Short films by writer-director Ulla Heikkilä, which focus on small-scale personal injustices and everyday misunderstandings.
Language: Eng, Fin Duration: 82 min Age Limit: For all ages
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Thu 5.3. -
18:15 -
Finnkino Cine Atlas 4 -
12,50
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D033
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Sat 7.3.
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15:00
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Finnkino Cine Atlas 1
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12,50
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F071
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I got interested in Ulla (Heikkilä) as a filmmaker after seeing a short film of hers. Or actually it was before that, when a writer-director friend of mine told me I had to watch Ulla’s thesis film Golgata. I had sadly missed ELO’s student film screening that year. I introduced myself to Ulla via email, asked for links to her films and watched them all. Impressed by them, I suggested a meeting. I was met by a fun young person with a gorgeous idea for a feature film. A couple of years later, that idea became Eden.
Coming back to Ulla’s short films after all these years has been inspiring. In them, I recognize observations that are present in all of her work, including her second feature film, Elämä on juhla. To me, they include a drive to shine a light on everything that does not happen and everything that people do not do. It could be destructive passivity and a lack of trying. It could be silently accepting and submitting to bad behaviour until something breaks.
In her short films, Ulla zooms in on small personal wrongdoings and everyday instances of not understanding. Through this lens, she creates a metaphor for something bigger. Are we not listening to or hearing each other? Are we not looking, do we not see? Are we trying to understand each other? Still, Ulla doesn’t point fingers. She makes her observations through biting humour, but always with a deep understanding of the fact that sometimes you just don’t know how, don’t have it in you, or simply can’t do the right thing.
Ulla’s work often includes small communities like families, party guests, communes, campers, neighbourhoods and friend groups. There’s always someone who stays in the background, almost an outsider, for whatever reason they may have. Her films include a promise of a secret power hidden within some of these characters, just waiting to erupt. When it finally does, everything is real in a different way.
These short films have common layers, like religious rituals and celebrations, as well as references to the nature of sanctity and symbols of death. Ulla likes to play with a child’s perspective in her work. She gives children the wisdom and courage that us grownups often miss. The strong and organic work identity of the characters is something all these films share. We see the conflict between dreams and reality, professional dead ends, so again, that which does not happen.
On the surface, these films are almost uneventful. Ulla has the courage to stay in the everyday world and the ability to find her films’ tensions and depth there. Under the surface there’s still conflict, and the fear of it. Being passive, evading the issue or explaining it away may push the conflict a bit further down the road, but they will never erase it. Something has to break so that something new can grow.
The way these films portray humanity is moving. People are small and kind of drab, but occasionally will exhibit exceptional compassion and greatness towards each other and themselves. ‘I’ve just decided to be okay’ is a line from one of these films. Its every word holds within it the wisdom, humour and bittersweet grace that Ulla Heikkilä communicates with her work.
Miia Haavisto
Producer
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#sovitus
#barewithmeDirector: Ulla HeikkiläCountry: FinlandYear: 2016Genre: FictionDuration: 10 minAge Limit:
#barewithme is a comedy about female empowerment and friendships that stay with you forever. Madde, 30, is out shopping with her best friends Aura and Julia, when she suddenly sees a dark figure from the past: her ex-bff Elsi. Traumatized and panicked, Madde tries to hide. However, her friends won’t let her, and she is forced to make peace with her past. It’s Elsi’s turn to listen.
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Joutomaa
Waste LandDirector: Ulla HeikkiläCountry: FinlandYear: 2016Genre: FictionDuration: 29 minWaste Land is a tragicomic ensemble film about a bunch of kids squatting an abandoned seaside hotel. The shabby hotel offers a life outside of society, at least momentarily. The house is more than a house – it is a utopian space for love, partying and freedom. But can the days of ease last when the squat is confronted both by outside forces and by internal conflicts?
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Let Her Speak
Director: Ulla HeikkiläCountry: Sweden, FinlandYear: 2019Genre: FictionDuration: 14 minAge Limit:
Maria, a doctoral researcher, participates in a conference and notices that she is being treated differently than her male colleague. As she is listening to a discussion panel of researchers, Maria realises that not even age and merit are enough to protect female researchers from being overlooked.
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Golgata
GolgathaDirector: Ulla HeikkiläCountry: FinlandYear: 2016Genre: FictionDuration: 29 minAge Limit:
10-year-old Inari is preparing for the traditional May Day celebrations with her enthusiastic mother and reluctant father. In order to ensure an enjoyable evening for everyone, Inari decides to make a deal with God.
