Niina Suominen’s What Time is? (2020) has been selected for the Nordic-Baltic Short Film Competition at Fredrikstad Animation Festival in Norway. The film will be screened on Friday, October 23 at 16:30 and on Saturday, October 24 at 10:00. It will also be available online for the duration of the festival. Fredrikstad Animation Festival is held from October 22 – 25.
The starting point for What Time is? was to create a visually interesting and intense, kaleidoscopically abundant work that could be set together with the pioneering electric composition of Jukka Ruohomäki. The sound material was created in 1970 with the DIMI-synthesizer designed by Erkki Kurenniemi. The film material (16mm) was shot and developed by the director with the exception of the found footage war imagery. What time is? places the experience of time in the centre of contemplation. The human figures act as reference points for meditation on the passage and ending of time. The images of war function as universal symbols reflecting the inherent violence in human nature through all eras. The work gives us a chance to reflect on the transient nature of time and the relationship of the viewer to the conflict-ridden epoch in which we live.
Niina Suominen has graduated from the Arts Academy at Turku in 2004. She also has an education of a blacksmith, animal nurse and a forest worker. She works as a film director and media artist using traditional animation techniques requiring hand-work. Her works have been shown widely at the festivals both in Finland and abroad. She lives and works in Southwest Finland.
Fredrikstad Animation Festival, October 22 – 25 2020, Norway
More information: FAF