This dark horse of this year's Lost Lost Lost program is an audio-literary symphony crafted by a Finnish "science fiction realist" who remains little-known in Poland. Mika Taanila, alongside his regular collaborators, has designed a film experience that defies classification. One interpretation of the plot touches upon Marc Augé's concept of non-place, modern nomadism, and the tangible threats associated with it, such as an air accident. But did the accident really happen? Or does the disintegrating ego of the protagonist lead us into a nightmare, a narcotic vision, or an afterlife experience? In Taanila's experiment, no single layer of the performance dominates; instead, each one asserts its autonomy while intertwining with the others. Harry Salmenniemi's poetic text takes on a visual form, while the sound and fragments of late electronic music composer Mika Vainio set the rhythm for the images. These images are a compilation of various techniques: found footage, direct cinema, graphics, animations, and photograms. In this intricate sensory situation, the lack of certainty allows us to drift into a perceptual utopia.
Mika Taanila is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Helsinki. Taanila’s works have been shown at major international group and solo shows, such as La Biennale di Venezia (2017), Documenta (2012), Berlin Biennale (2004), Manifesta (2002), Migrosmuseum, Zurich (2005), Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2013), among others. Taanila’s films have been screened at several international film festivals and special events including TIFF Toronto IFF, IFFR Rotterdam, International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand, Karlovy-Vary FF, CPH:DOX, IDFA Amsterdam, Oberhausen Kurzfilmtage, among others. His latest work Failed Emptiness (2024) premiered in Rotterdam.
1989 Pidän tästä hiljaisuudesta (short)
1992 Mulla ei ole mitään
2002 Tulevaisuus ei ole entisensä / The Future Is Not What It Used to Be
2015 Atomin paluu (doc.)
2016 Tectonic Plate / Mannerlaatta / Tectonic Plate
2023 Monica in the South Seas
2024 Failed Emptiness