Ten short films from Nordic “Directors to watch” follows the December issues of the Nordic film magazines RUSHPRINT in Norway, EKKO in Denmark, Episodi in Finland and FLM in Sweden. Two of the directors are Hannes Vartainen and Pekka Veikkolainen with «Emergency Calls»

“When we start working on a film, we start exploring a world we are fascinated of. The next challenge is to figure out how to transform these thoughts, notions, feelings and remarks into a film. We explore the subject matter, different cinematic tools and technical solutions that will eventually lead up to the final version of the film. We never know in advance how to make the next film.”

“We started our two-man production company in the early days of 2008. We had already been shooting our first film, Hanasaari A, for a full year. Hanasaari A is a film about the changing cityscape of Helsinki and destruction of history and architecture. It’s a film about a beautiful power plant from the 1950s being demolished. After working on the film for a year, we decided to start looking for financing. We were considering our possibilities for some months but finally starting our own production company stood out as the only viable option. We wanted to invest in our own production equipment in order to be free to work whenever and however we wanted to. Also, producing our films by ourselves, we would be able to retain full artistic and financial control of our work.”

“Since establishing our company, we have made four films with a very compact three-man crew. Hannes Vartiainen and Pekka Veikkolainen are responsible for directing, producing, shooting, animation, editing – pretty much for everything except music. Joonatan Portaankorva has composed the music and designed the soundtrack for all four films. We have a small studio in Helsinki and making short experimental documentaries has been the main source of our income for five years now.”

“The starting point of Emergency Calls was pure interest in the people working behind disasters and rescue operations. We were interested in exploring how the professionals communicate with the victims in the middle of life-threatening situations. No matter how grim things look, there is a vast network of people who are there to look after you.”

“We want to keep the process of making our short films as organic as possible. We do a lot of research on a variety of topics we are interested in. When we decide on the subject of the next film, we start immediately working with image and sound. We sketch the first visual drafts and Joonatan starts composing the first tunes. While the production progresses, at least once a week we will give Joonatan a new cut of the film and he’ll give us new sound. The process goes on for as long as needed (Emergency Calls took two years to make) and the structure of the film is finally locked down during the last weeks of production. The process involves a lot of experimenting and about 90% of the footage and sound we create never end up on the screen.”

“One of the main incidents in Emergency Calls is the sinking of Estonia in 1994. That night 852 people lost their lives at sea. The scope of the disaster is almost unimaginable. After the mayday-call, all ships in vicinity changed their course and headed for the accident site to help in any way they could. Almost two dozen helicopters from the neighboring countries were dispatched to the site. Due to this response, 138 people were rescued from a stormy, freezing sea.”

Meet the other directors:

Denmark

–Daimi by Marie Grahtø Sørensen (19min)

–Ladyboy by Aske Bang (31min)

Sweden

–Scratches by Gabriela Pichler (22min)

–Animals I Killed Last Summer by Gustav Danielsson (15min)

Finland

–Sirocco by Mikko Kuparinen (15min)

Norway

–To Guard a Mountain by Izer Aliu (25min)

–Premature by Gunhild Enger (15min)

–To Open to See by Camilla Figenschou (15min)

Iceland

–A Day or Two by Hlynur Palmason (15min)