AV-arkki has a strong presence at Tampere Film Festival. Held between March 9 and 13, Tampere Film Festival is the oldest short film festival in Northern Europe. The internationally distinguished event is AV-arkki’s main associate in Finland. The national competition of Tampere Film Festival includes five recent short films distributed by AV-arkki. In addition, AV-arkki has curated a special programme around equality, human rights and freedom of speech. During the event, AV-arkki is organizing the FestArt exhibition in collaboration with the festival. This year’s artist is Pink Twins.
The films selected for the National Competition are:
Timo Wright: Null Statue (2015, 8:00) Crude oil thrown at invisible objects creates temporary abstract sculptures in Timo Wright’s experimental short film Null Statue. In 3D screening, the unpredictable virtual statues materialize in front of the audience – but only in time, not in space. Null Statue had its premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam.Screening: National Competition 9
Juha van Ingen: One (2015, 08:00) Juha van Ingen’s One takes a flawed mobile video as its starting point and material. Between the warm glow of basic colours and the unknown dark matter, one finds space for big questions: What was the original subject? Why was it impossible to capture – was it too small or too huge? A mash-up of 60’s sci-fi soundtracks intensifies the aura of mystery. One has premiered at Minimalen Short Film Festival in Norway.Screening: National Competition 9
Risto-Pekka Blom: Farewell (2015, 04:00) Premiering in Tampere, Risto-Pekka Blom’s Farewell portrays the disappearance of our familiar earth. It is a film about personal longing.Screening: National Competition 10
Anssi Kasitonni: Finnish Midsummer 2169 (2016, 11:00) A solar eclipse increases tension during the Finnish Midsummer Eve in the year 2169. A female vampire bat is determined to get lucky. Anssi Kasitonni’s animation is a sensual fable. The film has been screened at Helsinki Short Film Festival.Screening: National Competition 11
Salla Myllylä: My Tree (2015, 01:00) Premiered at Minimalen Short Film Festival, Salla Myllylä’s My Tree is a study of a tree and its urban surroundings. A hand paints an outline for a tree on a window. As the painting advances in front of our eyes and the seasons pass, the tree turns into a window to the outside world.Screening: National Competition 11
The National Competition also includes a work by another artist associated with AV-Arkki: Mika Taanila’s and Jussi Eerola’s feature-length documentary Return of the Atom (2015) will be screened in National Competition 4. The documentary had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival and was awarded as the best Nordic feature documentary at CPH:DOX in Denmark.
The special screening “Glass Wall – On Equality and Freedom of Speech”, curated by AV-arkki’s director Hanna Maria Anttila, will be screened as a part of the festival programme. Spanning from the early 1980s to our days, the works by Pasi “Sleeping” Myllymäki, Jan Ijäs, Pilvi Takala, Salla Tykkä and many others show both the global tragedies and black absurdism behind the topic. The tone of the films ranges from critical to caring.
Together with Tampere Film Festival, AV-arkki carries on the tradition of organizing the FestArt exhibition. The festival director Juhani Alanen has chosen Pink Twins to be this year’s artist. Pink Twins is a duo of brothers Juha (b. 1978) and Vesa (b. 1974) Vehviläinen, both visual artists and electronic musicians. Their hypnotic tree-channel video installation Parametronomicon will be shown at the festival centre during the festival. The installation is a model of parametric virtual life spanning from simple formations to the apocalyptic visions and visual orgy.
Tickets for most screenings cost EUR 8, the installation is free of charge. You can find more information on works, screenings, tickets, and the festival’s website.
The 46th Tampere Film Festival in Tampere, Finland, 9–13 March, 2016.