Seppo Renvall‘s Ad Infinitum (featured image) and Heidi Piiroinen’s I am a River have been selected for the 30th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Ji.hlava IDFF), taking place from October 23 to November 1, 2026 in Jihlava, Czech Republic.
In Ad Infinitum (2026), vegetation and minerals send the gaze branching into structures where the forest meets its digital and cinematic reflections. A plunge into detail explores both nature and the possibilities of its representation: each closer view opens up another space. An ardent declaration of love for matter that transcends its depictions and returns knowledge to wonder.
The film is part of the competition section Fascinations; a prestigious competition section for best world experimental documentary films.
Seppo Renvall is a pioneer in Finnish experimental film. He works mainly with film and video, but hid artistic output also includes photography, installations and happenings. His films are characterised by an abstract imagery in black and white and a non-narrative structure that often focuses on the apparently commonplace and everyday. Renvall collaborates with musicians, DJs and audio specialists. His works and performances have been seen in the most prestigious arenas of alternative film and visual arts from Anthology Film Archive in New York to the biennials of Venice and Sao Paulo.
Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s poetry collection The Book of Questions, Finnish visual artist Heidi Piiroinen turns her attention to the materiality of 16mm film itself. Using a chemical technique known as mordançage, she etches the film strip, lifting layers of emulsion to create veil-like, ever-changing textures. The fluid imagery gives tangible form to river currents, deltas and wetlands. Water emerges as a living organism with a memory of its own, its flow echoing the passage of blood through the circulatory system. Ceaseless movement becomes a metaphor for human existence.
“Why do the waves ask me the same questions I ask them?”
The film is screened as part of the section Constellations, which presents films that recently shone on world documentary skies.
I am a River is produced by PALO.
Heidi Piiroinen (b. 1978) is a Helsinki-based visual artist and photographer. After two decades in photojournalism, she shifted towards an intimate, process-driven practice spanning film, installation and print. Her short film I am a River competed at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Oct 23–Nov 1, 2026
Jihlava, Czech Republic
More information: Ji.hlava IDFF