Held from March 6–10 2024, Tampere Film Festival is the oldest film festival in Finland and AV-arkki’s main domestic festival partner. This year’s edition contains dozens of short films by AV-arkki’s artists both in the competitions and in the thematic screenings. One of the main themes of this edition is Forest, which extends to AV-arkki’s collaborative screening as well. The rest of the programme offers novelties, classics and true rarities.

Our artists’ short films in competitions

National Competition 7 | Wed 6.3. 15:30 Cine Atlas 2 | Fri 8.3. 14:00 Cine Atlas 2

• Risto-Pekka Blom: Oh No, Lasse Falls! (2023, 19:00)

National Competition 8 | Wed 6.3. 18:15 Cine Atlas 2 | Fri 8.3. 11:30 Cine Atlas 2

• Iona Roisin: An Uncountable Number of Threads (2023, 22:00)
• Sami Sänpäkkilä: Ritual for the Rainbow (2024, 19:00)

National Competition 9 | Wed 6.3. 20:45 Cine Atlas 2 | Sat 9.3. 10:45 Cine Atlas 2

• Rosaliina Paavilainen: A Beauty Odyssey (2023, 14:00)

National Competition 10 | Thu 7.3. 10:15 Cine Atlas 2 | Sat 9.3. 13:15 Cine Atlas 2

• Ville Koskinen: Magnifica: Passive Intruder (2023, 21:00)
• Elli Vuorinen: Flower Show (2024, 09:00)
• Hans Pieski & Arttu Nieminen: Muohtačalmmit (2023, 10:00)
• Patrik Söderlund: Impivaara – A New World (2023, 26:00)
• Anssi Kasitonni: Pena’s Special Hauling (2024, 12:00)

Hans Pieski’s and Arttu Niemisen’s Muohtačalmmit will also be screened in Sámi Films in Focus (Wed 6.3. 20:15 Cine Atlas 4 | Sat 9.3. 18:30 Cine Atlas 2)

Elli Vuorisen’s Flower Show will also be screened in International Competition 10: Animations (Fri 8.3. 16 Cine Atlas 1 | Sat 9.3. 10:30 Cine Atlas 4)

National Competition 11 | Thu 7.3. 13:15 Cine Atlas 2 | Sat 9.3. 15:45 Cine Atlas 2

• Jan Ijäs: Two Wars (2023, 26:51)
• PV Lehtinen: Yöui (2023, 05:00)
• Pia Andell: Kesken (2024, 30:00)

Forest

AV-arkki’s screening expands on Tampere Film Festival’s forest theme through experimental shorts.

The forest and depictions of it are an integral part of Finnish art – including media art. In the 1990s, Finnish video art was described as “rustic” and non-urban. However, artists did not venture into the thicket simply to escape the anxiety-inducing modern world. Instead, the forest and its depictions were intertwined with various artistic and sociocultural approaches and emotional registers.

The screening takes place on Thursday, March 7 at 14:00 in Cine Atlas 3 and on Saturday, March 9 at 16:45 in Niagara. There will be a q&a with the artists.

The screening includes the following films:

Lea Kantonen & Pekka Kantonen: The Maiden of Finland (1989, 11:44)
Minna Parkkinen: Forest (2000, 02:11)
Annette Arlander: Dear Spruce (2020, 05:47)
Maarit Suomi-Väänänen: Log Head (2015, 10:20)
Pasi Autio: Feel the Heat (2022, 09:15)
Joel Karppanen: A Nature Documentary (2021, 10:37)
Liisa Karvonen & Ulla Väätäinen: Dark Blotches, Women and Beetles (1997, 06:10)
Nastja Säde Rönkkö: Survival Guide for a Post-Apocalyptic Child (F) (2023, 06:56)
Elina Brotherus: Dump a Bushel of Lemons in a Northern Forest in Winter (2017, 01:00)

Other screenings in the Forest theme, curated by the CEO of Tampere Film Festival, Riina Mikkonen, include Milja Viita’s Risto Jarva awarded Animal Bridge U-3033 (2018) (in the screening Forest 2: Homewood, on Fri 8.3. 20:45 Cine Atlas 1 & Sat 9.3. 19:00 Cine Atlas 3) and the winner of the last year’s national short film competition, Maija Blåfield’s Scenic View (2023) (in the screening Forest 3: Lost in the Woods, Thu 7.3. 21:30 Cine Atlas 4 & Sat 9.3. 10:00 Cine Atlas 3). 

The theme includes also a panel discussion (in Finnish) Forest as the Object of Attention and Struggle on Saturday, March 9 at 12:00 in Cine Atlas 3. Short films about the forest adhere to the long tradition of nature photography in Finnish art, but also challenge it. At the same time, the forest space around us is shrinking all the time. How does a filmmaker look at the forest, and what about an activist? And what do we even look at when we look at the forest?

In the panel discussion, the nature and current state of the forest will be discussed by filmmakers Maija Blåfield (Scenic View, 2023) and Salla Hämäläinen (Metsänpeitto, 2012), film researcher Kristiina Koskinen (PhD in nature documentaries), philosopher and activist Otto Snellman (seen in Virpi Suutari’s film Havumetsän lapset, 2024), and Tuomas Rantanen, publisher at Voima and NGO activist. The discussion will be moderated by Tytti Rantanen, programme coordinator, film essayist and curator at AV-arkki.

Classics and Rarities

The Carte Blanche screening of the Jussi awarded animation documentarist Iiti Yli-Harja includes also works by AV-arkki’s artists: Flame 2018) by Sami van Ingen, Gliders (2005) by Anssi Kasitonni, and My Silence (2013) by Mika Taanila. The screening takes place on Friday, March 8 at 19:00 in Niagara, and on Saturday, March 9 at 11:00 in Cine Atlas 1.

The Friday night in Niagara continues at 21:00 with a screening of truly rare experimental films. Curated by Mika Taanila, the screening Lost Reels is an expansion of Taanila’s namesake essay in the recent anthology on Finnish Media Art. The screening begins with a reconstruction of Erkki Kurenniemi’s and Jan Bark’s Spindrift (1966/2013), which was the first Finnish computer animation. The rest of the screening consists of experimental films made by Kai Oka in the 1970s. These short films form a surprising, yet unseen addition to the history of the Finnish experimental film. Tampere Film Festival marks the first public screening in Finland for this films, some of which had their world premiere earlier this year at IFF Rotterdam.

Industry event (in Finnish): Between Art and Reality

AV-arkki and The Finnish Documentary Guild co-host a seminar and a networking event Between Art and Reality on Friday, March 8 at 11:30. Just like documentarists, many media artists explore reality. What are the similarities and differences between the two? What could documentarists and media artists learn from each other? In the seminar talks and panel discussion, you will hear from artists working on the borders between the two fields. Reality art is approached from the point of view of both content and production. The talks will be given by Sanna Kultanen, executive director of the The Finnish Documentary Guild,  AV-arkki’s programme coordinator Tytti Rantanen and filmmakers Hanna Hovitie and Sami van Ingen. The panel discussion moderated by producer Tuuli Penttinen-Lampisuo will be attended by producer Pasi Hakkio, executive director of Mänttä Art Festival Sampsa Virkajärvi and filmmakers Milja-Liina Moilanen and Joel Karppanen. The conversation will continue in a more casual manner with afternoon coffees.

Featured image: Joel Karppanen: A Nature Documentary (2021)

Tampere Film Festival, March 6–10 2024, Tampere

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