The programme of the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) features four Finnish experimental short films by Mika Taanila, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Antti Jussila & Jari Kallio, Jan Ijäs, and Sasha Huber & Petri Saarikko.
Held from January 25 to February 5, International Film Festival Rotterdam is one of the main events focusing on independent and experimental film.
Mika Taanila‘s The World (2017) will have its world premiere in Deep Focus series in the screening Nuts and Bolts: Sound Systems. The World is Taanila’s “film without film” tribute to David Bowie, an upside-down, humanless take on The Man Who Fell to Earth (Roeg 1976), featuring a soundtrack with imaginary landslides and The Man Who Sold the World popping up backwards.
The screenings of The World take place in KINO 3 on Saturday, January 28 at 12:30 and on Monday, January 30 at 10:00.
Jaakko Pallasvuo’s, Antti Jussila’s and Jari Kallio’s Bridge Over Troubled Water (2016) is screened in Bright Future series dedicated to young, up-and-coming talent. Their short film is included in the programme Forces of Nature.
It’s 1967, 2015, 2515, 10000 AD. Simon and Garfunkel are travelling through time. Seeking an answer to their growing sadness and anxiety, brought on partly by the slowly overwhelming presence and existential treath of the climate change, they head to the coast, are incarcerated, visit the botanical garden in Turku, and watch Jake Gyllenhaal in Deep Impact in a darkened room. Above the tree line and into the Arctic Circle our protagonists find themselves in Kilpisjärvi, at the most northwestern point of Finland where they are – perhaps more than usual – alone together.
The screenings of Bridge Over Troubled Water take place in Cinerama 2 on Sunday, January 29 at 16:30 and on Monday, January 30 at 20:30.
AV-arkki participates in Dinamo Screenings
As a member of the international DINAMO coalition, AV-arkki, the Distribution Centre for Finnish Media Art, presents two short films in two DINAMO screenings.
The first DINAMO screening, Borderless, features Jan Ijäs’s Waste no. 2 Wreck (2016). The short documentary was filmed in 2014 and 2015 in the graveyard for refugee boats on the Italian island of Lampedusa. It is a story about how the value of garbage and rubbish can surprisingly change.
Waste no. 2 Wreck is screened on Saturday, January 28 at 15:30 in KINO 4.
The second DINAMO screening has Black and White as its theme. The programme includes Sasha Huber’s & Petri Saarikko’s film Remedies – Rongoã (2016).
There is a long tradition for various methods for healing – the individual, the collective, society or nature. Artists Huber and Saarikko choreographed this performance or video action during a residency in Wellington, New Zealand, much inspired by the local Maori culture, but also by the imminent threat of nature – earthquake and tsunami – against a city which is located on the very edge of a potential disaster. The participants of the collective performance are also co-authors of the work.
Remedies – Rongoã is screened on Sunday, January 29 at 16:00 in KINO 4.
DINAMO is an international coalition for distribution organizations supporting and promoting artist’s moving images. DINAMO’s goal is to share our common expertise in the areas of advocacy, exhibition, preservation and education.
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017, January 25 – February 5.
More information: International Film Festival Rotterdam
Image: Still from Huber & Saarikko: Remedies – Rongoã, 2016.