Jan Ijäs’s short documentaries screened in Montenegro, Poland, South Korea, Ukraine, and Uruguay

Jan Ijäs’s short documentaries from the Waste series travel the world. Waste no. 1 Money (2017) was screened at Montenegro Film Festival, held from August 1–8 in Herceg Novi. It will also be screened at Piriapolis Film Festival, held in Uruguay from August 10–12, as well in the international competitions of Lviv International Short Film Festival, held in Ukraine from August 6–12, and the 18th Seoul International NewMedia Festival, held from August 15–24.

In Waste no. 1 Money, inflation has resulted in the Zimbabwe dollar completely losing its value. Banknotes are literally recyclable goods, turned into tablecloths and lampshades, for example. In the Harare slums, which are rife with crime, valuable US dollar banknotes must be concealed in clothing, which means that the notes quickly become breeding grounds for bacteria. According to money launderers, dollar bills can best be gently hand washed with Omo detergent in warm water.

Earlier this summer, Waste no. 1 Money was awarded with the first prize in the international competition for short documentary films at the 46th Huesca International Film Festival,

Waste no. 5 The Raft of the Medusa (2017) was screened at On Art Film Festival, held in Poland from June 21 to August 25.

Le radeau de la Méduse parallels the wrecked boats of the African immigrants on the Italian Lampedusa island and the abandoned cars of asylum seekers that have travelled from Russia to Salla, Finnish Lapland with Théodore Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa (1818-1819), located in Louvre. Based on true events, the subject of the painting is the 1816 shipwreck of Méduse, a frigate with administrative personnel on their way from France to African colonies. The passengers of the ship rescued on a raft they built and left drifting on the open sea with fatal consequences. Over the years, the painting has become a universal symbol for both despair and hope.

Waste no. 5 The Raft of the Medusa (2017) won the Amnesty International Award at IndieLisboa in 2018.

Jan Ijäs: Waste no. 5 The Raft of the Medusa (2017)

Jan Ijäs: Waste no. 5 The Raft of the Medusa (2017)

Media artist and filmmaker Jan Ijäs lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. Ijäs works with documentary, fiction and alternative film. The films of Ijäs deal with serious and difficult social themes, like migration into foreign and hostile societies. Ijäs’s films have been shown very widely abroad by over a hundred film festivals and as installations in museums and galleries.


More information

Filmski Festival Herceg Novi

Lviv International Short Film Festival

NEMAF

On Art Film Festival

Piriapolis de Pelicula


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.