Hannaleena Heiska’s Today We Live and Mika Taanila’s Delay of Game at Hamburg ISFF

Hannaleena Heiska’s Today We Live (2013) and Mika Taanila’s Delay of Game (2017) will be screened at the 34th Hamburg International Short Film Festival, held from June 5–11. Heiska’s short film will be screened in the opening screening on Tuesday, June 5. Taanila’s anaglyph 3D film is included in the International Short Film Competition Programme 6 “Support Your Local Sheriffs”. The screenings take place on Friday, June 8, at 14:00 and 22:00, and on Saturday, June 9, at 22:00.

Delay of Game revisits a nocturnal outdoor ice-hockey match. On Thursday, January 14th, 1954 the weather in Helsinki was mild, only minus two degrees Celcius. Finnish National Team vs. Wembley Lions (UK).

Mika Taanila (s. 1965) 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.

Mika Taanila: Delay of Game (2017)

Mika Taanila: Delay of Game (2017)

Hannaleena Heiska’s Today We Live is an anonymous group portrait, shot in a rock club. Slow motion footage underlines the dancing audience’s fleeing motions and facial expressions. Erik Satie’s orchestral music makes a counterpoint to the dancers’ aggressive movements.

Hannaleena Heiska is an artist working with the film, painting and installation. She is interested in emotions, music and visual poetry of moving image. Recently her works has been shown in Helsinki Contemporary, Finland, Espace Louis Vuitton, Tokyo, Japan, CAC – Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania, Amos Andersson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland and 5th Momentum Biennial, Moss, Norway. Hannaleena Heiska is based in Helsinki and has studied at The Finnish Academy of Fine Arts.


The 34th Hamburg International Short Film Festival, 5.–11.6.2018, Germany

More information: Hamburg ISFF


AV-ARKKI HAS PROMOTED AND DISTRIBUTED FINNISH MEDIA ART SINCE 1989. AV-ARKKI’S PROMOTIONAL EFFORTS HAVE MADE THE ARTISTS’ PARTICIPATION IN THIS EVENT POSSIBLE.