Tampere Film Festival 2020: National Competition 8

Malakias: Luuranko kaapissa / A Skeleton in the Closet.

National Competition 8
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 2, Tampere, 6 March 2020.

LUURANKO KAAPISSA
SKELETON IN THE CLOSET

Malakias | Finland 2019 | Animation | 11 min

TFF: "A Stranger In A Strange Land, Exodus 2:22"

"Muukalainen vieraalla maalla, 2. Moos. 2:22"

AA: Animation based on line drawing, white on black / dark, reduced, personal, grotesque, macabre. personal and original.

Merja Maijanen: Kiltti tyttö / Good Girl.

KILTTI TYTTÖ
GOOD GIRL

Merja Maijanen | Finland, Estonia, Portugal 2019 | Fiction | 12 min

TFF: "After being awarded for being a good girl, a naive little girl learns what it really means to be one."

"Saatuaan palkinnon kiltteydestään sinisilmäinen pikkutyttö oppii, mitä todella tarkoittaa olla kiltti tyttö."

AA: A striking vignette from domestic life and domestic violence. The Hymytyttö [Smiling Girl] statuette is a traditional special school award for a contribution to good team spirit in the school community. The daughter gets one. It is Christmas time, mother visits a "Little Christmas" party, at night there is a violent encounter with father who has had one drink too many. At breakfast a "keep smiling" atmosphere is enforced. Theme song: "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town".

Hanna Hovitie: Terraria. Misu who lives with snakes.

TERRARIA

Hanna Hovitie | Hungary, Finland 2019 | Documentary | 17 min

TFF: "In peaceful swampland, a solitary man wades through long grass, crawling carefully through the water. Unable to fit in with the world of humans, Misu prefers to spend his time with cold-blooded reptiles, caring for them with extraordinary empathy. Solitude is his way of survival but also his biggest enemy."

"Rauhallisella suolla yksinäinen mies kahlaa heinikossa ja ryömii varoen vesien halki. Ihmisten maailmaan sopeutumaton Misu viettää mieluummin aikansa kylmäveristen liskojen kanssa ja huolehtii niistä poikkeuksellisen empaattisesti. Yksinäisyys on hänen selviytymiskeinonsa, mutta myös pahin vihollisensa." TFF

AA: In Hungarian, a portrait documentary of a loner who lives with snakes and keeps catching water snakes in shallow waters. He feeds thems and breeds them and otherwise immerses himself in digital games.

Teemu Niukkanen: Onko sulla nälkä? / Are You Hungry? Matvei German as the adopted teenage son who is a total mystery to his mother.

ONKO SULLA NÄLKÄ?
ARE YOU HUNGRY?

Teemu Niukkanen | Finland 2019 | Fiction | 12 min

TFF: "A single mother struggles to connect with her adopted teenage son, who she believes is gay. Worried that the vulnerable boy will fall victim to older men preying on young boys online, she takes it upon herself to guide him safely through this period of self-exploration by setting him up on a date."

"Yksinhuoltajaäiti yrittää saada yhteyden adoptoituun teinipoikaansa, jonka uskoo olevan homo. Pelätessään, että herkkä poika jää netissä saalistavien vanhempien miesten uhriksi, hän ottaa asiakseen opastaa pojan turvallisesti läpi itsetutkiskelun vaiheen järjestämällä tälle treffit."

AA: Generation gap writ large. The mother is light years away from her teenage son adopted from Asia. A radical experiment leads nowhere and the distant son keeps his cool.

Milja Viita: When We Are Nothing Left. A film about infinity.

WHEN WE ARE NOTHING LEFT

Milja Viita | Finland, Canada 2020 | Experimental, Documentary | 8 min

TFF: "A minimalist film about time, infinity and life cycle, created in the spirit of William Blake. The film is shot and hand processed at the Film Farm in Ontario, Canada, during the summer 2018."

"Minimalistinen elokuva ajasta, äärettömyydestä ja elämänkierrosta William Blaken hengessä. Elokuva on kuvattu ja kehitetty käsityönä Film Farmilla Ontariossa, Kanadassa kesällä 2018."

AA: Shot on photochemical film, a film of duration, about the universe and eternity, a film of meditation like Untitled (White - Alps) by Salla Tykkä seen in a previous programme in this festival.

Teppo Airaksinen: Keppi / The Stick. The little daughter (Elina Patrakka) gets a substitute for a dog.

KEPPI
THE STICK

Teppo Airaksinen | Finland 2019 | Fiction | 11 min

TFF: "Denied a dog by her father, a young girl gets a very unusual new friend."

"Kun isä ei anna ottaa koiraa, nuori tyttö saa hyvin epätavallisen ystävän." TFF

AA: A family tragicomedy with top actors. A bad move by the father who tries to cope with a daughter who insists on a dog. If she will walk a stick for two weeks, three times a day, she is promised a dog. Starring Elina Patrakka, Juho Milonoff and Vilma Melasniemi.

Maija Blåfield: The Fantastic. Video and digital artifacts as a form of expression.

THE FANTASTIC

Maija Blåfield | Finland 2020 | Documentary | 30 min

TFF: "The Fantastic is a film about imagination and encountering the unknown. Former North Koreans describe their experiences of watching forbidden foreign films. What did they imagine the world outside to be like on the basis of smuggled fiction films?"

"The Fantastic on elokuva mielikuvituksesta ja tuntemattoman kohtaamisesta. Entiset pohjoiskorealaiset kertovat kotimaassaan salaa katsomistaan kielletyistä ulkomaisista elokuvista. Millaiseksi he kuvittelivat tuntemattoman ulkomaailman, kun tietolähteenä toimivat salakuljetetut fiktioelokuvat?" TFF

AA: Instead of a predictable account about North Korea this movie opens surprising insights into the Western imagination and new dismal insights about the totalitarian tyranny. The film is also a piece of media art where the VHS aesthetique and digital artifacts become a form of expression.

Salla Tykkä: Untitled (White - Alps)

Salla Tykkä: Untitled (White – Alps).

National Competition 7
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 5, Tampere, 6 March 2020.
    Languages: English, French.
    In the presence of Salla Tykkä.

UNTITLED (WHITE – ALPS)

Salla Tykkä | Finland, Switzerland, France 2019 | Documentary | 70 min

TFF: "A travelogue film about looking and the human need to see and understand the world and about the limits of the sensory system as mind penetrates deeper in the matter, time and space."

"Matkakertomus etsimisestä, ihmisen tarpeesta nähdä ja ymmärtää maailmaa sekä aistijärjestelmän rajoitteista, kun mieli tunkeutuu syvemmälle materiaan, aikaan ja tilaan." (TFF)

AA: An experimental film, a philosophical film, a gallery art film.

A film of duration, a film of meditation, a film of contemplation.

A film shot on film, the visual experience is that of a journey over the Alps around Chamonix in a hot air balloon. The aesthetique is that of the long take. The camera is mobile, and towards the finale there are even 360° aerial panoramic shots. The film is based on extreme long shots. We see the magnificence of the Alps in a big picture in great detail. It is rewarding to experience this movie on a big cinema screen.

The soundtrack is a compilation of statements from top cosmologists. They are not identified during the course of the movie, and their names flash past in the final credits too fast to read the names properly. A cosmologist tells she is focusing on the first second of the universe. Black holes and issues of gravity are discussed. Many questions are ontological: what matter is, what life is. Discussion opens from physics to chemistry and biology. The recitative is very intriguing. It is read in English by a female foreign speaker with a nasal accent, and during the course of the feature film what would be perfect in a lecture hall becomes slightly grating.

