encompasses<br />

photography and installations. Praised as fascinating and open to a multitude<br />

of interpretations, Suomi-Väänänen’s awarded works are touring from San Francisco to<br />

Hanti-Mansisjk, appearing in exhibitions, at festivals and on TV.<br />

Meal with a Deal<br />

Tsägäateria<br />

A film about customers and customer service.<br />

Risto, working on the tills at a burger restaurant, is fed up with his job. Hungry<br />

and in a hurry, the famous actress Outi Mäenpää arrives at the restaurant and orders<br />

the special price “Meal with a Deal”. A quarrel ensues between them about<br />

the correct price of the meal. Risto blows his top and realises his dream. The<br />

horrified restaurant manager tries to pacify the famous actress and offers her the<br />

chance to exact revenge.<br />

Fiction | <strong>2011</strong> | DCP, DigiBeta, 35mm | 1:1, 85 | Stereo | 7’<br />

Director: Antti Heikki Pesonen Script: Paula Mononen Cinematography:<br />

Harri Räty Editing: Kimmo Taavila Sound design: Svante<br />

Colerus Music: Antti Pouta Set design: Sarah Bowen-Walsh<br />

Costumes: Jenni Rousu Cast: Outi Mäenpää, Max Ovaska, Jarkko Lahti<br />

Producer: Kai Nordberg & Kaarle Aho Production company: Making<br />

Movies Oy Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, AVEK<br />

International sales: Making Movies Oy<br />

Antti Heikki Pesonen<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2010 Radio Millennium (II season) | 2008 Mentally Fat |<br />

2007 Sugar Butt | 2007 Konela | 2006 Harve<br />

Minispectacles 1–3: touché, douche and souche<br />

Minispektaakkelit 1–3: koskee, korpee ja sorsii<br />

Antti Heikki Pesonen<br />

Minispectacles is a series of one-minute works, cinematic haikus. Mini spectacles<br />

depict big emotions briefly. They have tongue in cheek and heart in throat. The<br />

feelings are familiar – there is something pitiful about them, something amusing,<br />

horrifying and strange, too. The parts of the Mini spectacles trilogy are touché,<br />

douche and souche. To be continued.<br />

In the Minispectacles the landscape is at one with the emotion both conceptually<br />

and contextually. The name of the multi-layered work stitches together the<br />

inner feeling and the nature, the landscape, the animal, the human being. The action<br />

seems simple, but the work can be interpreted in many ways.<br />

Selected filmography:<br />

2009 Up And About Again | 2007 Salty Snow |<br />

2005 A Bit Scary Really... | 2004 Swan Song |<br />

1996 Changing: Masuzyo And Tasintha<br />

Old Man and the Lady<br />

Ukko ja akka<br />

ln a small red hut in northern Finland 73 year old Seppo finds time each day to<br />

tell 102 year old Linda to shut up. Yet, they are able to find joy in their lives from<br />

the little things. Centering on life in the remote villages of Kainuu, Old man and<br />

the lady is a short film about a way of life that is about to vanish.<br />

Documentary | 2010 | HDCAM, Digibeta, Blu-Ray, DVD | 16:9 | 15’<br />

Director, script: Markku Heikkinen Cinematographer: Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, Markku<br />

Heikkinen Editor: Joona Louhivuori Sound designer: Anne Tolkkinen Composer: Pekka Lehti<br />

Production sound: Anne Tolkkinen, Pirkko Tiitinen Foley-artist: Vesa Meriläinen Grip:<br />

Eero Lämsä Musicians: Markku Lepistö, Jouko Kyhälä, Samuli Kosminen, Marko Timonen,<br />

Pekka Lehti Producer: Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen Production company: Zone2 Pictures Oy<br />

Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation International sales: Zone2 Pictures Oy<br />

Markku Heikkinen<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2009 Due Date | 2008 All Boys |<br />

2004 Summit | 1998 The Secret We Share |<br />

1996 The Gentle Anarchist<br />

Markku Heikkinen<br />

Maarit Suomi-Väänänen<br />

touché: Bottle bobbing<br />

douche: Bomb bombing<br />

souche: Blueberry picking<br />

Old Man and the Lady<br />

Minispectacles 1–3: touché, douche and souche<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 13


