Mika Taanila’s Failed Emptiness. Time (2021) was selected for the experimental section of the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA), held online from March 15–27 2022. Taanila’s film is included in the programme “The Eye Listens“. Failed Emptiness. Time… Read more »
AV-arkki delves into rituals, Sami Sänpäkkilä in focus, and other highlights at Tampere Film Festival
Tampere Film Festival presents a three-part retrospective and a masterclass by Sami Sänpäkkilä. AV-arkki’s this year’s collaborative screenings delve into rituals, both social and magical. AV-arkki also contributes to the festival’s industry programme with a panel discussion on short film… Read more »
AV-arkki ceases all collaboration with Russia for the time being
The board of AV-arkki has decided that AV-arkki will not collaborate with Russian organizations. We condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For the time being, we will not submit nor distribute our artists’ works for the programmes of Russian events… Read more »
Dialogues
Alisa Javits
New work
Dialogues is a video about drug misuse and depression. One character is ill, the other the only one who sees or knows anything. They embody the voices of many. The video is about communication, fear, hiding and action. The viewer does not always know who is thinking or speaking.
Read more »Moon
Marja Viitahuhta
New work
In Mánnu, the yoik by sami musician Ánnámáret describes how the moon can take power over the viewer, putting him in danger and a state that cannot be escaped but must be confronted. On dark nights, one can imagine the Staalo, evil spirits in the indigenous sami mythology, walking in the northern... Read more »
Space Is Quite a Lot of Things
August Joensalo
New work
Curiosity about a world without gender sets a journey through a world of jellyfish and disco uncles, creating space for four trans people to share how they relate (or not) to their own gender, imagine visions of their own queer utopia, and reveal whether gender can be felt in your toes.
Read more »To Make a Film Just to Meet Vera
Pinja Valja
New work
To Make a Film Just to Meet Vera (2021) is an experimental documentary about an encounter between two women, media artist Pinja Valja and model Vera Ruuska. As a child, Pinja dreamt of becoming a princess when she grows up. The main duty of the princess was to be beautiful, wear gorgeous clothes and be admired – just... Read more »
Minna Långström’s Photosphere at Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition
Minna Långström’s Photosphere (2021) was selected for Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s Spring Exhibition, open from February 6 to March 13 2022 in Denmark. Photosphere revolves around the connection between a Hollywood studio film laboratory and a solar observatory during the era of… Read more »
Photons of Mars
Minna Långström
New work
Photons of Mars depicts facilities dedicated to interplanetary research, and the people working in these spaces; a Mars rover driver and a worker in the laboratory where the rover’s cameras are made. Filmed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the piece reflects on how such close connection to the Martian... Read more »
How to Do Things With Words (A Legal Performance)
Bita Razavi
New work
The video shows the artist getting married in her studio in Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. The studio is built to resemble the official marriage room of the registration office in Helsinki where people have half an hour time to get married with presence of two witnesses. The video deals with the theatrical aspect of a... Read more »
Travel Exercises
Elena Näsänen
New work
Travel Exercises is a short film about dreams, the desire to travel and our ability to alter the reality through imagination.
Read more »There Is No Planet B
Leena Kela
New work
There Is No Planet B is a video performance by performance artist Leena Kela. "Find a site which is either permanently or remarkably destroyed by human beings and make a flagging ceremony with an emergency blanket to commemorate the biodiversity loss in the area." The sites for the flagging ceremony are for example... Read more »
Day with Old Tjikko 1
Annette Arlander
New work
The video depicts a day with Old Tjikko, one of the oldest trees in the world. On 14 May 2019, I visited Old Tjikko, with Camilla Bäckstrand, and spent the day by the 9950 year old spruce tree growing on Fulufjället in Dalarna in Sweden. I recorded a moment with the tree every hour between 10.30 and 19.30, and... Read more »
Day with a Juniper (with text)
Annette Arlander
New work
The video depicts a day spent with a juniper. On 3 August 2019, I spent a day with a juniper on Utö, Finland, performing for camera every hour between 7 am and 9 pm, sitting next to the shrub, writing some notes after each session. The material is edited to include the spoken and recorded notes as a voice-over.
Read more »Day with a Juniper 1-2
Annette Arlander
New work
The two-channel video depicts a day spent with a juniper. On 3 August 2019 the artist spent a day with a juniper on Utö, Finland, performing for camera every hour between 7 am and 9 pm, sitting next to the shrub and lying down with her feet up next to it, writing some notes after each session. The material is edited... Read more »
Dear Deceased (with text)
Annette Arlander
New work
I am writing a letter to a dead spruce sitting on its trunk 29 September 2020 in the forest near Mustarinda house in Paljakkavaara in North-Eastern Finland. The read and recorded letter is added as a voiceover to the beginning of the video depicting its writing.