The concept is fascinating: the journey over the Alps becomes an ontological journey. At the same time, regarding Swiss ski resorts and Chamonix we cannot help but worry about what is happening as the climate change is by now an existential threat to the legendary ski paradises. A film with views like this might soon be impossible to make.

PS. List of experts from the end credits retrieved from a screener link: Paula Eerola, Kari Enqvist, Antti Hakanen, Riitta Hari, Markku Kulmala, Eero Aleksi Kurkela, Kati Lassila Perini, Anne Lähteenmäki, Susanna Miettinen, Manu Tamminen, Esko Valtaoja.

Neiti Aika / Lady Time

Elina Talvensaari: Neiti Aika / Lady Time.

National Competition 7
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 5, Tampere, 6 March 2020.
    In the presence of Elina Talvensaari.

NEITI AIKA
LADY TIME

Elina Talvensaari | Finland 2019 | Documentary | 61 min

TFF: "Lady Time is a documentary film in which filmmaker Elina Talvensaari gets to know the previous occupant of her new home. She was an old woman who died alone with no one left to remember her. Everything she owned remained in the apartment and passed on to Elina. What would happen if Elina was to throw everything away? Fear of oblivion drove Elina to find out who the woman was."

"Neiti Aika on dokumenttielokuva, jossa elokuvantekijä Elina Talvensaari tutustuu uuden kotinsa edelliseen asukkaaseen. Tämä oli vanha nainen, joka kuoli yksin ilman ketään, joka muistaisi häntä. Koko omaisuus jäi asuntoon ja sitä kautta Elinalle. Mitä tapahtuisi, jos Elina heittäisi kaiken menemään? Unohduksen pelko sai Elinan selvittämään, kuka nainen oli."

AA: Time is a most profoundly cinematic theme, and in her film Elina Talvensaari conducts a unique "search of lost time". This is a documentary journey with creative inserts such as a funeral which nobody attends, illustrating the film-maker's imagination of a woman who died forgotten.

Following a trail of photographs, official documents, objects, family archives and even home movies Talvensaari reconstructs an entire life full of drama and tragedy but also love, happiness and friendship. One person's life story (her name is Sirkka-Liisa Miettinen, née Dyberg, 1915-2012) opens a unique window to the saga of the nation of Finland over a time period of almost a century. We witness key events such as the wars of 1939-1945 and the 1952 Helsinki Olympics through the family lens.

Talvensaari gets so immersed into the legacy of an unknown woman that Sirkka-Liisa becomes almost a lost ancestor or relative to her own family.

Deeply cinematic is also the sense of "imprinted time" in the objects, and there is a touch of Tarkovsky in the way they are viewed. They are not rubbish to be disposed of with a Marie Kondo approach. Talvensaari even takes Sirkka-Liisas belongings with her when the family moves from the home to which Sirkka-Liisa and Veikko had moved after the 1952 Olympics, the house having originally been built for the Olympic village.

Another Tarkovsky connection is "Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ!" BWV 639 the funeral organ standard, also heard as a main theme of Solaris. Friends had attended Sirkka-Liisa's funeral, and she did not die alone, as Talvensaari finally learns. Among the couple's remains we find a love letter from the beloved hubby Veikko in which he hopes that "one day pictures could tell how wonderful our life had been".

Nepalin morsian / The Beloved Daughter

Tiina Madisson: Nepalin morsian / The Beloved Daughter.

National Competition 5
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 2, Tampere, 5 March 2020.
    Languages: Bhojpuri, Nepalese, Sanskrit. DCP with English subtitles. E-subtitles in Finnish.
    Q&A after the screening with Tiina Madisson (director), Kirsi Mattila (producer), Salla Luhtala (composer) and Katja Pällijeff (editor).

NEPALIN MORSIAN
THE BELOVED DAUGHTER

Tiina Madisson | Finland, Norway 2019 | Documentary | 72 min

TFF: "Rekha has a dream: she wants to become an English teacher. However, she is already 14, and time is running out to find a husband for her. Although child marriage is forbidden by law, the practice is still common in their remote Nepalese village near the Indian border. Rekha’s father is a loving father and he wants to find a good husband for Rekha."

"Rekhalla on unelma: hän haluaa englanninopettajaksi. Hän on kuitenkin jo 14-vuotias, ja on kiire löytää hänelle aviomies. Vaikka lapsiavioliitot on kielletty laissa, käytäntö elää yhä heidän syrjäisessä nepalilaiskylässään lähellä Intian rajaa. Rekhan isä rakastaa tytärtään ja haluaa löytää tälle hyvän aviomiehen."

AA: The story of the 14 year old Rekha who lives in a remote Nepalese village. She wants to have a good education and become an English teacher, but his father wants her to marry.

Tiina Madisson's beautiful film belongs to the Flaherty tradition. In the remote village we can still connect with an ancient way of life, outside electricity and the social norms of the state. For a Westerner this is a "mobile detox", living in the rhythm of the nature, following the sun.

In the Q&A after the screening Madisson told us that she has lived in the village for such long periods that she has become one of them, and gained privileged access to the families. After years she found Rekha whose family agreed to participate in the film.

Like Nanook of the North, The Beloved Daughter is enacted reality. The situations and the conversations would have been impossible to catch with candid camera. The characters of the drama portray themselves. We follow farming, we follow buffalo-herding, we follow fishing and how Rekha learns to prepare a meal from a fish that has just been caught in the river.

Like Flaherty, Madisson favours the long take, the montage interdit approach. It is essential to catch the rhythm of the life which is based on the rhythm of the nature. A key experience is dignity.

Visually the movie is exceptionally beautiful: the people, the nature, the light, the colour, the compositions. This village does not seem to be located in the Himalayas but the nature looks ravishing anyway. Women's clothes have radiant colours. We also follow processes of beautification such as mehndi, the ancient Indian body art applied on hands by henna.

The marriage ceremony is a splendid highlight, but it is a great paradox because it means tragedy for Rekha. Her dream is crushed, and she bursts into bitter tears. "You are one with your deep driven desire". "As your deed is so is your destiny".

The practice of child marriage is illegal in Nepal, and we may be witnessing the last generations still experiencing it. In the final credits we learn about UNICEF's concerns. Globally, 12 million girls still are forced to marriage while under 18 years of age.

Orkesterin edessä / Conductivity

Anna-Karin Grönroos: Orkesterin edessä / Conductivity. Emilia Hoving flanked by the silhouettes of I Han-Fu and James Kahane.

National Competition 4
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 2, Tampere, 5 March 2020.
    Q&A after the screening with Anna-Karin Grönroos.

ORKESTERIN EDESSÄ
CONDUCTIVITY

Anna-Karin Grönroos | Finland 2019 | Documentary | 75 min

TFF: "Conductivity is a film about creative leadership told through the story of three young conductors at the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland; I-Han Fu (Taiwan), Emilia Hoving (Finland) and James Kahane (France). When stepping on the podium, they are put under a magnifying glass. Conductor training, in essence, is leadership training."

