Tampere Film Festival: National Competition 8

Pasi Sleeping Myllymäki: The Sleeping Interview.

Eng/Fin | 93 min
In the presence of Pasi Sleeping Myllymäki, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Marjo Viitala, Henna Välkky, Eesu Lehtola, Malakias, and Sanni Priha.
Tampere Film Festival (TFF), Plevna 2, Friday 9 March 2018

THE SLEEPING INTERVIEW
NUKKUVA HAASTATTELU
Pasi Sleeping Myllymäki | Finland 2017 | Experimental, Animation | 5 min
    TFF: "Sleeping Myllymäki: “Movie art is free visual art and free audial art together. And the script of my movie is more important than my face and more important than my studio.”"
    "Sleeping Myllymäki: “Elokuvataide on vapaa visuaalinen ja auditiivinen taidemuoto, ja elokuvani käsikirjoitus on tärkeämpi kuin omat kasvoni tai studioni.”"

AA: Pasi "Sleeping" Myllymäki's self-portrait for the Venice Biennale 2017: an interview as a self-interview as an anti-interview. Conducted in English with excerpts from three vintage movies made by Myllymäki together with Risto "Legend" Laakkonen they introduce his "glorious studio" (a humble barn), a pole dance, and a ride under ten tractors. Modest in means, rich in wit.

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen: Song for Billy.

SONG FOR BILLY
LAULU BILLYLLE
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen | United Kingdom 2017 | Documentary | 19 min
    TFF: "Haunting images from England’s northern coastline coalesce into the tableaux-like meditation on a lost era. The mesmerising power of the sea contrasts with the vivid re-enacting of the tragic death of a coal miner. The sublime post-industrial landscape gleams in the photographs of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, accompanied by a New York based percussion group."
    "Englannin pohjoisrannikon jylhät maisemat sulautuvat kuvaelman kaltaiseen pohdintaan kadonneesta ajasta. Meren lumoava voima luo jyrkän kontrastin todentuntuisesti kerratulle tarinalle kaivostyöläisen traagisesta kuolemasta. Upea jälkiteollinen maisema heijastuu Sirkka-Liisa Konttisen valokuvissa, joiden taustalla kuullaan newyorkilaisen lyömäsoitinryhmän musiikkia."

AA: Based on Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen's The Coal Coast photographs and the stories of the ex-miner Freddie Welsh, set to sound by So Percussion. An elegy of an industrial way of life, destroyed by Margaret Thatcher. Meditative and poetic, with a sense of the surge of the sea and the patina of time.

Marjo Viitala: Valehtelija / The Liar.

VALEHTELIJA
LIAR GIRL
Marjo Viitala | Finland 2018 | Fiction | 15 min
    TFF: "Liina lives together with her mother. Her mother is often working night shifts so Liina needs to get by herself. In the same staircase, where Liina and mother live, is an apartment where a man died some time ago. One morning Liina hears a dog barking from the apartment. Liina starts making up a story of the dog and tells it to everyone during the day. A nightly rendezvous in the dead man’s apartment makes Liina’s stories become the truth."
    "Liina asuu äitinsä kanssa. Äiti on usein yövuorossa, joten Liinan on pärjättävä yksin. Samassa rapussa on asunto, jossa eräs mies jokin aika sitten kuoli. Eräänä aamuna Liina kuulee koiran haukuntaa tuosta asunnosta. Hän alkaa sepittää tarinaa koirasta ja kertoo sitä päivän aikana kaikille. Yöllinen kohtaaminen kuolleen miehen asunnossa muuttaa Liinan tarinat todeksi."

AA: The story of Liina, a schoolgirl and daughter of a single mother. Liina is a compulsive liar who is getting more and more hopelessly tangled in the web of her fabrications. The barking of a dog behind a door of a dead tenant and the discovery in the washroom that laundry has been stolen lead her to meet a boy without means and addicted to drugs. Fiction turns to reality, and reality turns out to be more complex than could have been anticipated. Well made and intriguing.

