Kilpailun kansainvälinen raati

Veikko Timonen, Golden Baltic Herring -voittaja 2023

Lotta Halinen, tanssija, Raumars-taiteilija

Silja Lehtonen, Lönnströmin taidemuseon johtaja

Grete Ahtola, Viron Suomen-suurlähetystön kulttuurineuvos

 

AMATÖÖRIT/ AMATEURS

Thursday/ to 22.8.  14.00,  cinema Iso-Hannu 2
Friday/ pe 23.8.  16.00, cinema Iso-Hannu 3

 

• Fredrik Carlsson, Sweden: Tomrum (Blankness), fiction, 06:43

A woman sneaks through a corridor. Instead of entering an important work meeting, a man gets stuck in front of a porn site. This film explores small moments that can lead to significant changes.

 

• Marie Donath, Germany: Plankton TV, animation, 29:49

A crew of microscopic plankton friends are determined to broadcast their pirate Music TV show to the bigger maritime species. Planktonic TV Studio produces bubbles containing life-streamings of concerts to spread it into the ocean. A story supported by scientific intermissions with facts about plankton, ocean currents, deep sea volcanoes.

 

• Akseli Kouki, Finland: Viinistä, jalkapallosta ja yksinäisyydestä, exp/fiction 09:44

Kaapo’s summer is full of wine, football, loneliness & friends. He carries the weight of depression amidst the beautiful ambience of nature. Despite engaging in wine tasting and football talks with his friends, he battles inner turmoil and profound loneliness.

 

• Johannes Törnquist, Sweden: Gula magar (Yellow bellies), fiction, 20:28

Patrick invites his friend Nelson for a last night of drinking, before Nelson moves to Gothenburg. But instead of a night of celebtration, it becomes a night of confrontation when Patrick orders a mysterious drink.

 

• Robin Jonsson. Sweden: The Mountain Climber, fiction 09:18

A couple leaving a party laughs and fights… until they encounter unexpected danger.

 

• Anne Seppänen, Finland: Paha Tapa (A Bad Habit), fiction 04:58

An ex-contract killer finds out the hard way that old habits die hard.

 

OPISKELIJAT/ FILM STUDENTS

FILM STUDENTS/  SET 1

Thursday/ to 22.8.  16.00, cinema Iso-Hannu 2
Friday/ pe 23.8.  18.00, cinema Iso-Hannu 3

 

• Cédric Ernoult, Kunsthochschule Köln; Germany, France: Le Métèque, fiction, 29:54

Finistère. Two young deaf free divers on vacation find a drifting sailing ship. They guide it back to shore and shortly thereafter meet Jade, the boat’s owner. She invites them aboard. At last, the boys seem to be able to enjoy their vacation when a sudden turn of events changes everything.

 

• Lena Strohmaier, Filmakademie Ludwigsburg; Germany,France: Paranuss (Nuts), fiction 08:30

Together for several years, Sven has recently become more distant in his relationship. Thomas knows the reason: his husband is having an affair. After all the recent sacrifices he’s made for him, the betrayal is too big for Thomas. He wants to punish Sven in the same way he’s betraying him, and to do so he has a terrible weapon: the Brazilian nut.

 

• Roosa Kinnunen, Baltic Film, Media and Arts School; Estonia, Finland: Vastavirtaan, doc, 08:23

Discovering the resilience and strength of refugees in Finland, throughout Berivan Suleiman’s story. This production sheds light on the gaps within Finnish society, where newcomers grapple with integration barriers, limited opportunities, and unequal competition, all while striving for their dreams.

 

• Tuulia Kaurala, University of Lapland, Finland: Toiset ajat, fiction, 15:29

Amidst the pandemic, Ilona, a driven event planner, chooses remote work from her childhood home. Despite her intent to focus on work, her mother’s presence becomes overwhelming. Tensions culminate in an accident jeopardising her crucial project. With the cancellation of all events, Ilona initially struggles but ultimately discovers solace and friendship in her mother.

 

• Janina Lutter, Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany: Wolke Z (Swim and Float), fiction, 16:45

When Mila learns from her best friend that she will have sex for the first time tonight, she panics. To keep up with the experience, she organizes an overnight date with her former school friend Jonas. In the course of the afternoon, the two get closer and when Mila realizes that she is not ready for this kind of intimacy after all, it is too late.

 

• Topi Raulo, Aalto University, Finland: Suonsilmä, fiction, 20:00

Far in the future, in a place that was once called Finland, there lives a people whose history is shrouded in mystery. A young Finno-Ugric person sets out to seek answers to life’s big questions, but ends up becoming a slave for a cult of semiotics. Answers they give are contaminated – quite literally.

 

• Heta Okkonen, Aalto University, Finland: Headrest, animation, 02:53

Girl tries to escape the noise of the mind, thoughts and memories that fill the spaces. Is there peace to be found from yourself?

 

• Diana Szczotka, Poland: Transgresja (Transgression), fiction 24:44

Dawid, a local drug dealer spends an intimate evening with his client Nadia. During the night Dawid’s growing affection for Nadia is met with a sudden realization: Nadia is a transgender woman. This revelation stirs a conflict between his feelings and beliefs, and sets him off on a journey towards self-discovery and acceptance.