"Emilia Hoving, I-Han Fu ja James Kahane ovat nuoria lahjakkaita muusikoita, jotka ovat valinneet itselleen instrumenteista kaikkein vaativimman, sinfoniaorkesterin. He opiskelevat orkesterinjohtamista Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemian kapellimestariluokalla, joka on alallaan yksi maailman halutuimmista ja arvostetuimmista. Kapellimestarin on oltava itsevarma, karismaattinen, vakuuttava, herkkä, tarkka ja sytyttävä. Kuinka vakuuttaa orkesterin soittajat siitä, että tietää mitä tekee, kun oma mieli on täynnä kyseenalaistuksia ja epävarmuuksia? Orkesterin edessä elokuvassa Sibelius-Akatemian opiskelijoita päästään seuraamaan opetustilanteissa ensimmäistä kertaa näin laajasti." (TFF)

AA: I already blogged about Orkesterin edessä / Conductivity a month ago.

Mystinen metsätyömies / Mystical Lumberjack

Mikko Mattila: Mystinen metsätyömies / Mystical Lumberjack: Pekka Myllykoski, "Freud" in the country band Freud Marx Engels & Jung.

National Competition 3
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 5, Tampere, 5 March 2020.
    Q&A after the screening with Mikko Mattila.

MYSTINEN METSÄTYÖMIES
MYSTICAL LUMBERJACK

Mikko Mattila | Finland 2019 | Documentary | 63 min

TFF: "Portrait of Pekka Myllykoski (1959-2017), super intelligent bookworm and nature lover, almost graduaded medical doctor, who became the lyricist and singer of popular outlaw country band Freud Marx Engels & Jung. The band was specially known for many alcohol and drinking related hits. The optimism and joy of youth in 1980s turned in next decades to a deep alcoholism."

"Muotokuva Pekka Myllykoskesta (1959-2017), huippuälykkäästä lukutoukasta ja luonnonystävästä, melkein valmiista lääkäristä, josta tuli suositun country-yhtye Freud Marx Engels & Jungin laulaja-lauluntekijä. Yhtye tunnettiin etenkin useista alkoholista ja juomisesta kertovista hiteistään. 1980-luvun optimismi ja nuoruudeninto vaihtuivat myöhempinä vuosikymmeninä syvään alkoholismiin." (TFF)

Lauri Timonen (Midnight Sun Film Festival, 2019): "Should the yearning for country music course fiery in your veins, Texas boots be the thing, and the lyrics of the band called Freud, Marx, Engels & Jung play upon the most sensitive strings of your soul, this newly released documentary has been made just for you. The personal portrait of the singer Pekka Myllykoski (1959–2017) is a rough but honest story of an authentically sensitive bohemian whose exceptional talents partly also became a burden for him. This authentic anti-hero of thirsty romanticism, one of the most skillful lyricists in the realm, enjoyed quizzes in addition to his main job, something abetted by an IQ verging on Goethe’s magic limit, nevertheless sabotaging his act by the meticulous bottle-feeding required by his liquor-soaked reputation."

"Friends, family, and bandmates do not prettify the truth here, but between the notes emerges an exceptionally frank image of a free spirit walking down the road of his own choosing – “Sunday morning streets” – a mystic who loved the forests and even worked as a doctor, a ragged scraggly-bearded rebel of Finnish Country music." Lauri Timonen (Midnight Sun Film Festival, 2019)

AA: The documentary portrait of Pekka Myllykoski, the lead singer of the country music band Freud Marx Engels & Jung (the name parodying Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) grows into a music documentary of the popular band which was launched in the year 1984, also known by the abbreviation "Freukkarit". Mikko Mattila avoids the cliches of the genre but he does not avoid the issues of the band and the talented artist. Pekka Myllykoski was a talented and beloved physican who was too sensitive to practice the medical profession. He was also a blatant case of "medice, cura te ipsum" ("physician, take care of yourself!").

Mystical Lumberjack is in many ways a tale of alcoholism. Drinking songs were a staple in the Freud Marx Engels & Jung repertory. They rehearsed their programme to be performed in three modes: drunk, sober, and hung over. Alcoholism is approached from many sides. It is a state of fun, joy and creativity. It is a state of irresponsibility especially at home. It is a medical case, to be treated in withdrawal therapy and Antabus. But perhaps Pekka took cures only to be able to drink more. Ultimately it is a matter of self-destruction, slow suicide. Finally we face the fact that Pekka Myllykoski is what we in Finland call "itsemurhakandidaatti" ("candidate for suicide").

We return to the childhood trauma of Pekka Myllykoski, the "Freud" of the band. There was no love in Pekka's childhood. He was bullied by his big brother Matti who oppressed him even with physical violence. Pekka's fundamental experience of life was injustice.

Mystical Lumberjack, the title of the film (taken from a Freukkarit song), refers to the fact that Pekka found solace in nature. He loved to trek in Lapland. He was highly conscious of the environment and deeply concerned about the fact that humanity is about to self-destruct. Pekka's ashes were spread in the forest.

Instead of a funeral, there was a memorial concert at the popular rock club Tavastia, following the advice of Hound Dog Taylor: "don't have a funeral, have a party". We hear one of Pekka's key slogans: "life is a bad joke".

As a music documentary Mystical Lumberjack is excellent. Mikko Mattila has had privileged access to the Freukkarit archives and Pekka Myllykoski's home movies. The technically disparate materials have been edited in a meaningful way without polishing rough edges. Mattila's film is both reverent and irreverent.

It is a unique story about Finnish madness. And madness in the world at large.

Suuri savotta / The Forest Cartel Case

Jani Salminen: Suuri savotta / The Forest Cartel Case.

National Competition 3
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 5, Tampere, 5 March 2020.
    Q&A after the screening with Jani Salminen and Reijo Lahtonen.

SUURI SAVOTTA
THE FOREST CARTEL CASE

Jani Salminen | Finland 2020 | Documentary | 63 min

TFF: "Over 70 % of Finland’s surface area is covered by forest. The forest sector is huge in Finnish economy and culture. On May 1, 2004 a new competition law with leniency procedure was passed. Immediately after UPM Kymmene informed Competition and Consumer Authority that it had been running a wood purchasing cartel. Reijo Lahtonen sees an opportunity to claim millions in compensation in court."

"Metsäkoneyrittäjä Reijo Lahtonen näkee tilaisuuden vaatia miljoonakorvauksia metsäyhtiöiltä, kun Suomen metsäjättiläset jäävät kiinni puunostokartellin ylläpidosta vuosina 1997-2004. Alkaa pitkä ja väsyttävä oikeustaistelu joka kestää 6 vuotta ja käy kaikissa oikeusasteissa." (TFF)

AA: A documentary film about the biggest legal process in the history of Finland. The three biggest forest industry companies - UPM Kymmene, Stora Enso and Metsä Group - were convicted for running a wood purchasing cartel. But no compensation was paid to the small forest owners. They sued the companies but finally lost the case in a multi-stage, multi-annual, exhausting and prolonged process.

The complex story is condensed into a highly interesting one hour film. I have been tracking bits and pieces of the story over the years, but this was my first opportunity to have an overview. It's not the complete story because the companies refused to comment.

The story is very serious and important. One of the big themes is law and justice. The big companies have superior financial resources, and they can employ Big Law - the best and the most expensive law firms, with their armiers of top lawyers. They have more resources for their case than the judges and other attorneys at the courts of law.

Watching this film we cannot help but realize that the companies knew themselves that they were breaking the law and the social contract based on justice, but with their superior financial resources they were able to sidetrack the legal process, confuse the proceedings and focus on technicalities. The very prolongation turned too exhausting for small forest owners to endure.

This film is not a critique of capitalism, on the contrary. The cartel system is preventing the free functioning of capitalism based on free enterprise and competition.

I look forward to learning more.

Silmästä silmään / Eye to Eye

John Webster: Silmästä silmään / Eye to Eye. The director's masterpiece.