Henna Välkky, Eesu Lehtola: Me olemme unessa / We Are in a Dream.

ME OLEMME UNESSA
WE ARE IN A DREAM
Henna Välkky, Eesu Lehtola | Finland 2017 | Animation, Documentary, Experimental | 7 min
    TFF: "There is a line of men chasing us through a city where we can’t run. The escape is gruelling, our feet are wet and we drown deeper. We are not afraid, we have seen this before. This film is based on personal recordings of people narrating their recurring dreams."
    "Joukko miehiä ajaa meitä takaa halki kaupungin, emmekä voi juosta. Pako on uuvuttavaa, jalkamme ovat märät ja vajoamme syvemmälle. Emme pelkää, olemme nähneet tämän aiemminkin. Elokuva perustuu ihmisten kertomuksiin toistuvista unistaan."

AA: Over two years in the making, created and layered using many animation techniques, based on people's accounts of their recurrent dreams, a fascinating montage in the cyberworld, with a feeling of movement in depth, apparitions emerging and re-emerging, "and then I wake up".

Teppo Airaksinen: Katto / The Ceiling.

KATTO
THE CEILING
Teppo Airaksinen | Finland 2017 | Fiction | 15 min
    TFF: "On the brink of divorce a middle aged man, Olavi, retreats to his cabin by the lake. After a few days he finds that the ceiling has come down making him unable to stand up straight. His friend Tuomas arrives and insists that something has to be done whereas Olavi is content with the limited space. The two men start lifting the ceiling – but which of the men is really in need of help?"
    "Avioeron partaalla oleva keski-ikäinen Olavi vetäytyy rantamökilleen. Muutaman päivän kuluttua hän huomaa, että katto on romahtanut eikä hän mahdu enää seisomaan suorassa. Olavin ystävä Tuomas saapuu paikalle ja vaatii, että jotain on tehtävä. Olaville rajallinen tila kuitenkin riittää. Miehet alkavat nostaa kattoa paikoilleen, mutta kumpi onkaan enemmän avun tarpeessa?"

AA: In a way The Ceiling is the opposite to Quadraturin screened yesterday. In it the tenant's tiny room kept expanding. In The Ceiling the retreat cabin's ceiling keeps sinking. Perhaps the phenomenon is a signal alerting Olavi that life is not in control. An intriguing tale of depression.

Malakias: Eläintarha / The Zoo.

ELÄINTARHA
THE ZOO
Malakias | Finland 2017 | Animation | 4 min
    “No More Presidents” -White Lion, When The Children Cry

AA: A fascinating animation based on many multi-layered techniques (cut-out, computer, etc.). A satire on the world today: world politics as a human zoo. Drolatic, rich, and eccentric like all the films of Malakias such as Forbidden Games (2015), Flower-Grave (2015), Fist of Fire (2013), Save the Rhinoceros (2010), and Bloody Hands (2009).

Sanni Priha: Puoli yhdeksän raivo / Prime Time Rage.

PUOLI YHDEKSÄN RAIVO
PRIME TIME RAGE
Sanni Priha | Finland 2017 | Documentary | 30 min
    TFF: "For every generation there is a war story to be told. The story is told in the evenings.It is like a movie about the good and the bad, us and them, profits and losses.Some images are so impressive that they are turned into symbols and monuments;beginnings, turning points and endings. This is a film about the story of warwhich the evening news told to us, growing up in the 1990s.The story was told with images of burning oil fields. It was reported that on its withdrawal the defeated side ignited the oil wells in fire, causing major financial losses.There were no images of human casualties. The story began when we we kids and it still goes on."
    "Jokaisella sukupolvella on sotatarina kerrottavanaan. Se kerrotaan iltaisin, ja se on kuin elokuva hyvästä ja pahasta, meistä ja niistä, voitoista ja tappioista. Jotkin kuvat ovat niin vaikuttavia, että niistä tehdään symboleita ja muistomerkkejä – alkuja, käännekohtia ja loppuja. Tämä on elokuva sotatarinasta, joka kerrottiin meille 1990-luvulla kasvaneille iltauutisissa. Tarinan kuvituksena olivat palavat öljykentät, jotka hävinnyt puoli tarinan mukaan sytytti vetäytyessään ja aiheutti näin mittavat taloudelliset tappiot. Ihmisuhreista ei näytetty kuvia. Tarina alkoi, kun olimme lapsia, ja se jatkuu edelleen."

