11-10-2017

The Black Nights Film Festival is to celebrate’s Finland’s 100th anniversary with a 48-hour marathon screening

     

    In special recognition of Finland's 100th birthday, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has created a special programme of 23 films celebrating Finnish cinematic history, which will be shown in a 48-hour-long marathon screening. 

    The unprecedented screening is set to take place between the 24th and 26th of November at the old cinematheque Kinomaja in Tallinn’s Old Town. The events programme will include a karaoke contest and a live peformance by the band Marko Haavisto & Poutahaukat, who gained fame performing in Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without a Past. The screenings will be introduced by various Finnish filmmakers, including director Jörn Donner and actress Kati Outinen.
     
    The opening film will be Jörn Donner’s legendary documentary Fuck Off! Images of Finland (1971), a cross-section of Finnish society in 1970, where beauty and ugliness, sad and funny, gentle and obscene co-exist organically. The uncut version only received screening permission at the end of the 1980’s.
     
    The selected films have been made between the years 1938 and 2008, genres include drama, thriller, horror, erotic, crime and comedy, all of them having gained a cult status in Finland and most having never been shown in Estonia. All the movies will be screened from 35mm films.
     
    The programme has been curated by the reputable Sodankylä Midnight Sun Film Festival, that was founded and is artistically consulted by Aki and Mika Kaurismäki.
     
    “The selection represents the diverse mental landscape of Finland. We interpret the word ‘cult’ as broadly as possible, using it to name films that have aroused both admiration and indignation, and have lived longer than one generation. On top of that, this feast will be screened on celluloid, making it a rare one-time pleasure,” said Milja Mikkola, the festival director of Sodankylä festival.
     
    Black Nights’ sub-festival PÖFF Shorts will screen a selection of Aki Kaurismäki’s short films.

    The programme:
    Stolen Death (1938) - Nyrki Tapiovaara
    Cross of Love (1946) - Teuvo Tulio
    Louisa (1946), Valentin Vaala
    The White Reindeer (1952), Erik Blomberg
    Gas, Inspector Palmu! (1961), Matti Kassila
    Skin, Skin (1966), Mikko Niskanen    
    Portraits of Women (1970), Jörn Donner
    The Count (1971), Peter von Bagh
    Fuck Off! - Images of Finland (1971), Jörn Donner
    Sensuela (1973), Teuvo Tulio
    The Year of the Hare (1977), Risto Jarva
    Life, Here I Come! (1980), Tapio Suominen
    The Worthless (1982), Mika Kaurismäki
    „Calamari Union” (1985), Aki Kaurismäki
    The Last Rat Skins (1985), Anssi Mänttäri
    The Moonlight Sonata (1988), Olli Soinio
    Dolly and Her Lover (1990), Matti Ijäs
    The Prodigal Son (1992), Veikko Aaltonen
    The Land of Happiness (1993), Markku Pölönen
    Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana (1994), Aki Kaurismäki  
    The Collector (1997), Auli Mantila
    The Man Without a Past (2002), Aki Kaurismäki  
    Sauna (2008), AJ Annila

    Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will take place between 17th November and the 3rd of December 2017.