The Painting Sellers<br />

A Perfect Day<br />

The Painting Sellers<br />

Taulukauppiaat<br />

It’s almost Christmas, but these three people are still on the road.<br />

Their products don’t sell, the car is a wreck and the weather is freezing.<br />

As if that’s not enough, now they have to cope with an emerging friendship<br />

Fiction | 2010 | 35mm | 16:9 | Dolby Digital | 59’<br />

Director, script, cinematography: Leevi Lemmetty Editing: Miikka Leskinen Sound Design:<br />

Cristopher Wilson Music: Frédéric Chopin performed by Lang Lang Set Design: Leevi Lemmetty<br />

and Jukka Lemmetty Lead character animator: Andreas Rohde Animation: Justyna<br />

Kryzaniak Modelling & Texture: Irene Macias, Agnes Billard, Marwane Belkas, Leevi Lemmetty<br />

Cast: Sean Connolly Producer: Tamsin Lyons, Hannele Lemmetty, Hugh Welchman<br />

Production company: Muste ja Valo Oy Co-production: BreakThru <strong>Films</strong> Production support:<br />

The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, AVEK, BreakThru <strong>Films</strong> Financing TV company: YLE Children’s<br />

Programs International sales: BreakThru <strong>Films</strong><br />

Director: Juho Kuosmanen Script, cinematography: JP Passi<br />

Editing: Jussi Rautaniemi Sound design: Pietu Korhonen<br />

Cast: Teppo Manner, Auli Mantila, Tuomas Airola Producer:<br />

Jussi Rantamäki Production company: Aamu Film company<br />

Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation<br />

Financing TV companies: YLE<br />

Juho Kuosmanen<br />

Filmography<br />

2008 Citizens | 2007 Roadmarkers | 2006 Knight of the Galaxy<br />

Juho Kuosmanen<br />

Leevi Lemmetty<br />

Selected Filmography<br />

<strong>2011</strong> The Last Job |<br />

2007 Mad World |<br />

2004 Gentlemen’s Antics |<br />

2004 The Sun |<br />

2004 The Tree<br />

Leevi Lemmetty<br />

Papa’s Boy<br />

Isän poika<br />

A Perfect Day<br />

Hyvä päivä<br />

In the middle of a quiet toy store sits an old grand piano. Hidden in one of the piano’s<br />

legs lives Tiny, a little mouse and his family.<br />

Tiny dreams of being a dancer, but his disappointed father would like him to<br />

follow in his footsteps as a boxer. One day when Papa Mouse leaves home a huge,<br />

fat Cat pounces on him. Tiny and his mother are terrified but there’s no time to<br />

lose! In the face of this terrible danger, will the power of boxing or the art of the<br />

dance prove more effective<br />

Animation | 2010 | 3D CG Animation | 16:9 | Dolby Digital 5.1 | 3’<br />

It’s Arto’s first day at work in a wheelchair. Nothing is like it used to be and they<br />

say he should give his gun away.<br />

Fiction | 2010 | Digibeta | 16:9, 2:35 crop | Stereo | 10’30’’<br />

Director, script, editing: Teemu Nikki Cinematography: Jyrki Arnikari Sound design: Sami<br />

Kiiski Music: Miska Seppä Costumes: Anna Vilppunen Cast: Matti Onnismaa, Rami Rusinen,<br />

Jouko Puolanto Producer: Teemu Nikki Production company: It’s Alive Productions Oy<br />

Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation<br />

Teemu Nikki<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2010 Play God |<br />

2009 Mother Doesn’t Bowl Anymore |<br />

2008 Legacy |<br />

2007 A Mate |<br />

2005 The Opportunist<br />

Papa’s Boy<br />

Teemu Nikki<br />

14 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Ruins of the Gaze<br />

by little during the shooting while rehearsing or improvising in front of the camera, in<br />

order to create scenes in which participants would challenge their ways to inhabit those<br />

spaces. Thus, collaborative fiction is a way of questioning reality: it provides a possibility<br />

to overtake the abstract materialization of capitalist rules. Discussions, video workshops<br />

and writing are for me powerful ways to create other images, which have something of a<br />

