Jan Ijäs’s On the Art of the Set Design (2018) and Elli Vuorinen’s Still Lives (2019) were selected among the seven short films in the Competition General Award at Leiden International Short Film Experience (LISFE), held from May 9–12 in Netherlands.
Jan Ijäs’s On the Art of the Set Design will be screened on Thursday, May 9, at 20:45, and on Sunday, May 12, at 15:45. “Can the set take it?” is a question that often gets asked on film shoots. When you adjust a camera position, change a lens or introduce a new panning shot, the orientation and scope of the images you capture change. As a result, you then risk showing a stretch of soundstage wall or even an unwanted glimpse of location. On the Art of the Set Design is based on North Korea’s former leader Kim Jong Il’s (1942–2011) film-making treatise On the Art of Cinema, with a particular focus on the chapter titled The Sets Should Reflect the Times, passages of which are read out by the narrator. All images were shot on location in North Korea during a guided tour. These guided visits are highly managed, with all filming and recording activity carefully controlled by the hosts. Everything you see is reminiscent of a theatre or film set.
Media artist and film director Jan Ijäs (b. 1975) studied documentary film making at the Department of Film, Television and Scenography at the Aalto University in Helsinki. His work can be described as a blend of avant garde, experimental media art and documentary film making. His films have been screened at more than 200 Finnish and international film festivals and as installations in museums and art galleries. He has won numerous awards, including the Finnish Risto Jarva Prize in 2011 for SWEET MOV(I)E, Raft of the Médusa, film about immigration won Amnesty International Award 2018 at the IndieLisboa film festival in Portugal.
Elli Vuorinen: Still Lives (2019)
Elli Vuorinen’s Still Lives will be screened on Sunday, May 12, at 12:15. In Still Lives, the concept of busy stillness is explored from various standpoints as museum artefacts from all around the world reflect on the mundane challenges of modern life.
Elli Vuorinen is an animation artist who lives and works in rural Finland. Her works often balance between surreal, delightful and disgusting. Although her approach is often humoristic the films deal with significant themes of melancholy, solitude and hope. Vuorinen’s style is versatile – blending of minimal and handcrafted, she creates works that are playful and bold. Different animation techniques inspire her work. Vuorinen’s farm studio allows her to work with everything between large scale stop motion to 2D computer animation.
Leiden International Short Film Experience, May 9–12 2019, Netherlands
More information: LISFE