Ilppo Pohjola

This charming and casually reverent work is an authorized single-screen version of an installation by celebrated video artist Ahtila. Amid stunning snow-draped forests, a women’s theatrical group rehearses a stage version of the Annunciation (the director is played by Aki Kaurismäki’s signature actress Kati Outinen), in the process discovering the parallel worlds of humans and animals, and the proximity of the ordinary to the miraculous.

As a conceptual fiction, Asphalto describes the relationship of a man and a woman by means of metaphor and visual symbols related to asphalt, service stations, and automotive sports.

Tom of Finland is one of the gay world's few authentic icons. His drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity. Tom's ultimate leather men are known and seen everywhere. They are symbols of gay pride and friendship. The documentary includes some titillating 'enactments' inspired by Tom's art work.

Routemaster is a montage of rhythmically organised repetitions and involves an abstraction of motion that increases in frequency and scale. The basic framework of the film is provided by intercutting of two counterposed materials. On the one hand, it uses black-and-white, endlessly accelerating and rhythmically varying images of the inexorable forward motion of the racing cars. On the other hand, it uses colourful, extreme slow-motion images of details of a chequered flag fluttering in the wind. The escalating speed, growing abstraction and mosaic-like repetition of images leads on to manipulated, yet realistic images of human bodies used in crash tests. In the end, all that is left is the black-and-white flash of speed, the gyrating pulse of the mosaic, the details of the human bodies and the intense soundtrack. Routemaster has some of the qualities of a live concert.

After EverythingThe film shows a dystopian world where brutality and inhumanity are commonplace and part of everyday routine. The atmosphere of doom is emphasized by the combination of black and white footage, harsh settings and industrial noise music. The powerful story leads to a situation in which brutality is victorious, yet beyond total destruction there is also room for a new beginning.

Where is Where? is an experimental film that quarters the screen in order to have four different scenes play simultaneously. It's a meditation on the Algerian war that culminates in a brutal killing.

This charming and casually reverent work is an authorized single-screen version of an installation by celebrated video artist Ahtila. Amid stunning snow-draped forests, a women’s theatrical group rehearses a stage version of the Annunciation (the director is played by Aki Kaurismäki’s signature actress Kati Outinen), in the process discovering the parallel worlds of humans and animals, and the proximity of the ordinary to the miraculous.

As a conceptual fiction, Asphalto describes the relationship of a man and a woman by means of metaphor and visual symbols related to asphalt, service stations, and automotive sports.

Tom of Finland is one of the gay world's few authentic icons. His drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity. Tom's ultimate leather men are known and seen everywhere. They are symbols of gay pride and friendship. The documentary includes some titillating 'enactments' inspired by Tom's art work.

Tom of Finland is one of the gay world's few authentic icons. His drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity. Tom's ultimate leather men are known and seen everywhere. They are symbols of gay pride and friendship. The documentary includes some titillating 'enactments' inspired by Tom's art work.

Routemaster is a montage of rhythmically organised repetitions and involves an abstraction of motion that increases in frequency and scale. The basic framework of the film is provided by intercutting of two counterposed materials. On the one hand, it uses black-and-white, endlessly accelerating and rhythmically varying images of the inexorable forward motion of the racing cars. On the other hand, it uses colourful, extreme slow-motion images of details of a chequered flag fluttering in the wind. The escalating speed, growing abstraction and mosaic-like repetition of images leads on to manipulated, yet realistic images of human bodies used in crash tests. In the end, all that is left is the black-and-white flash of speed, the gyrating pulse of the mosaic, the details of the human bodies and the intense soundtrack. Routemaster has some of the qualities of a live concert.

Routemaster is a montage of rhythmically organised repetitions and involves an abstraction of motion that increases in frequency and scale. The basic framework of the film is provided by intercutting of two counterposed materials. On the one hand, it uses black-and-white, endlessly accelerating and rhythmically varying images of the inexorable forward motion of the racing cars. On the other hand, it uses colourful, extreme slow-motion images of details of a chequered flag fluttering in the wind. The escalating speed, growing abstraction and mosaic-like repetition of images leads on to manipulated, yet realistic images of human bodies used in crash tests. In the end, all that is left is the black-and-white flash of speed, the gyrating pulse of the mosaic, the details of the human bodies and the intense soundtrack. Routemaster has some of the qualities of a live concert.

After EverythingThe film shows a dystopian world where brutality and inhumanity are commonplace and part of everyday routine. The atmosphere of doom is emphasized by the combination of black and white footage, harsh settings and industrial noise music. The powerful story leads to a situation in which brutality is victorious, yet beyond total destruction there is also room for a new beginning.

Where is Where? is an experimental film that quarters the screen in order to have four different scenes play simultaneously. It's a meditation on the Algerian war that culminates in a brutal killing.

Love Is a Treasure is a 55-minute film about the world of women who have developed psychoses. It consists of five episodes each telling the story of one woman. The episodes are based research and interviews but the stories and dialogue are fiction, combinations of different elements. —The Cinematic Works of Eija-Liisa Ahtila

P(l)ain Truth tells the story of the emotional and physical transition of a transsexual woman through poetic visuals.

P(l)ain Truth tells the story of the emotional and physical transition of a transsexual woman through poetic visuals.

P(l)ain Truth tells the story of the emotional and physical transition of a transsexual woman through poetic visuals.

1 Plus 1 Plus 1 – Sympathy for the Decay is an abstract expressionist film in three episodes about the consequences of moral choices.