shared nature.<br />

Soul Catcher<br />

Sielunsieppaaja<br />

Ruins of the Gaze<br />

La ruine du regard<br />

Katseen raunio<br />

Ruins of the Gaze is a documentary film<br />

about Les Halles – Europe’s largest<br />

shopping centre and metro station<br />

complex in Paris. The complex constitutes<br />

a crossroads where different<br />

neighbourhoods and suburbs come<br />

together and it has been for centuries a<br />

people’s market located in the heart of<br />

Paris. The multiple layers of the film<br />

observe the people who spend their<br />

time in the area. In addition to this<br />

documentary film, the film materials<br />

have been used to create a separate<br />

architectural installation consisting of<br />

five screens.<br />

Ruins of Gaze is the third and final<br />

part of a trilogy. The two earlier parts<br />

are Monumentti näkymättömälle filmed<br />

in 2003 in Helsinki, and Soprus-Druzhba<br />

realized in 2006 in Tallinn.<br />

Documentary | <strong>2011</strong> | HD-master, DigiBeta<br />

| 16:9 | 5.1 Surround | 25’<br />

Director, script: Anu Pennanen Cinematography:<br />

Irina Lubchansky, Sophie Cadet,<br />

Anu Pennanen Editing: Anne Lakanen<br />

Sound design: Titus Maderlechner Producer:<br />

Sonja Lindén Production company:<br />

Avanton Productions oy Co-production:<br />

Avenue B, France Production support: The<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, AVEK, Arts Council<br />

of Finland, Art Association of Finland,<br />

Greta and William Lehtinen Fund, Frame,<br />

Pixelache Festival, Cent Quatre Financing<br />

TV company: YLE Co-productions International<br />

sales: Avanton Productions Oy<br />

A Monument for the Invisible (2003) and<br />

Detached (2002) have been screened at international<br />

film festivals and film screenings<br />

at museums, such as MoMA and<br />

Anthology Film Archive in New York, the<br />

Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Ludwig<br />

Museum in Budapest.<br />

Director Anu Pennanen:<br />

In order to question the mechanisms and<br />

imageries of the spaces of capitalism, my<br />

films are based on a collaborative process.<br />

Parisians and suburbians from different<br />

ages and experiences, all connected by the<br />

knot of Les Halles, have participated in the<br />

making of Les Halles film project.<br />

The script, which served as a preliminary<br />

structure for my film, worked as a<br />

contract between me and the participants<br />

of the project. The dialogues, acts and<br />

scenes of the film were constructed little<br />

”They say with every photo that is taken, a piece of your soul goes with it”.<br />

Soul Catcher is a film about a man who has lost his soul. Many aboriginal tribes<br />

have believed that if someone takes a photograph of them they lose their soul.<br />

Without a soul, the person was doomed and could no longer be reborn.<br />

The film evolves on a beach and it’s central character is an African man whose<br />

ancestors were maasai warriors. The maasai people believe that the soul is situated<br />

in the head.<br />

Ants have also an important role in this film, as they are highly respected by<br />

maasai people. Many biologists consider ants as the masters of the world because<br />

of their quantity and distribution. They reign with the variety of their species,<br />

communication and behaviour.<br />

Soul Catcher is a visually impressive journey into the core of humanity. Without<br />

any words, it tells a story in several layers and leaves the viewer reflecting on<br />

our invisible essence, the beliefs around it and humanity in general.<br />

Documentary | <strong>2011</strong> | 35 mm | DigiBeta | 1:2,35 (cinemascope) | Dolby Digital | 14’<br />

Director, script, editing: PV Lehtinen Cinematography: Matti Helariutta, Hannu-Pekka<br />

Vitikainen Sound design: Micke Nyström Music: Biosphere, Tapani Rinne & Tuomas Norvio<br />

Producer: PV Lehtinen Production company: Cineparadiso Oy Production support:<br />

The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation, AVEK, Ministry for Foreign<br />

Affairs of Finland, Helsinki Municipality, Arts Council of<br />

Helsinki Metropolitan Region Financing TV company:<br />

YLE Co-productions International sales: Cineparadiso Oy<br />

PV Lehtinen Selected filmography<br />

<strong>2011</strong> Krump | 2010 My Superhero |<br />

2007 Keidas | 2004 The Crawl | 2003 Airo |<br />

2001 Sirkka | 2000 The Diver<br />

PV Lehtinen<br />

Anu Pennanen<br />

Artist and filmmaker Anu Pennanen has<br />

been working on participatory films and<br />

other projects,<br />

mostly in urban<br />

public spaces,<br />

since 1999. In addition<br />

to many<br />

international art<br />

biennales, her<br />

previous films<br />

Friendship (2006)<br />

Anu Pennanen<br />

Soul Catcher<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 15


Summer in Helsinki<br />

Director, script: Tuija Halttunen Cinematography: Marita Hällfors Editing: Riitta Poikselkä<br />