AA: A meta-documentary on television's evening news bulletins. A focus is on the events 25-30 years ago: the end of the cold war, the fall of the wall, the liberation of Mandela. Another focus is on the US wars in the Middle East. A further one is on Finland's years of depression in the early 1990s when many people lost their financial security after a crash of the banking system based on a reckless credit practice. Finland's contribution to the international arms trade is another theme. The film is about the experience of war, violence becoming mundane and a sense of fear becoming permanent through television news bulletins. An interesting film which gives a lot to think about. The burning oil wells in the deserts of the Gulf War looked devastating on the big screen of the Plevna 2 cinema.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: PASI SLEEPING MYLLYMÄKIN AT THE VENICE BIENNALE AND SONG FOR BILLY AT THE AMBER WEBSITE:

Kielletyt leikit / Forbidden Games

Malakias | Finland 2015 | Animation | 3 min
PC: The Dead Will Rise. P+D+AN+S+ED: Malakias. Contact: Malakias
    Tampere Film Festival (TFF), National Competition 9
    10+11 March, 2016, Plevna 5, 2

TFF: "Silence is golden."

AA: Pornographic childhood memories about mother-to-son incest and doing it with the mother of one's best friend in the sauna. Wacky animation footage with little connection to what is being told.

Kettupäivät The Finnish Short Film Festival 17-20 Nov 2010

The Kettupäivät opening at Cinema Andorra, 18 Nov 2010. - Opened by the festival director Jari Matala, presenting the new executive manager of Suomen elokuvakontakti Elina Rislakki. Festival secretary Arja Aarnio. - Kettupäivät is one of the most important film festivals in Finland, indispensable for those who want to keep au courant of the Finnish cinema.

Kettupäivät the Finnish Short Film Festival is arranged for the 27th time by Suomen elokuvakontakti. There are 109 films on display: 35 fictions, 23 documentaries, 12 experimental films, 18 animations, and 21 under 3 min FoxOff films. The programme is very interesting, and some of the films I have seen already. I downloaded the programme from the Kettupäivät website and put it beyond the jump break:

Tampere Film Festival 2015: National Competition

Matka minuksi / Becoming Me (D: Mina Laamo)

Since some years now at Tampere Film Festival I focus on National Competition. This year I was again happy at this decision, and I blogged on each film (save one, see the end). I could list them all here but here are some of my favourite SHORT FILMS in alphabetic order:
    Baby-Box - another masterful puppet animation by Katariina Lillqvist at her best.
    Karkuri / The Deserter by Kalle Raittila - a devastating factual animation on Syria.
    Kukka-Hauta / Flower-Grave by Malakias - a drolatic animation in juicy colour about our dependence on bees.
    Kuuntele / Listen by Hamy Ramezan and Rungano Nyoni - a taut and intense drama of "lost in translation" as an Arab woman tries to report lethal domestic violence on a Copenhagen police station.
    Naisen nimi / Just a Name by Tiina Lymi - a lovely satire with bite.
    Syntymäpäivä / Birthday by Hanneriina Moisseinen - a charcoal drawn animation about the last days of Finnish Eastern Karelia.
    Teemapuisto / Theme Park by Risto-Pekka Blom - a humoristic monologue of the huge balloon figure by the Koskikeskus Shopping Mall.
    Transit by Lauri Astala - an experimental film about the transformation of space as photographed in nocturnal New York from impossible angles.
    Valvoja / The Guardian by Pietari Bagge, Christer Hongisto, Inka Matilainen, and Elisa Ikonen - a droll animation of a senior woman who has a low tech robot assistant.
    Äiti / Mother by Otto Kylmälä - a psychologically powerful account on a mother's rehabilitation.

