Elena Näsänen’s Whoosh (2016), Milla Moilanen’s Wanted (1998), Mika Taanila’s Optical Sound (2005) are included in the special programmes of Brest International Short Film Festival, held from November 7–12. Established in 1986, the festival is among the most important European short film festivals. Brest International Short Film Festival marks the festival premiere for the new 4K restoration of Wanted.
Näsänen’s Whoosh will be screened on Friday, November 10 at 22:00 in the programme BREST-OFF – Thrillers. An old Art Nouveau villa attracts a 17-year-old girl. She escapes from school’s drawing class to explore the villa more closely. Sometimes you need to step into the unknown to confront yourself.
Elena Näsänen is a visual artist who works with film and video installations. She has studied in Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki and The Slade School of Fine Art in London. In her works she combines elements of traditional cinema to video installation. The sound is always essential in her works. Her works has been shown in several exhibitions and film and video festivals. For example in Helsinki Kunsthalle, Marco Museum Vigo, The Anna Akhmatova Museum, St. Petersburg, Kyoto Art Center, Mediamatic Amsterdam, FACT Liverpool, Anthology Film Archives New York, La casa Ensendida Madrid, Tate Modern London, ZKM Karlsruhe, Rotterdam Film Festival.
Näsänen: Whoosh (2016)
Milla Moilanen’s Wanted and Mika Taanila’s Optical Sound are screened in the showcase curated by Sari Volanen, the short film producer at the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. Volanen’s programme will be screened on Wednesday, November 8 at 17:30.
Wanted is based on the archival materials of the Uppsala Institute for racial biology (Uppsala University, Sweden). Today – in this very building – research into genetic manipulation is being conducted by dissecting DNA. The animation deals with people’s classification based on outward appearance. The subject matter is indeed a timely one, nowadays masked behind the cover of technology as it is. Does modern genetic manipulation justify the previous century’s racial research? Wanted was one of the five nominees for the European Short Film Academy Award 1999.
The new 4K restoration with 5.1 surround sound is digitized by the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) from 35mm film print and supported by the Finnish Film Foundation (material support).
Milla Moilanen is a director, media artist and a pioneer in Finnish digital animation. Moilanen has been working with moving images and multimedia since 1987. She has created short films and many kinds of audiovisual projects as an independent artist, graphic designer and photographer. Moilanen’s award-winning pieces (Signals 1993, Deep 1994, Scale 1996, Wanted 1998, Dual 1999, Passage 2001, Vertebra 2003) have been presented at numerous festivals and exhibitions around the world.
In Mika Taanila’s Optical Sound (2005), obsolete office tools transform into musical instruments of the future. The film is based on The Symphony #2 for Dot Matrix Printers by [The User].
Mika Taanila is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Helsinki, Finland. He works with documentaries, experimental film and visual arts. Human engineering, utopias, failures and man-machines are recurring themes in his films and installations. Taanila’s works have been shown at major international group shows, such as Venice Biennale (Nordic Pavilion 2017), Aichi Triennale (2013), dOCUMENTA (2012), Shanghai Biennale (2006), Berlin Biennale (2004), Manifesta (2002) and Istanbul Biennial (2001). Solo shows include the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki (2013–14), Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2013), TENT, Rotterdam (2013) and Galleria Heino, Helsinki (2010). Taanila’s short films have been screened altogether at more than 300 international film festivals and special events. In 2015, Taanila was awarded with the prestigious Ars Fennica Award, the biggest Finnish art award.
Taanila: Optical Sound (2005)
Brest International Short Film Festival, 7.–12.11.2017, Brest, France
More information: Brest ISFF