National Competition 2
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 2, Tampere, 4 March 2020.
    Q&A after the screening with Saija Viitala, Arja Konttinen and Mika Suomalainen.

SILMÄSTÄ SILMÄÄN
EYE TO EYE

John Webster | Finland 2020 | Documentary | 87 min

TFF: "When we experience traumatic loss, we grieve. It is the essential process of healing. For the family members of murder victims this process is often postponed indefinitely. To unlock the trauma and begin the grieving, a method called restorative dialogue brings two parents – and the audience – eye to eye with the murderers."

"Koettuamme traumaattisen menetyksen me suremme. Se on keskeinen osa parantumisprosessia. Murhan uhrin omaisilla prosessi monesti lykkäytyy. Jotta trauman voi purkaa ja surutyö voi alkaa, restoratiiviseksi dialogiksi kutsuttu metodi tuo vanhemmat – ja katsojat – kohtaamaan murhaajat silmästä silmään." (TFF)

AA: An exceptional and unique documentary film, six years in the making, about restorative dialogue between families and murderers who have killed their children.

The film was shot in real circumstances at the Kylmäkoski Prison and the Vilppula Open Prison.

"In her heart the mother carries her child forever". The murder of one's child is an overwhelming experience, and it may be impossible to forgive, but one must do one's best to avoid hate becoming the all-encompassing emotion.

The film focuses on a few selected case studies. From the side of loss and negation it grows into a study of the strongest bonds in life, and a love everlasting.

It is also about the murderers coming to terms with what they have done, their lives also destroyed, their necessary reconstruction, sometimes a spiritual and religious awakening, the guilt and the torment never disappearing, haunting in nightmares every night.

John Webster has a strong visual and artistic vision in the film whose center is the stark and devastating confrontation. I am grateful for Sanna Liljander for emphasizing the exceptional artistic distinction of this movie, based on eye contact and various similes for the eye motif, even including the sunflower.

In the Q&A the film-makers emphasized the gross injustice that family members experience. The offenders are sentenced to pay heavy compensations, but because they get lifelong / very long prison sentences they cannot afford to pay, and families get nothing, instead they get stuck in prolonged litigations with the perpetrators whom they would prefer to avoid.

Tampere Film Festival 2020: Opening Screening

Angello Faccini, Guille Isa: Dulce.

Tampere Film Festival (TFF): Opening Screening
Plevna 2, Tampere, 4 March 2020

DULCE

Angello Faccini, Guille Isa | United States, Colombia, Peru 2018 | Documentary | 11 min

TFF: "On Colombia’s Pacific Coast, a mother teaches her daughter, Dulce, how to swim. It is an essential skill in this remote region, where livelihoods are made on the sea and where rising tides, made worse by climate change, have swept entire villages away in recent years. Overcoming her fear of the water is just one element of Dulce’s budding awareness of her natural and cultural surroundings."

"Tyynenmeren rannikolla Kolumbiassa äiti opettaa tytärtään Dulcea uimaan. Se on tärkeä taito syrjäisellä seudulla, jossa elanto tienataan merestä ja jossa ilmastonmuutoksen pahentamat nousuvedet ovat viime vuosina vieneet mennessään kokonaisia kyliä. Veden pelon voittaminen on vain yksi osa Dulcen kasvavaa tietoisuutta häntä ympäröivästä luonnosta ja kulttuurista." TFF

AA: The water is rising. To know how to swim is a matter of life and death. The climate change affects the entire habitat of the mangrove biome. A small story about great issues.

Miia Tervo: Lumikko (2009).

LUMIKKO
THE LITTLE SNOW ANIMAL

Miia Tervo | Finland 2009 | Documentary | 20 min

TFF: "It’s not wrong to want love – you just need to look for it in the right place."

"Ei ole väärin haluta rakkautta, pitää vain tietää mistä etsiä." TFF

AA: Miia Tervo's Lumikko, which won the Grand Prix of the Tampere Film Festival in 2009, was also for me the revelation of the talented director at the time, soon reaffirmed by an equally unique short film, Santra and the Talking Trees. Lumikko starts with a radio confession to Pekka Sauri at Yölinja (Night Line), a tale of sexual awakening, school bullying and survival instinct. It's a young woman's story of being "dazed and confused", told with confidential intimacy and a wide palette of cinematic means, including charcoal animation and documentary inserts (rescuing an elk from a hole in the ice).

Nelson Makengo: Up at Night.

UP AT NIGHT
YÖN TUNTEINA

Nelson Makengo | Congo, Belgium 2019 | Documentary | 21 min

TFF: "darkness > in the depths of the working class neighbourhoods, in the absurdity of the rubble of endless nights, night > in this nocturnal shipwreck of the physical and symbolic power cut, resistance > abandoned to itself like a motherless chick, like a pot without a lid, like a house without a window, without a door, like a door without a lock, like a lock without a key… light > resilience, darkness > and the beauty of resistance?"

"pimeys > työläislähiön syövereissä, loputtomien öiden raunioiden absurdiudessa, yö > fyysisen ja symbolisen sähkökatkon öisessä haaksirikossa, vastarinta > hylättynä kuin emoton linnunpoika, kuin vakka ilman kantta, kuin talo ilman ikkunaa, ilman ovea, kuin ovi ilman lukkoa, kuin lukko ilman avainta… valo > lannistumattomuus, pimeys > ja vastarinnan kauneus?" TFF

AA: Executed in Polyvision, like Napoléon vu par Abel Gance, a poetic and energetic vision about turbulence in Kongo, in accelerated motion.

Dylan River: Nulla Nulla.

NULLA NULLA

Dylan River | Australia 2014 | Fiction | 6 min

TFF: "A young policeman, fresh out of the academy, gets his first taste of the complexities of community life. Taken under the wing of a senior Aboriginal Community Police Officer, he is thrown into the deepend when he is encouraged to repsond to a Domestic Dispute on his own."

"Juuri akatemiasta valmistunut nuori poliisi saa esimakua yhteisöelämän monimutkaisuudesta. Aboriginaaliyhteisön vanhemman poliisin suojeluksessa oleva nuorimies joutuu tositoimiin, kun häntä rohkaistaan vastaamaan kotiväkivaltahälytykseen yksin."

AA: A novel twist to the conventional dramatis personae concept of the veteran cop / the rookie cop. Two mean and formidable First Nation grannies give the young white cop a lesson that he is unlikely to forget.

Typhoon Mama

Lou Strömberg: Typhoon Mama.

National Competition 1
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Plevna 2, Tampere, 4 March 2020.
In Filipino, Swedish, English and Finnish. With English / Finnish subtitles.
Q&A with Lou Strömberg, Pertti Veijalainen (P), Jussi Saivo (M).

TYPHOON MAMA

Lou Strömberg | Finland 2019 | Documentary | 79 min

TFF: "The director's stepmother Yolanda, a Filipino woman married and living in Sweden, faces a balancing act for many immigrants: working a gruelling job as a maid to keep up with having to pay unrealistic remittances to her three sons back home in the Philippines. When a drug war breaks out in the Philippines, the family dynamics are put to test."

"Typhoon Mama on dokumenttielokuva ohjaajan äitipuolesta Yolandasta. Hän asuu kahden maailman välissä: Ruotsin, missä hän on asunut yli 20 vuotta ja Filippiinien, missä hänen kolme aikuista poikaansa vielä asuvat. He uskovat Euroopan olevan El Dorado, missä rahaa saa helposti ja painostavatkin Yolandalta sitä. Kun huumesota syttyy Filippiineillä, ravistelee se myös perhesuhteita." TFF

AA: A family documentary reflecting two worlds: desperate conditions in the Philippines and affluence in the West, Sweden appearing as paradise.

