Virpi Suutari to start as new artistic director of DocPoint festival
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The Finnish documentary film festival DocPoint has chosen Virpi Suutari, an acomplished documentary filmmaker herself, as its new artistic director.
After guiding the festival for three years, Kristina Schulgin is moving back to making films. The moment is seen as an appropriate one for such a change: the festival’s finances are in good shape, international visibility is rising, and the event has established a loyal following.
DocPoint, a project which came about six years ago as a result of the efforts of Arto Halonen, has established itself as a forum that brings new domestic and foreign documentaries, as well as the best classical films, to Finnish screens.
When it was launched the festival attracted 6,000 viewers. Last year there were 20,000.
"Documentary films balance the overdose of reality TV shows. People have a great need to see stories saturated with the filmmaker's own handwriting expressed as cinema, in an artistic context", Schulgin says.
She notes that at the most important documentary festivals in the world, it is possible to get to know hundreds of interesting filmmakers, and to see thousands of films. This provides an endless range of new points of view, as well as inspiration for one’s own artistic work.
Suutari has some idea of networking, after visiting a number of festivals with her professional partner Susanna Helke.
"The aesthetics of the slow pace, and the silence that is typical of Finland speak to people abroad."
On the other hand, once in Rome she sat at a screening of a documentary that she had made with Helke, when a young man sitting next to her started to twist and turn and yawn. At the end he turned to Suutari and sighed "Finally it’s over. Boring!"
Schulgin agrees that the emptying and deterioration of the countryside are painful phenomena, making it easy for people around the world to identify with it in Finnish rural stories.
Global trade, in which both people and goods are vehicles of trade is another theme with international appeal.
Film is coming back as the medium used in the production of the movies. The improvisation that is typical for productions using videotape is not possible when using the more expensive film stock.
"Videotape makes both the directors and the targets lazy. The situations in which shooting takes place lack tension, and the sense that there is just once chance", Suutari explains.
Finnish documentaries have been winning plenty of prizes lately, which has increased the appeal of the DocPoint festival.
"Our festival is appreciated because the artistic director is also a filmmaker. It is also valuable, that there is no competition at DocPoint", Schulgin says.
This year 128 films were screened in the different series of the festival. "It was just the right number. There is no need to increase the size of the festival any more", Suutari says.
The new director plans to continue to screen classics. "They give glamour to the festival.
Suutari feels that Iran and especially Austria are interesting countries for film production.
"In Austria they make precise descriptions of existential issues facing middle-class people, which also take on a grotesque quality. Arctic milieux easily turn into horrifying landscapes of the soul."
"The programme needs to include both favourites and least favourites. It is healthy to be surprised and irritated. A world of single truths is narrow and dangerous."
After guiding the festival for three years, Kristina Schulgin is moving back to making films. The moment is seen as an appropriate one for such a change: the festival’s finances are in good shape, international visibility is rising, and the event has established a loyal following.
DocPoint, a project which came about six years ago as a result of the efforts of Arto Halonen, has established itself as a forum that brings new domestic and foreign documentaries, as well as the best classical films, to Finnish screens.
When it was launched the festival attracted 6,000 viewers. Last year there were 20,000.
"Documentary films balance the overdose of reality TV shows. People have a great need to see stories saturated with the filmmaker's own handwriting expressed as cinema, in an artistic context", Schulgin says.
She notes that at the most important documentary festivals in the world, it is possible to get to know hundreds of interesting filmmakers, and to see thousands of films. This provides an endless range of new points of view, as well as inspiration for one’s own artistic work.
Suutari has some idea of networking, after visiting a number of festivals with her professional partner Susanna Helke.
"The aesthetics of the slow pace, and the silence that is typical of Finland speak to people abroad."
On the other hand, once in Rome she sat at a screening of a documentary that she had made with Helke, when a young man sitting next to her started to twist and turn and yawn. At the end he turned to Suutari and sighed "Finally it’s over. Boring!"
Schulgin agrees that the emptying and deterioration of the countryside are painful phenomena, making it easy for people around the world to identify with it in Finnish rural stories.
Global trade, in which both people and goods are vehicles of trade is another theme with international appeal.
Film is coming back as the medium used in the production of the movies. The improvisation that is typical for productions using videotape is not possible when using the more expensive film stock.
"Videotape makes both the directors and the targets lazy. The situations in which shooting takes place lack tension, and the sense that there is just once chance", Suutari explains.
Finnish documentaries have been winning plenty of prizes lately, which has increased the appeal of the DocPoint festival.
"Our festival is appreciated because the artistic director is also a filmmaker. It is also valuable, that there is no competition at DocPoint", Schulgin says.
This year 128 films were screened in the different series of the festival. "It was just the right number. There is no need to increase the size of the festival any more", Suutari says.
The new director plans to continue to screen classics. "They give glamour to the festival.
Suutari feels that Iran and especially Austria are interesting countries for film production.
"In Austria they make precise descriptions of existential issues facing middle-class people, which also take on a grotesque quality. Arctic milieux easily turn into horrifying landscapes of the soul."
"The programme needs to include both favourites and least favourites. It is healthy to be surprised and irritated. A world of single truths is narrow and dangerous."
Helsingin Sanomat