Uppsala International Short Film Festival was held from October 24–30 2022 in Sweden. Anssi Kasitonni’s Le Saboteur (2022) and Risto-Pekka Blom’s The Human Torch (2022) were selected for the international competition, while Flis Holland’s Subserotic Bulge (2021) and Leena Pukki’s Time of the Slime Mold (2021, in featured image) were screened at thematic programmes.

Anssi Kasitonni’s Le Saboteur was included in the international competition 4 “Fire on all cylinders“. 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.

Risto-Pekka Blom’s The Human Torch was included in the international competition 5 “Nightvision“. We have acted according to the demands of society. We have followed the rules. We do not mock or belittle people different from us. But it is not okay to come here to upset the status quo, provoking all kinds of jeering at the hot dog kiosk. The Human Torch is a one-shot short film about a traffic crossing at night, where respectable people are waiting for the light to change. The film is about losing your sense of security in a world that is changing uncontrollably.

Leena Pukki’s Time of the Slime Mold was screened in the thematic programme “Deliciously disgusting“. In Time of the Slime Mold, the movement of slime mold is combined with pattern subjects selected from Karelian thread blankets. Slime molds are primitive Amoebozoa organisms that can move even they do not have a brain or nervous system. The poem heard in the background expresses themes of time, circulation and decomposing.

Flis Holland’s Subserotic Bulge was screened in the “Queer” programme. In 2019 an iron meteorite was filed to dust, stirred into cream, and fed to 36 people. Flis’s uterus was rife with tumours soon after. Their belly swelled as a fleshy block pushed its way out at astonishing speed. From the first poke of a finger, to WebMD, to x-rays, every diagnostic tool came up short. But Flis’s telling of it is rather different to the medical notes. The video asks about diagnosis, and how certain people’s testimony is dismissed as unreliable. From meteorite falls to trans experiences of the medical system, it’s a documentary that slips into sci-fi – and it’s not always clear which part is which.

Uppsala International Short Film Festival, October 24–30 2022, Sweden

More information: Uppsala ISFF

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.