THE FEATURE FILMS had mostly already been seen in previous festivals or even in theatrical distribution.
    Between Rings / Estherin kehä / Woman on Hold by Salla Sorri and Jessie Chisi is the engrossing story of Zambia's national heroine Esther Phiri.
    Hulluus ja yhteiskunta / Madness and Civilization by Teemu Mäki is a disturbing audiovideo: a visually dramatized audioplay triptych on Pierre Rivière, on the Norwegian mass murderer of Utøya, and of Michel Foucault who tried to make sense of Rivière.
    Hymyjen maa / The Land of Smiles by Heikki Häkkinen is a story of a team of guys who go to Thailand to rescue their friend who is being killed by his addiction to Lao Khao liquor and other dangerous substances.
    Matka minuksi / Becoming Me by Mina Laamo is a truly original intimate documentary on three young women who are charting their identities via extremely private blogs on fashion, anorexia, and food. With ravishing cinematography as is characteristic for Avanton productions.
    Talvivaaran miehet / Men of the Talvivaara Mine by Markku Heikkinen is a strong documentary on the huge mining debacle that has been in Finnish headlines for years. This kind of a general survey puts things into perspective and dramatizes the issue electrifyingly. Essential viewing for Finns and those interested in Finland.
    Tolonen by Lasse Keso is a high profile rise-and-fall and lost-and-found documentary on the great progressive rock guitarist Jukka Tolonen, with authorized access to the even most embarrassing aspects of his life.
    Who the Devil Can See in the Dark / Kuka piru pimeässä näkee by Mari Soppela is a humoristic account of a bitter topic: the search of a missing grandfather, a German soldier stationed in Lapland during WWII.

I missed one film, the new documentary feature film Äidin toive / Mother's Wish by Joonas Berghäll, screened in the first show in the competition, as I did not realize that it would be the only chance to see it.

Kukka-Hauta / Flower-Grave

FI 2014. Animation. PC: The Dead Will Rise. P+D+SC+AN+ED: Malakias. S+M: Yrjö Saarinen. Theme song: "Eternal Flame" perf. The Bangles. 5 min
    Contact: malakias10@hotmail.com
    Tampere Film Festival (National Competition 9), Friday, 6 March 2015

TFF: ""If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left." (Albert Einstein)"

AA:  A drolatic animation with visual fantasy and wit, a hot and delicious colour world and a wild organic imagination. There are plant forms, a hedonistic bee, and a gravestone being carved. Warm colours, organic forms, splatter images, funeral bureau scenes, a bee captured into a casket going towards the crematorium, saved by a monkey. There is a monkey funeral, and now it's the bee's turn to save the little monkey. "If we die we'll die together".

Tulikoura / Fist of Fire

TULIKOURA
FIST OF FIRE

Finland 2013
Animation | 8 min

Director: Malakias
    
Hevirumpali Pekan kuoltua infektioon hänen musiikillinen perintönsä jatkaa kulkuaan hautaamisen jälkeenkin.
    
Death Metal drummer Pekka dies by a bird infection, but that doesn’t stop his drumming hand’s journey.

AA: An inspired animation of a bright, comical, and macabre kind. Witty stylization, original characters, an original colour world, an original soundscape, a sense of movement, a sense of a dreamlike flow. The music packs a punch. With inserts of ecological satire. A dog brings a bone from the cemetery. It becomes the new drumstick.