 

FILM STUDENTS/  SET 2

Thursday/ to 22.8.  19.00, cinema Iso-Hannu 2
Friday/ pe 23.8.  20.10, cinema Iso-Hannu 3

 

• Roosa Vuokkola, Aalto University, Finland: Kuinka huolehtia undulaateista, fiction, 18:26

Arvo is lonely, and his annoying big sister Ulla is no help. Arvo decides to get himself a new friend: a parakeet.

 

• Saarlotta Virri, Aalto University, Finland: Leikkejä eläville (In the Midst of Chaos There Was Shape), doc, 16:55

In a forest, three elderly sisters are playing hide-and-seek. As the play goes on, time starts to lose its linearity, and past selves merge with present ones. What follows is an odyssey through dreams and memories. A hallucinatory exploration of time and collective imagination.

 

• Siiri Vaara, Aalto University, Finland: Missä valo hajoaa sirpaleiksi (Where the Light Breaks Into Shards), doc, 14:18

Where the Light Breaks into is a poetic short film about an encounter between a human and a bladderwrack on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The theme is intepreted through the memories of the sea and it invites the viewer to contemplate ones own relationship towards other species.

 

• Reza Sam Mosadegh, Hamburg Media School, Germany: Echoes of Juno, fiction, 13:03

Grief for her deceased daughter Juno drives the young mother Hanna into dependence on the AI-controlled Echoehub. Hanna is prepared to sacrifice everything for the illusion that Juno’s life will go on: Her time, her money and even her marriage.

 

• Masha Mollenhauer, Hamburg Media School, Germany: Ein Fahrrad für Alicia, fiction, 12:28

After receiving a bike as a birthday present from her older brother, 14-year-old Alicia is accused of theft at school. Confronted with a moral dilemma, she must decide whether to betray her brother, who already has a criminal record or take the blame for a crime she did not commit.

 

• Agata Tracevič, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania: Plica Polonica, animation, 07:41

Plica polonica is a disease people used to believe in. It makes human hair uncombable. The main character of the film – a young girl – feels tangled and stuck. Therefore, she goes on a search for answers to the most matted of them all – the infamous Baba Yaga.

 

• Janina Hüttenrauch, Hamburg Media School, Germany: Please Don’t Tap On The Glass, fiction, 13:22

One year after her best friend’s suicide, 19-year-old Nele struggles to reengage with life, hiding away in her part-time job at the aquarium. But then Ella, her new co-worker tries to connect with Nele. When they save a seahorse from a shady dealer, Nele is compelled to confront her emotions and, ultimately, life itself.

 

• Wing Ki Candace Hui, Aalto University, Finland: Tape, animation 05:47

Plastic tape unleashed a deeply emotional journey that delves into the old home of a young lady. The house she once left stirred up haunting memories that stuck somewhere in her mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AMMATTILAISET/ PROFESSIONALS

PROFESSIONALS

Thursday/ to 22.8.  21.00, cinema  Iso-Hannu 2
Friday/ pe 23.8.  22.00, cinema Iso-Hannu 3

• Inuk Jørgensen, Denmark: Entropy, doc, 09:52

The vast Greenlandic ice sheet has been created over thousands of years, but today climate change is threatening the close and sacred connection between the land moulded by ice and the Inuit who live there. Told from an Indigenous perspective the film celebrates Greenlandic mythology as much as it laments the nature we are all losing.

 

• Antanas Skučas, Gintarė Valevičiūtė Brazauskienė, Lithuania: Purga, animation/ doc, 13:21

Winter, 1942. Beyond the Arctic Circle, on the uninhabited island of Trofimovsk in the Laptev Sea. This is the place chosen by Soviet authorities to deport many thousands of inhabitants from the occupied Baltic countries, Finland, Ukraine and elsewhere. Here, they face a daily struggle to survive. This film reflects the unfaded memories of those who survived.

 

• Kerstin Gramberg, Germany: Lost Places, animation, 11:50

What springs to mind when you think of an ideal world? An idyllic white mountain range, its peaceful silence suddenly interrupted by a pack of wolves on their evening hunt for prey? Or rather a man-made world looking for resources, security and pleasure? Who barges in? Who is disturbing whom? A wolf sets off on a wandering journey letting us see the world through his eyes.

 

• Anssi Kasitonni, Finland: Pena’s Special Hauling, fiction, 11:42

Pena has been a truck driver for five decades. Recently his memory hasn´t been so good causing him a few problems. Finally law enforcement caught up with him as well. Luckily he has friends & family who support him during his journey as a hauler who drives only on weekends. Film deals with the issues of aging and memory problems and how we as society should relate to it.

 

• Klaus Hoefs, Germany: Onkels Und Ich (Uncles and Me), animation, 17:16

A summer on Uncle’s fields, with forbidden cigarettes and hidden lakes. Life on the farm is shaped by alliances, amidst tech conflicts, traditional badger hunts persist. In the kitchen, robust scents blend with the hum of the microwave, and a surreal hunting initiation unfolds, pulling the protagonist out into the vast unknown in comical coal boots.

 

• Pia Andell, Finland: Kesken (Amidst), fiction, 29:59

In this dip into the deep end of middle age, everything is unfinished: people and their comprehension, their relationships and processes, even their jokes.

 

• Alexey Evstigneev, France, Russia: Father’s Letters – Vosta! , animation, 12:10

In 1934, Professor Vangengheim is condemned to the Gulag on the Solovki. As he pretends to be on a grand voyage of exploration, he crafts imaginative tales in letters to his daughter Eleonora, shielding her from the truth of his sentencing as a ”traitor to the motherland”.