Mother Yolanda seems to be stuck in a life sentence of motherhood, toiling around the clock in Sweden, emptying her partner's bank account, appearing as a fairytale figure in the Philippines with lavish gifts reflecting "an immense accumulation of commodities", still keeping her sons although they have grown up by now. It's a tragedy of a multiple exploitation. The typhoon mama's love is bottomless but one-sided. Instead, the sons complain about the absence of the mother in their lives.

I keep being amazed at the possibility of making such intimate and revealing documentaries of families. There are multiple scenes where I feel like watching enactments, the protagonists playing parts in their lives. The relationship of the film's events to reality is constantly puzzling. This is the age of reality television: nothing is outside the possibility of being filmed.

The visual quality of the image is variable in the extreme. Hardly ever do the characters speak in their native language. Bad Swedish, bad English, etc., is dominant, which is part of the documentary reality. But it is hard to relate to people who are seen expressing themselves only in an extremely limited range of their human dimensions.

Ráhkkis eadni / My Dear Mother / Min kära mor

Paul Anders Simma: Ráhkkis eadni / My Dear Mother / Min kära mor. This image does not appear in the film.

National Competition 6
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Jury preview, Tampere, Niagara, 4 March 2020.
Language: Russian.

MY DEAR MOTHER

Paul Anders Simma | Finland, Norway, Sweden 2019 | Documentary | 87 min

TFF: "Tasha is a nine-year-old Lapp girl. She is an inmate of a Russian orphanage, even when she is not an orphan. Tasha believes that her mother is dead and that her father is in jail for life. To survive she has found a Russian stepmother at the orphanage. One day her biological mother suddenly calls her. In the background of Tasha’s fate lurks the greater global narrative about the “stolen generation"."

"Tasha on yhdeksänvuotias saamelaistyttö. Hän on hoidokkina venäläisessä orpokodissa, vaikka ei edes ole orpo. Tasha uskoo äitinsä kuolleen ja isän istuvan elinkautista vankilassa. Selviytyäkseen hän on etsinyt orpokodista itselleen venäläisen ottoäidin. Eräänä päivänä biologinen äiti soittaakin hänelle. Tashan kohtalon taustalla piilee laajempi globaali tarina ”varastetusta sukupolvesta”." TFF

AA: A new movie from the veteran of Sami cinema, Paul-Anders Simma (Let's Dance, Sagojoga Minister) is the story of the Murmansk Sami girl Dasha (Daria) who is not an orphan but has been abandoned by her biological mother. Her father sits in prison for life. She finds a very good foster mother at a Russian orphanage. A wrenching moment in the movie is Dasha's visit to the abandoned home of her early childhood, where old photographs and documents witness of a life lost.

The childhood home is in Luujärvi / Lujaur / Lovozero, a center of Sami people in the Murmansk district, but the pull is to the south, to Petrozavodsk / Petroskoi, the capital of Russian Karelia.

Neglected by her biological parents, Dasha's ties to the ancient Sami legacy gradually disappear, and in the care of a good Russian foster mother, she grows up as a Russian.

In Lujaur, the reindeer were everything. The nomadic life of the Sami society was based on reindeer herding. When this way of life has vanished the whole existence of the people is veers towards the brink of an abyss.

The theme underlying Dasha's story is great and universal. Paul Anders Simma's touching film gives us a lot to think about.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: FROM THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

Tampere Film Festival 2020: National Competition 11

Pasi Sleeping Myllymäki: Fill the Screen.

National Competition 11
Tampere International Film Festival (TFF)
Jury preview, Tampere, Niagara, 4 March 2020.

FILL THE SCREEN

Pasi Sleeping Myllymäki | Finland 2019 | Experimental, Fiction | 18 min

TFF: "Fill The Screen shows us the nucleus of Myllymäki’s movie perception. “Movie art is a glamorous hybrid of visual arts and sound art. Movie art is not a repetition of established practices, but the search for unused possibilities.”"

"Fill the Screen näyttää meille Myllymäen elokuvallisen näkemyksen ytimen. ”Elokuvataide on hohdokas hybridi visuaalista ja äänitaidetta. Elokuvataide ei toista vakiintuneita käytäntöjä, vaan etsii käyttämättömiä mahdollisuuksia.”" (TFF)

AA: A new witty and playful screen meditation by the underground maestro Sleeping Myllymäki. Fill the screen: with talk. Fill the screen: with punk. Fill the screen: with music. Incorporating rare 8 mm footage from the Ämy Festival in 1979 with Pelle Miljoona and a Helsinki Kaivopuisto concert in 1978 with Eppu Normaali. It also grows into a meditation about dark energy and a state of too much disinformation.

Katja Korhonen: Kuuntelen / I'm Listening. Marjaana Maijala as the night radio hostess. All the trouble in the world comes into her ears.

KUUNTELEN
I’M LISTENING

Katja Korhonen | Finland 2019 | Fiction | 12 min

TFF: "In the last hours of the night, Mirja, a Night Radio host, gets a call on the air of a possible end of the world. Soon this unexpected call starts bursting Mirja’s bubble in a way she never would have expected."

"Lyhytelokuvassa Yöradion juontaja, Mirja, saa suoraan lähetykseen puhelun soittajalta, joka uskoo maailmanlopun olevan tulossa. Tämä odottamaton puhelu alkaa pian horjuttamaan Mirjan ympärille muodostunutta kuplaa tavalla jota hän ei olisi osannut aavistaa."

AA: A talk radio show at night: Mirja the hostess who has heard everything listens to a caller who has has had an apocalyptic experience of a big bang, the night sky turning bright. The caller insists that she does not believe in anything supernatural. The conversation turns into the meaning of life, whether one has lived one's life meaningfully. Mirja believes it's all a hallucination of the caller's, but there is a surprise for her.

Vesa-Pekka Rannikko: Multi-Faith Prayer Room.

MULTI-FAITH PRAYER ROOM

Vesa-Pekka Rannikko | Finland 2020 | Experimental, Animation | 6 min

TFF: "Animated drawing “Multi-faith Prayer Room” combines limbo zones of travelling to assosiativeness of memory. Constantly shaping animation juxtaposes images from transit areas of airports and humanised birds to fragmented written narration. The starting point of the work is Heathrow airport’s hybridised prayer room."

"Piirrosanimaatiossa “Multi-faith Prayer Room” matkustamisen välitila yhdistyy muistin assosiatiivisuuteen. Jatkuvassa muotoutumisen tilassa oleva teos rinnastaa lentokenttien transit-alueen ja inhimillistettyjen lintujen kuvaston fragmentaariseen kirjoitettuun kerrontaan. Teoksen pohjana on Heathrow’n lentokentän kaikkien uskontojen edustajille avoin hiljentymishuone." (TFF)

AA: An animation based on line drawing on three panels, with handwriting emerging and being erased. There is a palimpsest quality in the movie: everything is in constant change, movement  and erasure "in a zone like this", surrounded by ambient music.

Marika Harjusaari: Kotimatka / Homebound.

KOTIMATKA
HOMEBOUND

Marika Harjusaari | Finland, South Africa 2019 | Fiction | 20 min

TFF: "Homebound is a survival story set in one of the world´s biggest refugee camps. A bus is waiting to forcefully return refugees to their country of origin. Xidig, 8, is excited to go home, but his brother Saliim, 12, knows that a war- torn and dangerous place is no one´s home."

