On the other side

Marja Viitahuhta / Finland / 2023 / European Premiere / 5 min.

synopsis

Nuppi bealde is a yoik in which the spirits of Saivo, the two-bottomed lake, are brought forth. The Sámi musician Ánnámáret's yoik melody first carries the video piece with a soaring treble, but as the piece progresses, it sinks into the depths, accompanied by Ilkka Heinonen's jouhikko (finnish bowed lyre). The soundscapes created by Turkka Inkilä first create an image of twinkling clocks, frost and spaciousness, but later shatter and are reborn in another form, creating an image of a different kind of world. The visual material of the work is a combination of ice, water, the spreading of watercolor paint and drawing animation, where the real elements of the landscape are multiplied and repeated and the black and white landscape is colored, fragmented and transformed. The video is part of a series of video works that Viitahuhta has made in collaboration with musicians Ánnámáret, Ilkka Heinonen and Turkka Inkilä. The song heard in the video was recorded for the album Ánnámáret: Nieguid duovdagat.

biography

Marja Viitahuhta (née Mikkonen, 1979) is a media artist and filmmaker based in Helsinki. Her work, which includes experimental films as well as performance, installation, photography and collage, focuses on the perceptions and experiences of female protagonists, often in relation to questions of existence and mortality. Her film 99 Years of My Life (2003) is part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

more about film

director:	Marja Viitahuhta
producer:	Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, Marja Viitahuhta
script:	Marja Viitahuhta
photography:	Marja Viitahuhta
editing:	Marja Viitahuhta
music:	Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, Turkka Inkilä, Ilkka Heinonen
art director:	Marja Viitahuhta