The late Erkki Kurenniemi’s Florence (1970) will have its North American premiere through AV-arkki’s distribution. It will be screened as one of the archival pics of the acknowledged Wavelengths Programme at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), held from September 7–17. Curated by Andréa Picard, the Wavelengths presents every year a variety of audacious experimental films.
Kurenniemi: Florence (1970)
Shot during a trip to a conference on electro-acoustic music, Florence is a rich collage of double exposures. Images from the Alps, Milano, and Florence are merged with impressions from the Finnish summer. The 16mm Pathé ciné-camera enabled Kurenniemi to wind back, revisit and reshoot the same frames.
Erkki Kurenniemi in the 1960s
Erkki Kurenniemi (1941–2017) was a pioneer of Finnish electronic music. His projects and works anticipated in many ways the revolutionary impact of computers on both society and personal lives. Between 1964–70 Kurenniemi shot a number of short experimental 16mm films, part of which were later combined with his electronic music from the same era. In the short films, the futuristic fascination towards computers and electronics meets the sensuality of the organic details such as plants and insects. Some of Kurenniemi’s films are also exciting and unique documents about the 1960s underground youth having fun in Helsinki.
Toronto International Film Festival, 7.–17.9.2017, Canada
More information: TIFF