Sound design: Jukka Nurmela Music: Antti Hirsiaho Producer: Laura Oinas Production<br />

company: Elokas Cooperative Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation Financing<br />

TV company: YLE Co-productions International sales: Elokas Cooperative<br />

Tuija Halttunen<br />

Tuija Halttunen has directed more than ten documentaries during the past fifteen years<br />

and has also written and directed television drama.<br />

Displaying a humane and warm approach to the characters and subjects in her films,<br />

the focus of her documentary work has been on different aspects of human life with<br />

projects ranging from a bear hunt to a study of evil: a film about forensic psychiatric examination.<br />

Summer in Helsinki<br />

Helsingin kesä<br />

Summer in Helsinki is an experimental portrait of the city in summer – of its people,<br />

animals, events, weather, and moods. The director has documented life in Helsinki’s<br />

parks, market places, and beaches for one entire summer, and assembled the<br />

footage into this film.<br />

Documentary, Animation, Experimental | <strong>2011</strong> | Beta, DVD | 16:9 | Stereo | 8’21’’<br />

Director Tuija Halttunen:<br />

Tabula Rasa is a film trying to make visible the invisible –<br />

the pursuit of happiness and self-confidence – through<br />

observing human faces. As a director it taught me that<br />

short film is by no means any easier or less of an effort<br />

as an art form than a full length documentary. Some may<br />

consider it only as a rehearsal method for young filmmakers,<br />

a device to practise their craft. That way of thinking is to<br />

belittle a great art form – the short film.<br />

Tuija Halttunen<br />

Director, script, animation: Maria Björklund Editing: Maria Palavamäki Sound design:<br />

Salla Hämäläinen Music: Black Motor Producer: Maria Björklund Production company:<br />

Osuuskunta Animaatiokopla Production support: AVEK, Arts Council of Helsinki Metropolitan<br />

Region Financing TV company: YLE TV1 International sales: Osuuskunta Animaatiokopla<br />

/ Maria Björklund<br />

Maria Björklund<br />

Filmography<br />

2010 Avara jääkaappi – Itkuepidemia<br />

(with Leena Jääskeläinen and Aiju Salminen) |<br />

2007 Talven jälkeen tulee kevät | 2000 Zoo & Zorkka |<br />

1998 Kalavale | 1997 Tribal<br />

Tabula rasa<br />

Tabula Rasa is a poetic study of dreams.<br />

As a group of women – and a few men – gather together for a make-up demonstration,<br />

the experienced saleswoman infuses enthusiasm into her listeners by offering<br />

them the possibility of a new, more beautiful face.<br />

A wrinkle free complexion with the help of Magic Gel. Longer lashes courtesy<br />

of the Blaster. And flawless skin for the regular user of Queen Cream.<br />

Whilst the saleswoman works, a spectrum of emotions is reflected in the participants’<br />

faces as they see themselves and other members of the group more or less<br />

transformed.<br />

Tabula Rasa is a study of faces. A celebration of individuality told with gentle<br />

humour and even absurdity as it reveals our abiding belief that happiness can be<br />

found through beauty.<br />

Documentary | <strong>2011</strong> | HD/DigiBeta | 16:9 | Stereo | 15’33”<br />

Maria Björklund<br />

A Tall Man<br />

Pitkä mies<br />

Väinö Myllyrinne was one of the first internationally known <strong>Finnish</strong> celebrities,<br />

thanks to his height of nearly 2,5 meters. After his death, Väinö, or rather his<br />

figure, became immortal. His journey continues in our collective memory, best<br />

reprised by a life-size puppet, which tours the World much like Väinö did when<br />

he was still alive.<br />

A Tall Man pictures Väinö’s endless journey from the glittering European metropolises<br />

of the 1930’s to the local supermarkets and museums of today, which<br />

hold and preserve his belongings. It is a lyric, yet melancholy story about civilization’s<br />

obsession to organize and categorize the World.<br />

”I was still in high school when I saw the real-size puppet of Väinö Myllyrinne<br />

in a local supermarket. I remember that I was thinking why this puppet existed<br />

and what it tells about us”, director Jani Peltonen says.<br />

Documentary | 2010 | Digital Beta | 16:9 | Stereo | 19’<br />

Director, script: Jani Peltonen Cinematography: Heikki Färm F.S.C Editing: Okku Nuutilainen<br />

