Mika Taanila’s Failed Emptiness. Time in the international competition of Moscow International Experimental Film Festival

Mika Taanila’s Failed Emptiness. Time (2021) was selected for the international competition of Moscow International Experimental Film Festival, held from August 11–17 2021. Failed Emptiness. Time is included in the International Competition 2 “In the Sand of Time”. The remaining screening takes place on Saturday, August 14 in film theatre Illyuzion.

Failed Emptiness. Time is a new collaboration between Taanila, poet Harry Salmenniemi, and musician Éliane Radique. Suddenly there is an enormous amount of time. At first everything is possible. Anything might happen. Gradually the possible becomes impossible.

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.


Moscow International Experimental Film Festival, August 11–17 2021, Russia

More information: MIEFF