Tampere Film Festival 2011: National Competition

D = documentary, F = fiction, A = animation, E = experimental

1
OMAA LUOKKAANSA / Look at Me / [A League of Her Own] | Iiris Härmä | D | 68' 2010 - Digibeta. Strong portrait of a teacher's fight to help her teenage students who risk becoming marginalized.*

2
IKUISESTI SINUN / Forever Yours | Mia Halme | D | 79' | 2011 - DCP. Powerfully intimate account of children taken into custody.

3
SALLA - SELLING THE SILENCE Markku Tuurna | D | 70' | 2010 - DCP. A dramatic and many-sided portrait of the survival fight of the municipality of Salla in Lapland. *

4
BOHEEMI ELÄÄ / Bohemian Eyes | Janne Kuusi | D | 75' | 2010. - Digibeta. The portrait of Matti Pellonpää. An artist's deeply felt tribute to a fellow artist and a life-long friend. *

5
TAULUKAUPPIAAT / The Painting Sellers. | Juho Kuosmanen | F | 58' | 2010. - Digibeta. It's almost Christmas, and three people try to get paintings sold in the periphery.

PLAY GOD | Teemu Nikki | D | 39' | 2010. - Digibeta. A funny and crazy documentary of the director's failed splatter film project.*

6
TUNTEMATON EMÄNTÄ / The Unknown Woman | Elina Kivihalme | D | 78' | 2011. - DCP. The forgotten story of the homefront ordeal during WWII. Sometimes it got even worse when the heroes returned from the front. *

7
PEOPLE IN WHITE | Tellervo Kalleinen, Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen | D | 64' | 2011. - Digibeta. Ten mental patients act out their experiences in mental health care.

PÄIVÄT KUIN UNTA / Beauty Sleep | Elias Koskimies | F | 46' | 2010. - Digibeta. Drag queens kidnap the wife of a MP famous for his homophobic remarks. The crazy gear is not far from young Almodóvar. *

8
HÄR KOMMER OBAMA / Here Comes Obama | Iina Terho | D | 6' | 2009. - Digibeta. A black ram faces a good day's work.
LIV | Johan Karrento | F | 15' | 2010. - Digibeta. The 9-year-old girl spices the punch of his father and his new boyfriend.
THE ILLUSTRATED CITY | Jan Andersson | A | 5' | 2010. - Dvd. A fine film about the graffiti history of a wall, strong music. *
PUITA JA SEMMOSIA / Trees and Such | Markus Lehmusruusu | F | 12' | 2011. - Blu-ray. In a snowless city a man lives estranged from the nature.
KUTSUN ITSEÄNI TERVEEKSI / I Call Myself Sane | Niina Suominen | E | 5' | 2010. - Digibeta. An exercise in the experimental film tradition, manipulating film material.
MITEN MARJOJA POIMITAAN / How to Pick Berries | Elina Talvensaari | D | 19' | 2010. - Digibeta. An excellent documentary on the cultural clash when Thai cloudberry pickers appear in Northern Finland. *
KIELITIETTYNI / The Tongueling | Elli Vuorinen | A | 4' | 2010. - Digibeta. A funny animation on the subject of tasting with one's tongue.
ILMAN SANOJA / Not a Word | Joel Siitonen | F | 18' | 2010. - Bluray. An Englishwoman comes to stay with her Finnish boyfriend, but the young son communicates a family secret.

