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Sunday 11.3.2001
PV Lehtinen Scoops Up Awards
PV Lehtinen's Diver (Hyppääjä) took home the big awards: the Grand Prix, the Finnish Competition's main prize for short films under 30 minutes, and the Risto Jarva Prize. In addition, Diver received the Finnish Junior Jury's prize for best film. Judges commended the film for its visual originality and charismatic depiction of human nature.
"To see this film is like drinking fresh spring water," was the verdict of the Risto Jarva Jury.
The winner - PV Lehtinen.
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The members of the International Jury were unanimous: "The Grand Prix is awarded to this film for its magnificent filming and precise editing. The outstanding achievement of this film is the seamless unification of both disparate archival footage and contemporary material."
Diver is about diving, specifically about the diving clown Helge Wasenius. According to Lehtinen, the film would never have been born without Wasenius, who lived in Lehtinen's neighborhood and got him interested in the whole idea.
Diver's road from paper to film wasn't easy. Funding and collaborators were hard to come by, so Lehtinen was simultaneously scriptwriter, director, and editor, while Sakari Salli was the soundman and Jyri Hakala was in charge of filming. In the end, it was mainly a volunteer effort.
Lehtinen's next film is already in the making. Diving makes an appearance in the new project too, although this time as part of a short fictional work.
"The ten-minute movie we filmed last summer will be ready in two months. I haven't completely given up on diving, although this new film is about a first kiss and is total fiction."
"I don't yet know where the new film will be shown. Possibly it'll be screened before a full-length film. Unfortunately the Tampere Film Festival is a whole year away."
Awards give PV Lehtinen a boost of confidence.
"This is an introspective field, and there's not a lot of money. The most important thing that an award like this can give you is confidence in your own abilities. Putting films in order is always a bit problematic because tastes are different."
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