Friday, March 09, 2012

Saara Cantell (Tampere Film Festival Tribute)

Tampere Film Festival, Hällä, 9 March 2012.

Introduced by Saara Cantell who commented on two recurrent features in her shorts. Dancing is central. Her movies are not dance movies but narrative movies where dancing is a way of expression. Mirrors are important. The following descriptions are from the festival catalogue.

SIRPALESATU / A TALE OF SHATTERS / [SHATTERED: A FAIRY-TALE]
Finland | Suomi 1995
Fiction | 20 min | 16mm | b&w
Director: Saara Cantell
Script: Saara Cantell
Animation: Tarja Väätänen, Petri Rossi
Cinematography: Rauno Ronkainen
Sound: Sami Konkonen
Editing: Saara Cantell
Music: Olli Koskelin
Production: TAIK/ETL/Marko Rauhala
A sad and slightly surrealist comedy of love.

DIAGNOOSI / DIAGNOSIS
Finland | Suomi 2002
Fiction | 5 min | Beta | col.
Director: Saara Cantell
Script: Saara Cantell, Päivi Pakkanen
Cinematography: Rauno Ronkainen
Sound: Kimmo Saarelainen
Editing: Tommi Karvinen
Music: Anssi Laiho
Production: POEM/Jetta Huttunen
Elena is sitting in the Doctor's clinic waiting for the test results, with mixed feelings.

POTRETTI / PORTRAIT
Finland | Suomi 2003
Fiction | 5 min | 35mm | col.
Director: Saara Cantell
Script: Saara Cantell, Paula Tuovinen
Cinematography: Rauno Ronkainen
Sound: Pekka Karjalainen
Editing: Saara Cantell, Kimmo Taavila
Music: Pekka Karjalainen
Production: Periferia Productions Oy/Outi Rousu
Even after a 30-year marriage, there is still room for new photographs in the family album.

MAHDOLLISUUS / WHAT IF
Finland | Suomi 2005
Fiction | 8 min | DigiBeta | col.
Director: Saara Cantell
Script: Saara Cantell
Cinematography: Rauno Ronkainen
Sound: Sami Konkonen
Editing: Aino Pitkäjärvi, Saara Cantell
Music: Sid Hille
Production: Periferia Productions Oy
What if, on a most depressing day, a new opportunity revealed itself?

TIISTAI, PÄIVÄVUORO / WAITING FOR ALICE
Finland | Suomi 2005
Fiction | 6 min | DigiBeta | col.
Director: Saara Cantell
Script: Saara Cantell
Cinematography: Henrik Leppälä
Sound: Sami Konkonen
Editing: Aini Pitkäjärvi, Saara Cantell
Production: Making Movies oy
On the other side of the mirror, someone appears to be waiting in vain.

PEILIKIRKAS PÄIVÄ / A CLEAR WINTER'S DAY
Finland | Suomi 1997
Fiction | 28 min | 35mm | col.
Director: Saara Cantell
Script: Saara Cantell
Cinematography: Rauno Ronkainen
Sound: Sami Konkonen
Editing: Tuuli Kuittinen
Music: Johanna Schnabel-Lehtinen
Production: Kinotar oy/Lasse Saarinen
An old man gets lost when looking for a post office. Every time he turns around a corner he ends up in the same small café. The owner of the café is building an ice sculpture for the woman he adores.

AA: A fine, consistent, poetic set of six movies. The choreographer is Paula Tuovinen. The movies are speechless and wordless except A Clear Winter's Day which is not very dialogue-driven either. There is an original sense of humour in these films. [Shattered] is a story of a triangle situation between a man and two women; the tensions are expressed via dancing. Diagnosis, starring Leena Gustavson, dramatizes variations of potential diagnoses via pantomime, special effects, and a musical production number. Portait is an account on the situation of taking a 30th anniversary portrait of a married couple, starring Mirja Tukiainen and Turo Mustakallio, full of fantasy visions based on special choreography. What if, starring Saila Heinikoski, is a series of visions of the life situation of a female office clerk who sees a magic mirror. Waiting for Alice, starring Meri Nenonen as a woman and her reflection, is the most enigmatic of the set, a condensed set of images that seem mysterious at least on a first viewing. A Clear Winter's Day is a poetic story of two men (Ismo Kallio, Tommi Korpela) and their dreams of women (Saara Pakkasvirta, Jatta Lukkari). The window / mirror theme appears now in the iced dangers of the wintry streets and the questions of the proper care of café windows in cold weather. It's a story of seeing.

Saara Cantell's poetic side is at its most pronounced in these short movies.

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