9
ERÄÄN HYÖNTEISEN TUHO / The Death of an Insect | Hannes Vartiainen, Pekka Veikkolainen | A | 7' | 2010. - DCP. An ambitious and original animation, visually impressive. *
MAA JOSSA VOI LEIKKIÄ ELÄMÄÄ / Land for Playing Out Life | Sanni Priha | E | 13' | 2010. - Digibeta. An exploration about the traces of the landscape, in the director's home landscape in Kainuu.
JOULUN SYDÄN / Heart of Christmas | Henrik Röman | F | 10' | 2010. - Dvd. A father and a son facing each other before Christmas.
SIELUNSIEPPAAJA / Soul Catcher | PV Lehtinen | D | 14' | 2011. - 35 mm / DCP. Exploring the belief that taking an image one can lose one's soul. A noble and visually excellent vision. *
NIELE PELKOSI II / Swallow Your Fears II | Laura Rytkönen | A | 2' | 2010. - Dvd. Drawn animation: a young woman plays a game with fear and gets swallowed.
ONNI | Lauri Anssi Moilanen | F | 13' | 2010. - Blu-ray. The son, a drug addict is dead. The father goes to meet the drug dealer with a knife in his hand.
SIURUAN RUBENS / Rubens of Siurua | Erkki Määttänen | D |30' | 2010. - Digibeta. A portrait of Kari Tykkyläinen, a video artist from Pudasjärvi in Northern Ostrobothnia. He has produced a thousand clips to YouTube on the local nature and nude mud-wrestling with local housewives. He is also a serious Sophia Loren collector. Crazy folk art in the age of Warhol and the internet. *

10
HEAVEN SHALL BURN: COMBAT | Jessica Koivistoinen, Jan Andersson | A | 4' | 2010. - Dvd. Animated heavy metal music video on child soldiers.
LOHIKÄÄRMERANTA / The Dragon Beach | Aada Sigurlina Niilola, Waimar Nyunt | D | 19' | 2010. - Digibeta. Mixing documentary with animation, this is actually an experimental film about the occult sensations of a Burmese woman.
CIRCLE | Minna Parkkinen | E | 6' |2010. - Digibeta. A visual poem, with changing light, and contrast, transitions to negative, towards beauty.
VIERAAT SEINÄT / Strange Walls | Martta Tuomaala, Mikko Keskiivari | F | 17' |2011. - Blu-ray. The grandfather and the teenage girl live in a quiet village, until strangers appear.
HELSINGIN KESÄ / Summer in Helsinki | Maria Björklund | A | 9' | 2011. - Digibeta. An animation in simple watercolour and ink, the story of the summer in the city.
TUNARIT / The Duffers | Vesa Manninen | F | 31' | 2010. - Blu-ray. A crime story about small-time criminals who get caught in a terrible vortex.

11
SWEET MOV(I)E | Jan Ijäs | E | 4' | 2010. - Digibeta. Split-screen sex parody, men and women in separate images, fully clothed, make the moves.
VOITKO RAKASTAA / Could You Love | Johanna Vanhala | D |15' | 2010. - Digibeta. Finding a way via home movies to the mother's falling into schizophrenia.
SOITTO-OPPILAS / Learning to Play | JP Saari | A | 9' | 2010. - Digibeta. An animation inspired by Miyazaki's Totoro, painted and with drawn outlines. The ocarina playing boy meets the giant frog king of the forest.
POTILAS / The Patient | Misko Iho | F | 17' | 2010. - Blu-ray. The guard in his graveyard shift meets a strange angel (Tommi Korpela).
PELASTAKAA SARVIKUONOT / Save the Rhinoceros | Malakias | A | 6' |2011. - Digibeta. A bulletin to save the rhinoceros, very efficient. *
KIRKONKYLÄ KYRKBY | Elise Pietarila | F | 15' | 2010. - Digibeta. Pasi, a small town boy on the seventh grade, collects rules made by adults. A wonderful and original sense of humour in the storytelling. *
FORGET ME NOT! | Reeta Laine | A | 5' | 2010. - Dvd. Stop motion animation with a wooden robot and a stork sculpture participating in the girl's morning ritual.
ILMIANTO / Informers | Milla Pelkonen | F | 26' | 2010. - Digibeta. A strong and fine drama about Niko, who gets seriously suspected of planning a school killing, although it is just a prank of a very inconsiderate schoolmate. A girl devises an ingenuous plan to help. *

Helsinki International Film Festival 16-26 Sep 2010

The film buffs of Helsinki have been busy lately studying the Helsinki International Film catalogue. Strong programming forthcoming from next Thursday on at Bio Rex, Maxim, Kinopalatsi, Andorra, Dubrovnik, and Kino Engel - and in our new little Kino Tulio in Sörnäinen equipped with a 4k projector.

