Anssi Kasitonni’s Le Saboteur (2022) and Deus ex Machina (2021) have been screened at several film festivals this fall – and there are more to come. 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. In Deus ex machina, the illusion breaks down when the viewer can see the strings.

Recent screenings include international short film competition screening “Smoke on the Water” at Leeds International Film Festival, held from November 3–17 2022 in the UK; Competition Europe 4 screening at Fênetres sur courts film festival, held in Dijon from November 5–12 2022; and a screening in Europe in Short programme 2 at Ljubljana International Film Festival, held from November 9–20 2022 in Slovenia.

Earlier this fall, Le Saboteur was also screened at Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, held in Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, Canada, from October 29 – November 3 2022 and in the international short film competitions of Riga International Film Festival, held in Latvia from October 12–22 2022; Lima Alterna, held from October 13–23 2022 in Peru; and BRNO16 International Short Film Festival, held from October 13–16 2022 in Czech Republic.

In Curtocircuito, held from October 1–9 2022 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Le Saboteur was screened in the Radar competition. Le Saboteur was screened with Kasitonni’s other short film, Deus ex Machina (2021) in the “dok & exp long night short” screening at International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival Underdox, held in Munich from October 6–12 2022.

Le Saboteur is distributed in collaboration between AV-arkki – 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.

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.