Forest Screening in Sulosaari | Shorts
This short film screening presents a selection of new nature and environmental short films from around the world. The works engage with nature and environmental topics in a broad sense; the expressive language of the authors moves between documentary and fictional, and the themes vary from Mars missions to pest control and post-colonial criticism.
Listen to the Beat of Our Images
Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Maxime Jean-Baptiste | France, French Guiana | 2021 | 6 min | French | Subs English | U
60 years ago, the French government decided to establish its space center in the beautiful island of Kourou in the French Guiana in South America. 600 Guyanese people were expropriated to allow France to realize its dream of space conquest. Combining field investigation and archive material from the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), Listen to the Beat of Our Images gives a voice to a silenced population that has experienced centuries of colonization.
A Life On Mars
Sebastian Ko | Canada | 2022 | 6 min | no dialogue | U
Since 2012, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has transmitted half a million photos back to Earth. Separately, these images show the Martian terrain, breathtaking panoramas, and enable exciting scientific discoveries—essential knowledge for future, manned missions to Mars. But when these images are played in sequence, a question forms—how does it feel to be alone on an alien planet? This short documentary is constructed entirely from raw images and audio sources from NASA's open-data project. Through Curiosity's eyes we experience excitement, alien sunsets, shift sands, solitude, and even aging. Things humankind may one day experience on Mars firsthand.
Our Ark
Deniz Tortum, Kathryn Hamilton | Holland, USA, Turkey | 2021 | 13 min | English | U
Now that it is technologically possible, we humans are backing up the planet, creating 3D models of animals, rainforests, cities and people. We are archiving as if ecological collapse could be staved off through some digital Noah's Ark of beasts and objects. Our Ark is an essay film on our efforts to create a virtual replica of the real world.
Under Control
Ville Koskinen | Estonia, Finland | 2021 | 18 min | no dialogue | U
Insects plague the botanical garden. The gardeners have to use increasingly harsh methods to cope with the situation. The more they try to get rid of the intruders, the worse the problem becomes. Under Control is a documentary film that portrays humans’ attempt to control their environment from the eye level of insects. Through the use of a powerful soundscape, the botanical garden - an artificial, nature-like construction - appears as a location suitable for a sci-fi movie.
The Two Faces of Tomorrow
Patrick Hough | United Kingdom, Germany, Austria | 2021 | 39 min | English | U
Algae are amazing organisms. They have shaped all life on earth in ways we can hardly imagine. The Two Faces of Tomorrow is an experimental documentary-fiction film that follows an invisible scientist as they journey to study algae from ancient Roman baths to cutting-edge laboratories that develop biofuels and nutritional supplements or prepare a Mars rover to explore the red planet. As the researcher learns more about the relationship between algae, humans and the Earth, they begin to understand the vast web of violence, extraction and exploitation that has led to our current moment of climate crisis.
Text | Hanna Markkanen
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