pHinnWeb

(”The Bottle Collector”)

Short film, Finland, 2018.

This short film recently had its fifth anniversary. Its origins were in some real-life news stories on how teenagers had filmed their bullying and using violence against other kids, then posting the videos to YouTube. I was thinking about the herd mentality and how hard it is to oppose evil if it seems to be the “accepted norm” of your peers, also how easily the oppressed turn against each other.

Cinematically, there were plenty of influences; perhaps I was thinking about Kurosawa, Buñuel, Kubrick, some Italian Neo-Realist films, even John Carpenter. Some of the dialogue feels contrived now (it’s hard to convey in an authentic way how contemporary teenagers actually talk and behave, and the actors were a bit old for their roles – except for Timo Lääti as the bottle collector Toivo, who was originally supposed to be a pensioner!) but visually and as with the overall mise-en-scène I’m quite happy with it.

YouTube link above. Cc for English subtitles.

Related posts.

This is the project I’m currently working on. Premiere 18 July 2023 at Ykspihlaja Festival, Kokkola, Finland. VOD later on (details TBC).

Info:

Captain Aarne Juutilainen (1904-1976), nicknamed “the Terror of Morocco” after his stint in the French Foreign Legion, became the symbol of the Battle of Kollaa in Finnish Winter War of 1939-40. The sniper Simo Häyhä, “the White Death”, was one of Juutilainen’s men. A forthcoming documentary will be an account of Aarne Juutilainen life.

Tuotanto / Produced by:

Pauli Poranen Production (Kokkola), The Kiljava Institute/Voionmaa Institute (Tampere), The Federation of Education in Central Ostrobothnia & Media Centre LIME (Kokkola) & pHinnWeb/Pispala Noir (Tampere).

Teasers available on YouTube (click “CC” for English subtitles):

Teaser 1

Teaser 2

Teaser 3

The Finnish interior designer Markku Ellala passed away on the 25th of May, 2023. He was 69 years old.

Our paths with Markku Ellala crossed in July 2019, when we visited Ellala’s famous manor Villa Royal (an old school he had amazingly renovated, redesigned and redecorated with his own hands to resemble a royal palace) in Sastamala to make a video interview of him as a student work. He won’t be forgotten.

I’m back.

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eugenehl:

A Time of Roses [Ruusujen aika]. 1969, Risto Jarva.