Sound design:Tazu Ovaska Music: Pietu Korhonen Producer: Sami Jahnukainen<br />

Production company: Mouka Filmi Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation,<br />

AVEK Financing TV company: YLE Co-productions International sales: Mouka Filmi<br />

Jani Peltonen<br />

Jani Peltonen (born 1981) graduated from Lahti University<br />

of Applied Sciences, Institute of Design, Film and Television<br />

Department in 2008. His thesis film was documentary<br />

The Great Mill. Since then he had been working in the <strong>Finnish</strong><br />

film industry in several duties. A Tall Man is his professional<br />

debut as a director.<br />

Jani Peltonen<br />

Tabula Rasa<br />

A Tall Man<br />

16 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


The Tongueling<br />

The Variation<br />

The Tongueling<br />

Kielitiettyni<br />

Wooden knocks are echoing in a frozen landscape when a lonesome man is<br />

searching for a tongueling of his own.<br />

Animation | 2010 | Digibeta, BetaSp, digitalfiles | 16:9 | Stereo | 4’15’’<br />

Director, script, cinematography, editing, set design, costumes, animation: Elli Vuorinen<br />

Sound Design: Elli Vuorinen, Jani Leh to Music: Jani Lehto Cast: Elli Vuorinen, JP Saari (voice<br />

acting) Producer: Elli Vuorinen Production company and international sales: Turku Arts<br />

Academy / Eija Saarinen<br />

Elli Vuorinen<br />

Filmography<br />

2009 Benigni<br />

(with Pinja Partanen and Jasmiini Ottelin)<br />

The Variation<br />

Variationen<br />

A young man, down on his luck, decides to break into a jewelry museum. He<br />

tricks his eccentric inventor brother into helping but ends up getting him killed<br />

during the heist. Fueled by the loss, he continues with his late brother’s research<br />

and devotes his life to the invention of a time machine in order to change the past.<br />

Fiction | <strong>2011</strong> | Digibeta, 2K | 2.35 | Stereo, 5.1 | 14’<br />

Elli Vuorinen<br />

International Co-production: Arcada Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation,<br />

AVEK, Swedish Cultural Doundation in Finland, Föreningen Konstsamfundet Financing TV<br />

company: YLE FST5 International sales: Talvi International<br />

Sebastian Barner-Rasmussen<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2009 Cleaner 2 |<br />

2007 D.Ark | 2006 The Last Gunshot<br />

Ö<br />

A creature discovers a little island in the middle of the endless sea and inhabits it.<br />

He fights to keep intruders from entering his empire but one finally makes it past<br />

his heavily guarded walls. The creature is surprised to learn that the intruder does<br />

not want his kingdom, and after the intruder has left, the reef begins to feel like<br />

a prison.<br />

Animation | 2010 | DigiBeta | 16:9 | Stereo | 12’30’’<br />

Sebastian<br />

Barner-Rasmussen<br />

Director, set design, animation: Kari Juusonen Script: Kari Juusonen & Leo Viirret<br />

Cinematography: Kari Juusonen (Cinematography consult: Jussi Eerola) Editing: Kimmo<br />

Kohtamäki Sound design: Kirka Sainio Music: Maka Lahtinen Producer: Juha Vanhanen<br />

Production company: Vanilla Production Oy Production support: The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film<br />

Foundation, Nordisk Film & TV Fond Financing TV companies:<br />

YLE Co-Productions, SVT Sveriges Television International sales:<br />

Vanilla Production Oy<br />

Director, script: Sebastian Barner-Rasmussen Cinematography: Markus von Knorring<br />

Editing: Tuuli Alanärä Sound design: Daniel Vainio Music: Joakim Kosk, Sebastian Barner-<br />

Rasmussen Set design: Sasu Joutsi Costumes: Juulia Jokinen Cast: Gogo Idman, Pelle<br />

Heikkilä, Dick Idman Producer: Peter Hortling, Rea Pihlasviita Production company: Talvi<br />