Read more »Risto-Pekka Blom’s Human Torch awarded with Honorable Mention at Minimalen Short Film Festival
Risto-Pekka Blom’s Human Torch (2022) was awarded with a Honorable Mention in the Nordic Competition of Minimalen Short Film Festival, held from January 11–16 2022 in Trondheim, Norway. The Jury gave the mention “To a film that not only experiments… Read more »
A letter from Liisi
Elina Saloranta
New work
The video is based on a letter from April 17, 1912. On that same day, there was a solar eclipse, which the letter writer is preparing to view through coloured glass. While waiting for the eclipse, she recalls her brother who has recently been “released from the world”. On the image track we see astronomical... Read more »
Azar Saiyar’s My Home selected for the Forum Expanded strand at Berlinale – Timo Wright at Berlinale Talents
Azar Saiyar’s My Home (2022) was selected for the Forum Expanded strand at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), held from February 10–20 2022. The festival will be organised as an in-person 2G-plus event (additional masking and testing requirement)…. Read more »
Talk About Society
Nuutti Koskinen
New work
Talk About Society is a video work combining video images and photography-based animation. The three acts of the work reflect upon the metaphors we use to discuss the society or the state. How can we avoid language and imagery that makes us hostages to the public imagination?
Read more »The Saboteur
Anssi Kasitonni
New work
An ex-saboteur gets back in the game and every trick will be exposed! A short action film about the joint adventure of indie filmmaking - with all the special effects.
Read more »Jenni Luhta’s and Lauri Luhta’s The Deluge awarded for the Best Writing at Austin Arthouse Film Festival
Jenni Luhta’s and Lauri Luhta’s feature-length fiction film The Deluge (2020) was awarded for the Best Writing at Austin Arthouse Film Festival, held online from December 26–31 2021. The film was also nominated for the Best Arthouse film and the… Read more »
Anssi Kasitonni’s and Mika Taanila’s short films in the international competition of Stuttgarter Filmwinter
Anssi Kasitonni’s Deus ex Machina (2021, in featured image) and Mika Taanila’s Failed Emptiness. Time (2021) were selected for the International Competition of Stuttgarter Filmwinter, held online from January 7–16 2022. The online screenings are available in Germany only. Mika… Read more »
They Go Gentle Into That Night Work by Soile Mottisenkangas awarded as the Best Experimental Documentary at Close:Up Edinburgh Docufest
They Go Gentle Into That Night Work (2020) by Soile Mottisenkangas was awarded as the Best Experimental Documentary at Close:Up Edinburgh Docufest, held from December 16–17 2021 in Cameo Picturehouse. In this creative short documentary about rhythm of work, a… Read more »
Short films by Azar Saiyar, Mika Taanila, Matti Harju, and Risto-Pekka Blom in the Nordic Competition of Minimalen Short Film Festival
The 34th Minimalen Short Film Festival will be held from January 11–16 2022 in Trondheim, Norway. Four short films by our artists were selected for the Nordic Competition: Mika Taanila’s Failed Emptiness. Time (2021), Matti Harju’s El Centro (2021), Azar… Read more »
AV-arkki will host two INFO seminars for member artists in January
As a follow-up for our first AV-arkki INFO seminars held in October 2020, we will host two online seminars for our member artists in January 2022. The seminars will be held in English. The sign-up for the attendees is open,… Read more »
New Fiction in Our Archive / Fall ’21
Risto-Pekka Blom: The Human Torch (2022) Discover new fiction in our online archive! For professional preview, please register to see the full-length versions. Risto-Pekka Blom: The Human Torch (2022, 05:56) We have acted according to the demands of society. We have followed… Read more »
New Installations and Performative Videos in Our Archive / Fall ’21
Featured image from: Maija Tammi & Charles Quevillon: The 1m3 Human Experiment (2018) Discover these recent acquisitions in our online archive! For professional preview, please register to see the full-length versions. Annette Arlander: Sunday with a Pine – with text (2017, 08:12)… Read more »
AV-arkki’s Distribution Catalogue 2021–2022 is published now!
Featured image: Salla Tykkä: Europe – Europa (2021) Our catalogue offers a diverse portrait of recent single channel art works by artists and filmmakers based in Finland. AV-arkki’s Distribution Catalogue 2021-2022 is intended for professional preview. The catalogue is distributed via AV-arkki’s… Read more »
The Human Torch
Risto-Pekka Blom
New work
We have acted according to the demands of society. We have followed the rules. We do not mock or belittle people different from us. But it is not okay to come here to upset the status quo, provoking all kinds of jeering at the hot dog kiosk. The Human Torch is a one-shot short film about a traffic crossing at night, where... Read more »