"Kotimatka on tarina pakolaisleirillä kasvaneista veljeksistä, joiden elämä muuttuu yhden pakkopalautusta suorittavan bussimatkan aikana. Pieni Xidig haaveilee tuntemattomasta kotimaastaan, mutta isoveli Saliim saa tietää että he ovat suuressa vaarassa." (TFF)

AA: An elliptic scene from Somali life around a refugee camp, seen from the viewpoint of children. Mom is a part of the tortoise totem family. The film has been made with a stark dramatic charge, and the limited view of the children makes it enigmatic and intriguing for the viewer.

Jonna Kina: Akiya.

AKIYA

Jonna Kina | Finland, Japan, United States 2020 | Experimental, Documentary | 5 min

TFF: "Akiya is a kind of Noh play for voice and tape recorder. The film is a dialogue between a contemporary text about the current, increasing prevalence of abandoned houses and buildings in Japan and Noh, a traditional Japanese theatre that is one of the oldest extant theatrical forms."

"”Akiya” on laulumuotoinen kertomus miljoonien tyhjien ja hylättyjen talojen ilmiöstä Japanissa. Teoksessa ei kuitenkaan näytetä kuvia asumattomista rakennuksista, vaan se toimii teoksen runollisena ja käsitteellisenä elementtinä. Laulu on esitetty Nō-teatterille ominaiseen runomuotoisen puheen tyyliin. Sanat on käännetty arkaaiseen muromachi-kauden (1333-1573) japanin kieleen. Teksti perustuu sanomalehtiartikkeleiden fragmentteihin tyhjistä ja unohdetuista taloista sekä poeettisiin katkelmiin aiheesta, metafysiikkaan, omituiseen huumoriin, mikä antaa luonteen ja persoonallisuuden kuulemallemme äänelle. Teos on 35 mm filmille kuvattu yhden kohtauksen teos, jossa analoginen kelanauhuri toistaa kappaleen neutraalia taustaa vasten. Laulu assosioituu ihmisen sijaan koneeseen. Esiintyjästä tulee kone ja koneesta esiintyjä. Teos käsittelee esineiden, kielten ja ihmisten väliaikaisuutta. Teos luo mytologiaa tulevaisuudesta: vuoropuhelussa yhdistyvät perinteinen tarinankerronta ja nykyaikainen autioitumisilmiö." (TFF)

AA: Analogue glory in a one-shot plan-séquence movie about a message emerging from a reel-to-reel tape recorder filmed on 35 mm film. It is a poem about the transitoriness of life, "waking up from this world".

Jukka Kärkkäinen: Kebab King.

KEBAB KING

Jukka Kärkkäinen | Finland 2019 | Fiction | 9 min

TFF: "Kebab King is shaking fist with a humorous twist. It’s a short film about hatred that has no justified target. A dry, cold winter, the smoking dust of a highway, blocks of flats on the horizon and the leather seats of a VOLVO S40…."

"Kebab King heristää nyrkkiä pilke silmäkulmassa. Se on lyhytelokuva vihasta, jolla ei ole perusteltua kohdetta. Kuiva, kylmä talvi, pölynkatkuinen maantie, kerrostalot horisontissa ja Volvo S40:n nahkapenkit…" (TFF)

AA: Brutal kitchen sink realism about a dysfunctional father / grown-up-son affair, failure on the workplace, and a misjudged attempt to project anger to an outsider. A vortex of frustration and violence. A sense of sound and fury.

Harri Larjosto: Mehiläishoito / Bee Garden.

“MEHILÄISHOITO”
“BEE GARDEN”

Harri Larjosto | Finland 2019 | Fiction, Documentary | 29 min

TFF: "Bear taking care of bees (honey). Humorous and poetic & philosophic view to bee keeping and very important insects, bees. Mainly documentary material combined to fictional story."
"Karhu pitämässä huolta mehiläisistä (hunajasta). Humoristinen, runollinen ja filosofinen näkemys mehiläishoidosta ja erittäin tärkeistä hyönteisistä, mehiläisistä. Lähinnä dokumentaarista aineistoa yhdistettynä fiktiiviseen tarinaan."

AA:An ambitious account about bees with a lot of rich factual material, augmented with the playful and fairy-tale-like character of a bear as a beekeeper. We learn a lot about bees and the existential threats they are facing in conditions of sugar manipulation and lethal pesticide cocktails. There are also philosophical dimensions about swarm intelligence and intelligence of the crowd.

Tampere Film Festival 2020

Tampere Film Festival 2020: Risto Jarva Jury. Antti Alanen, Sanna Liljander, Petri Peltonen. 4 March 2020. © Jani Rutanen.

Tampere Film Festival 2020: all the juries. 4 March 2020. © Jani Rutanen.

Tampere Film Festival 2002: Risto Jarva Jury: Petri Peltonen, Sanna Liljander, Antti Alanen. 8 March 2020. © Jani Rutanen.

Tampere Film Festival 2002: Ecumenic Jury: Mikko Hieta. 8 March 2020. © Jani Rutanen.

Tampere Film Festival 2020: National Jury: Tinja Ruusuvuori, Neil Young, Marika Kecskeméti with Festival Director Jukka-Pekka Laakso. 4 March 2020. © Jani Rutanen.

Natalia Goncharova (exhibition)

Natalia Goncharova: Harvest polyptych: The Phoenix. Harvest n:o 3 (1911). Н. Гончарова. Жатва. Птица феникс. 92 х 97.5 холст, масло. Ж-1438. © The State Tretyakov gallery.

Natalia Gontcharova (1881 - 1962): Peacock / Le paon (Harvest / Moisson) n:o 1. 1911. Huile sur toile 100 x 92,5 cm. Un des 9 éléments du polyptyque "Moisson". Donation Etat soviétique, 1988. Numéro d'inventaire : AM 1988-873. Date 1911. Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou. Domaine publique.

Гончарова Н.С. Angels Throwing Stones on the City. Harvest n:o 2 / «Ангелы, мечущие камни на город» (Rev 6:14-17). 100 x 129. Инв. Ж-1439 Date 1911. Photo: The State Tretyakov Gallery.

Natalia Goncharova: Feet Pressing Grapes. Harvest n:o 7. Н. Гончарова. Жатва. Ноги, мнущие виноград. 100×92. 1911. Natalia Gontcharova (1881 - 1962) Pieds foulant le raisin (Moisson) [1911] Huile sur toile 99,5 x 92,5 cm. Pieds foulant/le raisin/de la série/Moisson /N 596 v. Un des 9 éléments du polyptyque "Moisson". Donation Etat soviétique, 1988. Numéro d'inventaire : AM 1988-872. Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou.

N. Goncharova: Maiden on the Beast. Harvest n:o 5. Дева на звере. 168 x 129,5. Костромской Государственный историко-архитектурный, художественный музей-заповедник. 1911. Source http://artpoisk.info/artist/goncharova_natal_ya_sergeevna_1881/eva_na_zvere/ Kostroma State Museum.

Natalia Goncharova: A Prophet. Harvest n:o 6 / Пророк. 1911. 166 х 92 холст, масло. Ж-1437. State Tretyakov Gallery.

Natalia Goncharova: Harvest. Harvest n:o 9. Урожай (Жатва). 1911. 99 x 93. Омский музей. M. A. Vrubel Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts.