Full list of the Festival programme beyond the jump break:

Tampere Film Festival: the Finnish Competition

ANIMATION
Benigni (Elli Vuorinen, Jasmiini Ottelin, Pinja Partanen, 2009) DigiBeta, 8' - wax animation - the lonely man finds a companion from under his own armpit
Fengshui (Pauliina Punkki, 2009) DigiBeta, 4' - stark animation a bit in the style of Priit Pärn
Hiiren kalansaalis / The Catch of a Mouse (Heikki Prepula, 2009) dvd, 6' - drawn and painted fairy-tale animation, no dialogue
Hyvä meininki / Good Stuff (Niina Suominen, 2009) DigiBeta, 8' - following Arcimboldo, Shvankmajer - food animation - what a waste - great colour
Isola (Antonia Ringbom, 2009) DigiBeta, 17' - in Swedish - painted animation with fantasy characters, purple hues
Kaupunki / The City (Vappu Tuomisto, 2009) dvd, 6' - fine b&w water colour animation - simple lines, a talent of observation, a talent for the detail - intriguing music
Trolley Boy (Teemu Auersalo, IE 2009) DigiBeta, 4' - stylish animation about the world of the shopping mall
Veriset kädet / Bloody Hands (Malakias, 2009) DigiBeta, 7' - highly stylized

DOCUMENTARY
44500 Max (Jari Kokko, 2009) Beta, 79' - English subtitles - a documentary portrait - an ironical portrait of Max Perttula who creates his own luxury perfumes
A Kosovo Fairytale (Mark Middlewick, Samantha Nell, Anna-Sofia Nylund, 2009) dvd, 15' - documentary animation collage, a very interesting visual approach *
Freetime Machos (Mika Ronkainen, 2010) 35 mm, 87' - English subtitles - documentary - atavistic male force in the North, finding its expression in rugby
Göringin sauva / The Baton of Goering (Pia Andell, 2010) DigiBeta, 38' - a documentary portrait - Felix Forsman (1917-2005) got the mission to film Mannerheim's visit to Hitler in 1942 - good visual quality
Piirrän, siis olen / I Draw, Therefore I Am (Kim Finn, John Hakalax, 2009) Beta, 52' - documentary biopic - in Swedish with Finnish subtitles - the story of the Estonian artist Ilon Wikland - the birth of the visual shapes of the beloved Astrid Lindgren characters - the tragedy of Estonia
Kinbaku / Kinbaku - sielun solmuja (Jouni Hokkanen, 2009) DigiBeta, 29' - in English - an ambitious account of bondage
Kun liikun / When I Move (Ville Salminen, 2009) dvd, 7' - experimental documentary - visually ambitious - the girl whose feet don't touch the ground
Leikkipuisto / Playground (Susanna Helke, 2010) DigiBeta, 30' - multi-cultural life today
Lumikko / The Little Snow Animal (Miia Tervo, 2009) DigiBeta, 19' - animation / fiction / experimental - a collage about the solitude of a girl - talking in the radio programme Yölinja (Night Line) with the psychologist Pekka Sauri
Magneettimies / The Magnetic Man (Arto Halonen, 2009) DigiBeta, 79' - this documentary portrait I had seen before
Mies ja videokamera / Man with the Video Camera (Petri Hagner, 2009) Beta, 49' - an experimental documentary portrait of a personality: Esko Lönnberg - in Pori, creating a film on the band Circle - visions, action painting
Miesten vuoro / In the Steam of Life (Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen, 2010) 35 mm, 85' - see separate entry above
Reindeerspotting - pako Joulumaasta / Reindeerspotting - Escape from the Land of Santa Claus (Joonas Neuvonen, 2010) DigiBeta, 85' - this I missed
Ruuhka / Traffic Jam (Arthur Franck, Oskar Forstén, 2009) Beta, 12' - a motored deliveryman and deliverywoman
Strawberry Girl / Mansikkatyttö (Arja Pettersson, 2009) dvd, 4' - in English with Finnish subtitles, experimental documentary - a long take of the Polish girl rolling on a strawberry-patterned sheet - reciting her monologue on the slave labour on a Finnish strawberry farm - [my personal observation of a strawberry farm I know is that pickers are treated well, to the benefit of all]
Ukko ja akka / The Old Man and the Old Lady (Markku Heikkinen, 2009) blu-ray, 15' - Seppo, 73 years, and Linda, 102 years, living in Northern Finland not far from the Russian border
Vasen vartaloon / Fight of Fate (Mohamed El Aboudi, 2009) DigiBeta, 56' - English subtitles - a documentary portrait: Umar Kemiläinen, a boxer and a Muslim who loses his health - shot in Finland and Dubai

