Tampere Film Festival, 7 - 11 March 2001:
A Wealth of Finnish Documentaries

28 films out of the 315 new Finnish shorts submitted were selected for the Finnish Competition at Tampere Film Festival. The competing films will be exhibited in nine screenings over four days.

There were 271 submissions in the category for films of 30 minutes or less, and 44 in the category for films of over 30 minutes. Documentaries made up over one third of the submissions, fiction films 25 per cent and animations slightly over ten per cent. Music videos made up as much as one third of the submitted films.

The high number of Finnish documentaries pleased the selection committee. However, the committee expressed concern over the tight television scheduling and the atrophying effects it may be having on documentary expression. Many documentary filmmakers seemed to be having trouble staying focused on the subject. Finnish animations suffer from a lack of distinct stories. On the other hand, many Finnish filmmakers have a strong grasp of the technical aspects of the trade.

The number of fiction submissions went down by half from last year. No more than five fiction shorts of over 20 minutes were submitted. Anxiety in its various forms dominated the topics chosen by the directors. The selection committee found ego tripping a lamentably common phenomenon in films directed by film school students. The most refreshing of the films by young directors managed to capture a mood quite ingeniously.

Three submissions were disqualified by the selection committee on account of them having already been submitted once in the preceding years. Furthermore, three fiction films were disqualified because of their lengths, which ran in excess of 60 minutes.

The members of the Finnish Competition selection committee were Antti Vuorio (chair of the committee), the director of the film festival; film critic Antti Selkokari; and film student Karoliina Leisti. Leisti was excluded from the committee once a film directed by her was selected for the competition.

The films in the Finnish Competition at Tampere Film Festival will be projected on Emmy-award-winning Digital Projection Ltd. digital projectors. The venue at Tullikamari Cultural Centre will be outfitted with Digital Projection Lightning 15sx, the most powerful digital projector in Finland, while Tampere Hall Small Auditorium will be outfitted with Digital Projection Power 8gv.

Tampere Film Festival is one of the most significant short film festivals in the world. The Finnish Competition has been held at the festival since the late 1970's. The festival has become an important opportunity for new Finnish short film to present itself and for filmmakers to meet each other. The films competing in the Finnish Competition are screened in the Small Auditorium of Tampere Hall on 7 - 10 March 2001.

Inquiries:
Maria Silander
Press and Publicity
Tampere Film Festival
+358 3 223 5188
+358 500 947 597
press@tamperefilmfestival.fi