EXHIBITION
Natalia Goncharova. Exhibition at the Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, 27 Feb to 17 May 2020.
    The exhibition is organised by the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki, Tate Modern in London and Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, in collaboration with State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The exhibition is curated by Timo Huusko, chief curator at the Ateneum Art Museum; Matthew Gale, head of displays at Tate Modern; and Natalia Sidlina, curator of international art at Tate Modern.
    The touring show was launched at Tate Modern, London, 6 June – 8 September 2019.
    It comes to Helsinki from Palazzo Strozzi, Florence: Natalia Goncharova. A Woman of the Avant-garde with Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso. 28 Sep 2019 – 12 Jan, 2020
    Helsinki exhibition architecture: Hannele Grönlund.
    Press preview visited on 26 Feb 2020.
    Наталья Сергеевна Гончарова / pronunciation: Ната́лья Серге́евна Гончаро́ва / Finnish transliteration Natalia Gontsharova.

CATALOGUE
Natalia Goncharova. Edited by Matthew Gale and Natalia Sidlina. With contributions by Timo Huusko, Evgenia Iliukhina, Evgenia Petrova, Jane Pritchard, Ludovica Sebregondi, Zelfira Tregulova and Katy Wan. London: Tate Enterprises Ltd 2019. ISBN 978 1 84976 629 6. 224 pages. In English.
    There are Finnish and Swedish editions for Ateneum. Helsinki catalogue design: Hanne Selkokari.

AA: For the first time in Finland there is a solo exhibition of Natalia Goncharova (1881–1962), the early master of Russian avantgarde who moved to Paris with her companion Mikhail Larionov before the Revolution and never worked in Soviet Russia.

For me, it's a revelation. I have seen Goncharova's art at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, at the excellent avantgarde collections of Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum and at Centre Pompidou, but this is my first opportunity to see Goncharova in full.

The timing is perfect. We have had a black winter in Helsinki, and Goncharova's exhibition is a burst of sunlight and glowing warm colour. Her signature cadmium orange shines triumphantly.

The heart of the show is the Harvest polyptych (see images above): seven paintings that remain from the original set of nine have been brought together at last for this touring show. The only time all paintings were seen together was in Goncharova's first solo exhibition in 1911 in Moscow. The Harvest cycle is based on the Book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse of John. Goncharova's radiant colour palette is in extreme contrast to the doomsday motifs. I see in the Harvest polyptych a battleground between Eros and Thanatos.

Goncharova was inspired by her great contemporaries in France such as Derain, Gauguin and Picasso, also displayed in the exhibition. She was influenced by impressionism, cubism and futurism, and by a drive towards abstraction. On display is her contribution to the Russian avantgardist phenomena of Jack of the Diamonds, Donkey's Tail and Rayonism as well as her participation in Der Blaue Reiter. A typical movement for Goncharova was Everythingism (Vsechestvo) because her taste was catholic.

Her drive towards the abstract was always rooted in the material, the sensual and the concrete, perfectly expressed in the Harvest polyptych. Goncharova came from an aristocratic family who lived in the countryside. She shared her family's liberal sense of social consciousness, but she was not a Bolshevik revolutionary. She loved to dress in peasant style and portray herself in peasant dress, and she was also a skillful tailor who made clothes for herself and designed dresses for others.

A streak of sunny spirituality runs through her work. She was inspired by icons, and her avantgardist approach to religious art was considered blasphemous. In her joy in naivism there is an affinity with Chagall.

Goncharova was also influenced by the primitive folk art of the lubok: popular prints of religious subjects or historical topics with a fairy-tale approach and a two-dimensional pictorial space. One of the most impressive sets of images in the exhibition is Mystical Images of War (1914):  a suite of lithographs in lubok style. A motif that obsessed Goncharova, also stemming from luboks, was "maiden on the beast": in the exhibition it appears in two great cycles the Harvest series (see above) and the Mystical Images of War.

The exhibition is rich and versatile, starting with early impressionism, highlighting the "spiritual autobiography" of her giant 1913 solo exhibition and proceeding to Goncharova's later remarkable career as an art director (Ballets Russes for starters) and costume and interior designer. We also see posters and book illustrations. Her pioneering body art and performances are not neglected. Like Picasso, Goncharova was happy to switch abruptly between isms, styles and modes of expression. She seems to court eclecticism, but in all her different incarnations she retains and expands her recognizable self. She never stood still, and an original spirit shines through a multitude of expressions.

Goncharova loved also Russia in its multitude of traditions and ethnicalities, including the Jewish culture in what was known at the time the Pale of Settlement. It would be interesting to see a complete set of these works.

The passage from la Belle Époque to the Age of Extremes was devastating in art, but Goncharova never lost her sunny disposition. There is a smile on her face whether in self-portraits or portraits painted by Larionov. Even in images bordering on the non-figurative there is a peculiar sense of humour. I don't sense escapism but a life-affirming mission of art as a counter-image in dark times. As an artist Goncharova was an incarnation of la joie de vivre. Her art is deeply religious, and her emphasis is not in suffering but in goodness. Even in the great apocalyptic suites (Harvest, Mystical Images of War) the power of love is overwhelming.

The hanging, the colour patterns of the rooms, and the lighting are beautiful at Ateneum, the museum architect Hannele Grönlund perfectly in tune with the spirit of Goncharova. Most of the artworks have been seen in other legs of the touring show. The copies of luboks, Goncharova's book illustrations and Mystical Images of War are on loan from the National Library of Finland (see a list below of the works from Finnish collections).

The catalogue to the touring show has been edited at Tate by Matthew Gale and Natalia Sidlina. Worth noticing next to the illuminating essays and articles is "Goncharova on Colour", the artist's inspired laudatio to the glories of colour ("colours have a strange magic quality") – red, black, yellow, orange, green, blue, palepink, grey, yellow-yellow ochre, earth brown, violet, and white. Visiting a Goncharova exhibition we take a bath in colours. Also very useful and rewarding is Katy Wan's "Natalia Goncharova: Chronology", an illustrated capsule biography in 16 pages. The illustrations are wonderful. This book is a valuable keepsake.

GROUND PLAN OF ATENEUM'S NATALIA GONCHAROVA EXHIBITION:
Gallery 20: Neo-Primitivism
Gallery 21: Countryside and Folk Art
Gallery 22: Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov
Gallery 23: Moscow and Western Art
Gallery 24: Mystical Images of War
Gallery 25: Harvest
Gallery 27: 1913 Exhibition
Gallery 28: Cubo-Futurism and Rayonism
Gallery 29: Art and Religion
Gallery 30: Goncharova in Paris
Gallery 31: Fashion and Ballets Russes

LUBOKS FROM THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF FINLAND (prints on paper, artist unknown):
Lubok: The Rich Man and Lazarus (1862), 45 x 35.
Lubok: Подвечерь осенью ненастной / Podvecher osenyu nenastnoi / Candlelight in Rainy Autumn (1866), 35 x 45.
Lubok: Отгадай, моя родина... / Otgadai, moya rodina... / Guess, My Fatherland... (1871), 35 x 45.
Lubok: Вот извольте видеть / Vot izvolte videt / Here You Can See (1878), 45 x 35.