Kari Juusonen<br />

Selected filmography<br />

2008 Niko – The Way to the Stars |<br />

2004 The Birthday | 2001 Pizza Passionata<br />

Kari Juusonen<br />

Ö<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 17


Contact information<br />

Aalto University<br />

School of Art and Design<br />

Department of Motion Picture<br />

Television and Production Design<br />

Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki<br />

PO Box 31000, FI-00076 Aalto<br />

Tel. +358 9 47 001<br />

info@taik.fi<br />

www.taik.fi/elo<br />

AV-arkki<br />

Kaapelitehdas<br />

Tallberginkatu 1 C 76, FI-00180 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 40 5570320<br />

distribution@av-arkki.fi<br />

www.av-arkki.fi<br />

Avanton Productions<br />

Harjuviita 16 A 21, FI-02110 Espoo<br />

Tel. +358 50 5671895<br />

info@avanton.fi<br />

www.avanton.fi<br />

BreakThru <strong>Films</strong><br />

3rd Floor, 25 Newman Street<br />

London W1T 1PN<br />

Tel. +44 20 7580 3688<br />

Fax +44 20 7580 4445<br />

mail@breakthrufilms.co.uk<br />

http://breakthrufilms.co.uk<br />

Camera Cagliostro<br />

Pyynikintie 25, FI-33230 Tampere<br />

Tel. + 358 41 4344 399<br />

jyrki@cameracagliostro.fi<br />

www.cameracagliostro.fi<br />

Cine Paradiso Oy<br />

Hermannin rantatie 20, FI-00580 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 50 582 8634<br />

pvlehtinen@cineparadiso.fi<br />

www.kolumbus.fi/cineparadiso<br />

Cine Works Oy<br />

Kansankuja 6, FI-00680 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 50 386 1266<br />

petri.rossi@cineworks.fi<br />

www.cineworks.fi<br />

Soul Catcher<br />

Edith Film<br />

Pursimiehenkatu 8 , FI-00150 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 9 612 49660<br />

Fax +358 10 296 1505<br />

info@edithfilm.fi<br />

www.edithfilm.fi<br />

Elokas Cooperative<br />

Ahdenkallionkatu 37, FI-05820 Hyvinkää<br />

Tel. +358 44 376 2222<br />

elokas.osuuskunta@gmail.com<br />

www.elokas.fi<br />

Elokuvayhtiö Oy Aamu Ab<br />

Hiihtomäentie 34, FI-00800 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 9 6874 4980, +358 9 6874 4980<br />

Fax +358 9 6874 4981<br />

info@elokuvayhtioaamu.fi<br />

www.elokuvayhtioaamu.fi<br />

Helsinki-filmi Oy<br />

Vanha Talvitie 11 A, 4 th floor<br />

FI-00580 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 9 7740 300<br />

Fax +358 9 7740 3060<br />

toimisto@helsinki.fi<br />

www.helsinkifilmi.fi<br />

Indie <strong>Films</strong> Oy<br />

Malminkatu 22 c 55, FI-00100 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 40 5634603<br />

tomi.riionheimo@indiefilms.fi<br />

www.indiefilms.fi<br />

Interprod<br />

Vislauskuja 13, FI-00520 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 10 440 4810<br />

mats@interprod.fi<br />

http://interprod.huset.fi<br />

It’s Alive Productions<br />

Heinäsintie 79<br />

FI-08700 Lohja<br />

Tel. +358 50 526 4304<br />

Kristallisilmä Oy<br />

Lämmittäjänkatu 4 A, 3 th floor<br />

FI-00880 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 9 5621100<br />

Fax +3589 6947224<br />

mail@crystaleye.fi<br />

Leino Production Oy<br />

Vislauskuja 13, FI-00530 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 400 800 489<br />

tuomo@leinosuvinen.fi<br />

Making Movies Oy<br />

Ratakatu 1 b A 5, FI-00120 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 9 6829543<br />

Fax +358 9 68427870<br />

mamo@mamo.fi<br />

www.mamo.fi<br />

Mouka Filmi<br />

Vilhonvuorenkatu 11 B 7<br />

FI-00500 Helsinki Finland<br />

Tel. +358 9 428 60640<br />

Fax +358 19 488 692<br />

mouka@mouka.fi<br />

www.mouka.fi<br />

Muste ja Valo Oy<br />

Vanhan-Mankkaan tie 27 B, FI-02180 Espoo<br />

info@mustejavalo.fi<br />

Tel. + 358 40 525 0516<br />

Mutanen Enterprises<br />

Aleksis Kiven katu 17 A, FI-00510 Helsinki<br />

info@mutanenenterprises.fi<br />

www.mutanenenterprises.fi<br />

Osuuskunta Animaatiokopla<br />

Iso Roobertinkatu 10 B 13, FI-00120 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 45 130 3026<br />

