Le Saboteur (2022, in featured image) by Anssi Kasitonni and Flames (2021) by Marja Viitahuhta are part of this year’s Nordisk Panorama Film Festival. The festival will take place in Malmö Sweden, on September 22-27 2022.
Le Saboteur is part of Best Nordic Short Competition and is included in “Tales of the Unexpected” screening. Le Saboteur’s screening is on Sunday, September 25 in Cinema Spiegeln, Theatre C at 10:30 AM and Theatre A at 6 PM.
In Le Saboteur, an ex-saboteur gets back in the game and every trick will be exposed! A short action film about the joint adventure of indie filmmaking – with all the special effects.Le Saboteur is distributed in collaboration with AV-arkki – The Centre for Finnish Media Art and Raina Film Festival Distribution.
Anssi Kasitonni is a skateboarder and an award-winning artist from Sahalahti, Finland. He has worked in music, drawing and sculpture, but to many of his fans, the most beloved of his works are the short films he makes at his own farm. The films deal with age-old questions related to morality, love, death, generation gaps, sexuality and, of course, submarines. The ideas are epic, the films decidedly homespun. His movies create their own world that tells us something essential about ours. Kasitonni won the esteemed Ars Fennica Award in 2011.
Marja Viitahuhta’s Flames is included in the Library Programme and it is part of “Myths, Folk and Fairytales: Spirits from the North” screening. Showings are from Friday, September 23 to Thursday, September 29 in Malmö Public Libraries.
“When we pass from this world to another, the flames of our ancestors will be waiting for us.” – Ánnámáret. A video work with the yolk Dolat by Ánnámáret, from her album “Nieguid duovdagat”. In the video, embers and fire particles twirl in the air, transforming and dancing and swirling in the dark. The imagery has been layered with effects and animation to create an illusion of reality transforming into dreamlike, imaginary visions, brought about with the song and the hypnotism of looking at the fire. Fire is at the root of human culture, as a tool, but also as a place for social gatherings and storytelling. The yoik and the visual material of the video are based on its symbolism and power. However, as well as speaking about people’s bond with fire, this yoik is about lineage; of our temporal existence and belonging to a long line of our predecessors and our successors. The video, via its own means, visualises the yoik’s message.
Marja Viitahuhta (formerly Mikkonen) is a Helsinki-based media artist and filmmaker. Her works range from films, performances and installations to photography and collage. She holds a BA degree in performance art from the Turku Polytechnic Arts Academy and an MFA degree from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. She has been awarded internationally at Cannes (Cinéfondation), Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Mediawave and L’Alternativa film festivals. Viitahuhta’s recurring themes focus on perception and experience of female protagonists. Her works deconstruct individual identities, memories, or the idealised imagery of nations and landscapes. Her work often speaks in an intimate and personal tone and deals with existence and mortality. The text and image are set in a dialogue in Viitahuhta’s experimental language. Viitahuhta often bases her work on documentary filmmaking, archive material and found images as well as interviews.
Meet us at Nordisk Panorama
Tytti Rantanen, the programme coordinator of AV-arkki, will attend Nordisk Panorama. AV-arkki co-hosts with Poike Productio an open meeting on developing artists’ moving image. The meeting takes place on Sunday, September 25, at 14:00 in Café Smak, Malmö Konsthall.
Nordisk Panorama, September 22-27 2022, Malmö, Sweden.
More information: Nordisk Panorama Film Festival.
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.