Nastja Säde Rönkkö’s salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears (featured image) and Elli Vuorinen’s Still Lives will screen in the Short & Mid-length category at the 54th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam, held from January 30th to February 9th, 2025. In addition, Sami van Ingen’s feature film Cast of Shadows (2025) will be screened in the section Cinema Regained.

salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears (2025) by Nastja Säde Rönkkö takes its starting point from a commonly held – yet incorrect – belief that blood contains the same amount of salt as sea water. Three narrators – a teardrop, a drop of Golden blood and a droplet of sweat – tell their own stories of love and loss. The video is driven by a poetic text: an intimate verse with an ambiguity that delivers a metanarrative for lost and found identity, a scarred planet and our ever-changing world.

In Elli Vuorinen‘s Still Lives (2019) the concept of busy stillness is explored from various standpoints as museum artefacts from all around the world reflect on the mundane challenges of modern life.

Still Lives is included in the screening presented by DINAMO – Distribution Network of Artists’ Moving Image Organizations, which AV-arkki is part of.

Sami van Ingen‘s feature film Cast of Shadows (2025) will be screened in the section Cinema Regained. Using unseen materials from his family’s archive, Sami van Ingen presents an essay about the women around his grandfather, filmmaker Robert Joseph Flaherty – his wife and their daughters, and the crucial roles they played in the making of his work.

International Film Festival Rotterdam
January 30th–February 9th, 2025
Rotterdam, Netherlands

More information: IFFR

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. If you want to hear the latest news from our distribution, subscribe to our newsletter!