MYSTICAL IMAGES OF WAR (1914), LITHOGRAPHS FROM THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF FINLAND, ALL 36 x 28:
Mystical Images of War Nr. 1: St. George
Mystical Images of War Nr. 2: The White Eagle
Mystical Images of War Nr. 3: The English Lion
Mystical Images of War Nr. 4: Галльский петух / The Gallic Rooster
Mystical Images of War Nr. 5: Maiden on the Beast
Mystical Images of War Nr. 6: Peresvet and Oslyabya
Mystical Images of War Nr. 7: Archangel Michael
Mystical Images of War Nr. 8: Vision in the Clouds
Mystical Images of War Nr. 9: Devoted Christian Troops
Mystical Images of War Nr. 10: Angels and Aeroplanes
Mystical Images of War Nr. 11: The Doomed City
Mystical Images of War Nr. 12: The Pale Horse
Mystical Images of War Nr. 13: Communal Grave
Mystical Images of War Nr. 14: Saint Alexander Nevski

BOOKS FROM THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF FINLAND:
Exhibition catalogue: Natalia Goncharova / Mikhail Larionov (1913). 30 x 23.
Book: Aleksandr Blok: Двенадцать / Скифы / The Twelve / The Scythians (1920). 24 x 18.
Book: Tihon Churilin: Весна после смерти / Spring After Death (1915). 33 x 25.

ICONS FROM SINEBRYCHOFF ART MUSEUM (artist unknown):
Mother of God, Hodegetria, Byzantine icon (16th century), 39,5 x 31.
Archangel Michael from the Deesis, Russian icon. (late 17th / 18th century), 77 x 37. Sinebrychoff Art Museum / Sara Hildén.

FELLOW ARTISTS IN THE EXHIBITION: FINNISH NATIONAL GALLERY:
Paul Gauguin: Landscape in Tahiti (Mahana Maà), 1892. 54,5 × 31 cm, oil on canvas. Purchase, A II 986.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: THE OFFICIAL INTRODUCTION:

Little Women (2019)

     

Pikku naisia / Unga kvinnor.
    US © 2019 Columbia Pictures / Monarchy Enterprises S.á.r.l. P: Denise Di Novi, Amy Pascal, Robin Swicord.
    D+SC: Greta Gerwig – based on the novel (1868) by Louisa May Alcott. DP: Yorick Le Saux – colour – 1,85:1 – negative: 35 mm – source format: Super 35 – master format: 4K – release formats: 35 mm and D-Cinema. PD: Jess Gonchor. AD: Chris Farmer. Set dec: Claire Kaufman. Cost: Jacqueline Durran. Makeup: Judy Chin. Hair: Fríða Aradóttir. VFX: Matt Akey. M: Alexandre Desplat. S: Michael Feuser – Dolby Atmos. ED: Nick Houy. Casting: Kathy Driscoll, Francine Maisler.
    C: Saoirse Ronan (Jo March), Emma Watson (Meg March), Florence Pugh (Amy March), Eliza Scanlen (Beth March), Laura Dern (Marmee March), Timothée Chalamet (Theodore "Laurie" Laurence), Tracy Letts (Mr. Dashwood), Bob Odenkirk (Father March), James Norton (John Brooke), Louis Garrel (Friedrich Bhaer), Jayne Houdyshell (Hannah), Chris Cooper (Mr. Laurence), Meryl Streep (Aunt March).
    Loc: Massachusetts, US. Concord, Harvard, Gibbet Hill, Fruitland Museum, Castle Hill: Ipswich, Lawrence, Stoughton, William Hickling Prescott House, Boston, Lyman Estate: Waltham, Thayer Estate: Lancaster, Franklin. 6 Oct – Dec 2018.
    135 min
    New York premiere: 7 Dec 2019.
    Finnish premiere: 31 Jan 2020 – released by SF Studios – Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Hannele Vahtera.
    DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 7, Helsinki, 8 Feb 2020.

I have enjoyed all the major theatrical film adaptations of Little Women.

In 1933 the first sound adaptation was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by George Cukor, starring Katharine Hepburn as Jo with Joan Bennett as Amy and Paul Lukas as Professor Bhaer. It was a perfect Cukor-Hepburn vehicle and an engrossing growing-up story of a young woman as Cukor loved to make them. Hepburn created an unforgettable Jo.

I love even the glossy MGM Technicolor adaptation of 1949, directed by the studio workhorse Mervyn LeRoy with June Allyson as Jo and an all star cast including Elizabeth Taylor (Amy), Janet Leigh (Meg) and Mary Astor (Marmee). The lounge lizard Peter Lawford was cast as Laurie.

Even better was Gillian Armstrong's version of 1994 based on a screenplay by Robin Swicord. Winona Ryder was Jo, and Gabriel Byrne was Friedrich Bhaer. Trini Alvarado was Meg, Kirsten Dunst was Amy and Claire Danes was Beth. Christian Bale was Laurie, Eric Stoltz was John Brooke, and Susan Sarandon was Marmee. What a cast, and what a film. Directed by Armstrong it is a revelation to compare her Little Women with her debut feature film, My Brilliant Career, which presents a similar story set in Australia.

Now Greta Gerwig has created a fresh and original version based on a "double helix" dual temporal structure: we are in the present while looking back in the past. The original novel was published in England as two novels, the second being titled Good Wives.

Gerwig's concept introduces a new spin to the well-known story. Again there is a great cast: Saoirse Ronan (Jo), Emma Watson (Meg), Florence Pugh (Amy) and Eliza Scanlen (Beth) are the sisters, Laura Dern is Marmee, and Meryl Streep is Aunt March. It's a multi-character study. In the George Cukor version the narrative solution was to create a cycle of vignettes. Here the present is constantly being juxtaposed with the past. The present audience has gotten used to such juggling in fiction.

All sisters are individuals, each has her own way and approach in life. During the Civil War the Massachusetts-based March family lives in genteel poverty, but they are rich in love, joy and family spirit. Their Christmas breakfast they donate without hesitation to the truly poor Hummel family: shared joy is doubled joy. When Beth contracts scarlet fever (from the Hummel family) everybody takes care of her. And when father is wounded in the battlefield, Jo lets her beautiful hair be cut and sold so that Marmee can buy a train ticket. The Civil War is a matter of conviction for the March family who hate slavery: "My whole life I've been ashamed of my country", states Marmee.

Jo is determined to become a writer, starting with exercises "of the scandalous variety" in magazine stories and family drama club productions. Yet she already possesses Shakespeare's collected works. Reading for Beth she starts to develop her own approach, still doubting herself: "who'd be interested in domestic struggles?"

Dreaming of art and romance they are constantly reminded of financial facts of life. Aunt March, a rich widow, keeps reminding them. And Marmee sighs: "I'm angry nearly every day of my life". The little women are aware that "marriage is an economic proposition" and if a wife earns money it belongs to the husband. Jo keeps learning both the lessons of devotion to art and financial independence: she is a tough negotiator for the copyright terms of her novel.

I love all these interpretations, and they do not replace each other. In George Cukor's version I was moved by the compelling approach to the Pygmalion theme and the vision of old New York. In it, Jo visits the opera for the first time (inevitably, on display is Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor), and has the epiphany of great art. Friedrich is disappointed by the triviality of Jo's stories but sees her special talent and encourages her to write something real, something she knows first hand. In Greta Gerwig's version Jo's Bildungsroman is a more independent journey of self-discovery.

The physical production is wonderful: the cinematography by Yorick Le Saux in all four seasons, the production design by Jess Gonchor, the costumes by Jacqueline Durran and the hairdos by Fríða Aradóttir. The warm hues of Massachusetts have been caught on 35 mm film. It is a joy to the eyes.

But the most rewarding feature is the emotional truth. The better we learn to know the characters the more we care about them. A momentum of pure emotion keeps growing towards the conclusion.

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