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Less Is More – Welcome to Lahti. We are about to start the 50 kilometre skiing race, I hear the announcer say, as I'm slipping and sliding across Keskustori, the central square of Tampere. A big truck is parked at the square, and a huge screen covers the side of the truck. A film depicting a skiing event is competing with the sunshine. It looks like the sunshine is winning. The film might be Urheilukatsaus (Sportcast) by Marja Pensala, but I will not stick around for the credit titles. Just a while ago I was having a coffee with Marja Pensala in Café. We talked about making documentary films, as well as about the possible screening locations, but a huge screen in the middle of a square was not the first one to come to my mind. Maybe that could bring short films for larger audiences to see! Documentary films have gained popularity on television but are rarely seen elsewhere. In addition, television broadcasts only the ones that fit into the format and the existing programme schedule. A Dangerous Tool Filming equipment has become lighter and cheaper, which has made making documentary films faster and easier than ever before. – You can film tons of material with a crappy filming technique. Many filmmakers lack a clear shooting scheme and a vision, and therefore editing takes up a lot of precious time, says Marja Pensala. She thinks that seventy minutes of film is enough material for a ten minute movie. Good films don't make themselves. Pensala ironically calls this mass of low-quality films "audiovisual sausage". – It lacks the dynamics of audiovisual storytelling. A documentary film needs to have high points and drama and a possible ending solution, as well, explains Pensala. She uses the name "recorders" for directors who concentrate on quantity instead of quality. These productions may be documentary in a historical perspective, but they don't come up to her criteria for a documentary film. – Inexpensive tools are dangerous in wrong hands, says Pensala. One can't just decide to become a document director; it requires vision and substance. However, she admits that there are good new producers as well. Humour and Real Life Pensala has a clear sense of style, even if the films are different from each other. Humour and irony characterise her movies. – The subject defines the style and the length of the film. Pensala has been among the leading Finnish documentary directors for two decades. Her most famous film is probably the short fictional satire Elsa. In the early 1980's she completed the short documentaries Hukkareissu (Waste Journey) and Hyvä elämä (Keys to the Good Life), a portrayal of Kyllikki Virolainen, journalist, politician and widow of a well-known statesman. They were followed by Urheilukatsaus (Sportcast), Lennä lempi (Fly, My Love), Pimeys (Darkness), a half-length documentary about Finland called Menninkäisooppera (Gnome's Opera), and Toini - huutolaistyttö (Toini - a Parish Apprentice).
In the 1990's Pensala directed mostly half-length documentaries: Aunuksen kylillä (In Olonetsian Villages), Tallinnan tuhkimo (The Cinderella of Tallinn), and We Love You, a film about reflections of a year in Michigan as an exchange student. Sielunpimennys (Eclipse of the Soul), completed in 2000, is an excellent documentary about Mologan, a town that has vanished under water. In 1997 Pensala directed a humorous fictional collage of old Finnish films called Nyrkin ja hellan välissä (Slaves to the Stove). Marja Pensala has been awarded at the Tampere Film Festival four times. She received the first price in the national competition with the films Hukkareissu and Sielunpimennys. This year Pensala is a member of the jury along with Jaak Löhmus and Yrjö Pulkkinen. The festival presents a retrospective series of Marja Pensala's films. Marja Pensala 2: Sat 9.3. at 3 pm in Pakkahuone Marja Pensala 3: Sat 10.3. at 3 pm in Pakkahuone
TEXT: Tuija Lundelin |
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Festival News 2002 festnews@uta.fi |