info@animaatiokopla.fi<br />

www.animaatiokopla.fi<br />

Pohjankonna Oy<br />

Nilsiänkatu 10–14 B, FI-00510 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 50 320 9050<br />

hannes@pohjankonna.fi<br />

www.pohjankonna.fi<br />

Refuture Ventures<br />

Johan Karrento<br />

Skepparegatan 37 d 23, FI-00150 Helsinki<br />

johan.karrento@gmail.com<br />

Tel. +358 40 746 0369<br />

www.inbreedfilm.com<br />

Soundsgood Productions Oy<br />

Kauhavankuja 23, FI-00560 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 50 5691069<br />

soundsgood@elisanet.fi<br />

Talvi International Oy<br />

Pursimiehenkatu 29–31 B, FI-00150 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 10 820 1400<br />

info@talvi.com<br />

http://talvi.com<br />

Turku Arts Academy<br />

Eija Saarinen<br />

Linnakatu 54, FI-20100 Turku<br />

eija.saarinen@turkuamk.fi<br />

www.taideakatemia.turkuamk.fi<br />

Vanilla Production Oy<br />

Rapakiventie 12 A 24, FI-00710 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 40 5371932<br />

email.juha@vanilla.fi<br />

www.vanilla.fi<br />

Zone2 Pictures Oy<br />

Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen<br />

Toinen linja 15 LH 80, FI-00530 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 40 576 9073<br />

Festival contacts<br />

for all titles:<br />

The <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation<br />

Kanavakatu 12, FI-00160 Helsinki<br />

Tel. +358 9 6220 300<br />

Fax +358 9 6220 3050<br />

ses@ses.fi<br />

www.ses.fi<br />

Marja Pallassalo<br />

Head of Promotion,<br />

<strong>Short</strong> and Documentary <strong>Films</strong><br />

Tel. +358 9 6220 3021<br />

marja.pallassalo@ses.fi<br />

Otto Suuronen<br />

Assistant, <strong>Short</strong> and<br />

Documentary Film Promotion<br />

Tel. +358 9 6220 3019<br />

otto.suuronen@ses.fi<br />

Published by the <strong>Finnish</strong> Film Foundation | Editors: Tytti Rantanen and Marja Pallassalo |<br />

Translations / editing: Broadcast Text International, Said Dakash, Rich Lyons | Layout: Praxis Oy | Printed by: PreMediaHelsinki, <strong>2011</strong><br />

18 <strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong>


Hella W<br />

Brothers<br />

Coming up in <strong>2011</strong><br />

Kiss of Evil<br />

The Good Son<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> feature-length fictions:<br />

Anders Engström: Kiss of Evil (Solar <strong>Films</strong> Inc)<br />

Juha Wuolijoki: Hella W (Snapper <strong>Films</strong>)<br />

Mika Kaurismäki: Brothers (Marianna <strong>Films</strong> Oy)<br />

Zaida Bergroth: The Good Son (Bufo)<br />

Oskari Sipola: August (Bronson Club)<br />

Raimo O Niemi: Garbage Prince (Periferia Productions)<br />

The Storage<br />

Peter Lindholm: Where Once We Walked (Helsinki-filmi Oy)<br />

Aleksi Mäkelä: Life for Sale (Solar <strong>Films</strong> Inc)<br />

Ville Jankeri: Sixpack (Kinotar Oy)<br />

Aki Kaurismäki: Le Havre (Sputnik Oy)<br />

Iris<br />

Ulrika Bengts: Iris (Långfilm Productions Finland Oy)<br />

Elias Koskimies: Dirty Bomb (Juonifilmi Oy)<br />

Rax Rinnekangas: A Journey to Eden (Bad Taste Ltd)<br />

Joona Tena: Body of Water (MatilaRöhrNordisk Oy)<br />

Where Once We Walked<br />

Sakari Kirjavainen: Silence (Cine Works Oy)<br />

Pekka Karjalainen and Matti Grönberg: Mr. Hayhill (Jackpot <strong>Films</strong> Oy)<br />

Taru Mäkelä: The Storage (Kinosto)<br />

Body of Water<br />

Le Havre<br />

Life for Sale<br />

<strong>Finnish</strong> <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Films</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 19

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!