FICTION
Huomisen muisto / The Memory of Tomorrow (Pekka Saari, 2010) blu-ray, 28' - English subtitles - starring Heikki Nousiainen - digital imagery, visually ambitious - the medical experiment to prolong memory
Pikkuveli / Our Little Brother (Oskari Sipola, 2009) blu-ray, 27' - realistic drama about the relationships between children in a dysfunctional family
Snow Business (Roi Vaara, 2009) DigiBeta 11' - documentary of the performance artist Roi Vaara: snow for sale in Finland in winter
Veeti ja pavunvarsi / Veeti and the Beanstalk (Susanna Kotilainen, 2009) blu-ray, 14' - fantasy fiction - highly stylized, pantomime, farce
Viikko ennen vappua / Over the Fence (Hamy Ramezan, 2009) 35 mm, 30' - with Jesse Martin and Emilia Laine - and Matleena Kuusniemi and Eero Milonoff - a drama on domestic violence, racism
Äiti ei enää keilaa / Mother Doesn't Bowl Anymore (Teemu Nikki, 2009) DigiBeta, 10' - fiction with an element of danger and horror - returning from the prison the neo-Nazi protagonist finds mother missing, home full of fresh meat

EXPERIMENTAL
Kone 2010 (J. Karelius, 2009) dvd, 10' - rough imagery, forceful poem recital
Lopun alkuja / Beginning and Ending (Jani Ruscica, 2010) DigiBeta, 17' - low tech apocalyptica
Sisäinen lähiö / The Suburb Within (Pekka Sassi, 2009) DigiBeta, 12' - English subtitles - abstract visual imagery with red static in a cube - flicker - grid imagery

Putkinotko

[Wild Chervil Valley] / Ödemarkens barn. FI (c) 1954 Fennada-Filmi. P: Mauno Mäkelä. D+SC: Roland af Hällström - based on the novel by Joel Lehtonen (1920) and the play by Urpo Lauri (1953). DP: Esko Töyri. M: Elvi Saarnio. Starring Elvi Saarnio (Rosina Käkriäinen), Matti Lehtelä (Juutas Käkriäinen), Lasse Pöysti (Malakias), Ritva Juhanto (Saara), Pentti Viljanen (Aapeli Muttinen), Hillevi Rautio (Lyygia), Leni Katajakoski (Sanelma). A terribly worn vintage 35mm print with Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, 16 Jan 2008. One day in the countryside of dreamy Savo in the summer of 1917. Based on a masterpiece of Finnish literature, influenced by naturalism and impressionism, a doubly satirical look on a poor, lazy and fertile country family and a merchant spending his holiday in the country with his girlfriend. No plot, no main characters, a portrait of life, where each detail counts, avoiding drama, capturing the sense of life in the country without idealization and illusions, but also without cliches and sordidness. It's full of life! This film, which avoids the conventions of popular storytelling, was a hit and still is, just like the play is still a summer stock favourite. Vibrant cinematography by Esko Töyri.