Categories
Misc News

HIM sets Finnish record in U.S.

In the band’s home country, Venus Doom entered at number 2 in the official album chart, where it is currently standing at number 3, behind Tuhannen riemua by Lauri Tähkä & Elonkerjuu and Eppu Normaali’s Syvään päähän.

Venus Doom has also done relatively well in album charts in Sweden (14) and Italy (20), with more moderate successes in Britain (31), Australia (32), Ireland (36), the Netherlands (36) and New Zealand (38).

HIM’s previous album Dark Light made it to number 18 in the Billboard 200 chart.

Categories
At the cinema Cinema

Get On!!

{mosimage}Ganes, the long awaited and much advertised film about
one of the pioneering Finnish rock and roll bands, opens today. Eero Milonoff, Olavi Uusivirta and Jussi
Nikkilä bring the Hurriganes to
the silver screen on the second film directed by JP Siili. Get on and rock and roll all night long!

In the
seventies, Hurriganes became the most successful band in the history of Finnish
rock and roll, achieving popularity and recognition even outside of Finland.
Its original vinyl records are highly appreciated in the second hand market and
they cannot be found for less than 30 euro. Ganes,
the film, tells how the band reached the top from the neighbourhood of Pohjois
Haaga in Helsinki. But the film focuses mainly on Remu Aaltonen, drummer and founder of the Hurriganes, whose life at
the time was pretty peculiar and that includes learning to play drums in jail,
among other adventures. “This is something that we discover while writing the
film”, producer Aleksi Bardy
explains to FREE!, “In order to make a dramatic movie, it has to be also
personal. It cannot be equally and democratic on three persons. We had to
concentrate on one person. Remu is the most prominent of all the Hurriganes and
his life story is particular intriguing, with his difficult background”.

From this
point of view, there is a dramatic plot that makes the film interesting,
besides the musical context. Director JP Siili, who works with Bardy again
after his first film Hymypoika
(2003), admits that “it was very important to tell the story so it would be
attractive not only for fans of the Hurriganes, but also for those people who
have never heard about ‘Ganes’”.

The story
and the Hurriganes weren’t unknown to the director. Indeed, he was very
connected to the band. “I grew up in the same neighbourhood. My elder sister
went to the same class with Cisse,
the bass player”, Siili remembers.” I felt very interested in going back to
this time. And I was a fan too. The first record I taped for myself was Rock And Roll All Night Long.

{sidebar id=25}Siili worked
with Bardy again after both did the director’s first feature film in 2003, Hymypoika. Both acknowledge that it was
long project since the writer Antero Arjatsalo (Riisuttu Mies) started working on the script in 2001. According to
the producer, there was a lot of background documentation to work with and many
music rights to solve. Also there was a lot of work on the script and many
versions were written. “When I started working on the project, we still wrote
for 13 or 14 months. I start with version four or five and we finally shot version 14”,
the director explains. “One of the most difficult things was to find the
balance between a dramatic story and the real story of Hurriganes”.

Obviously,
to recreate such popular characters, casting was a very important aspect. “JP
Siili pointed out that he wanted the cast to perform the music themselves”,
says Bardy. “That’s why he looked for musicians who can act, like Olavi
Uusivirta or actors who can play like Jussi Nikkilä, who was the lead guitar of
band before becoming an actor. The question of who Remu would be was more
difficult. We found the right person in Eero Milonoff, who didn’t know how to
play or how to sing, so he was taught from zero. It is impressive how well he
learned and adapted to that role.” This way, the music that appears in the movie
is mostly re-recordings done by the actors.

However,
lead actor Eero Milonoff will not change his profession. “No, I won’t become a
rock star”, he says to FREE!. “Maybe it will become a hobby. I had never played
before. It was fun and difficult. I started playing with hand and doing basic
things, then playing with the band and rehearsing with them, which was very
helpful for me because both Olavi and Jussi are musicians”. To prepare his
role, Eero had first hand help from Remu Aaltonen himself. “I met him a lot. We
went through the script because he has a very particular style of speaking. That’s
very important for the role. I went to his place in Porvoo with the script and
a minidisc and I recorded how he spoke and we added those expressions to the script”.

Films about
musicians have gotten very popular in Hollywood with blockbusters like Ray or Walk The Line, so what a Finnish production can add to this
particular genre? According to Aleksi Bardy, Ganes has certain characteristics
that make it very Finnish. “It’s a very edgy movie. It has some Finnish characteristics
like guts, ‘sisu’. It is also a portrait of the time. It shows how Finland was before
rock and roll came. Ganes is very Finnish. It is not as polished as other
foreign films tend to be. But I think Walk The Line is a great film and in the process of making this film, we
follow many of the good things of it with great admiration”.

If you know
and like the Hurriganes, you will find this to be the perfect film. If you don’t
know them, this is a great opportunity to learn about one of the most important
moments in Finnish rock and roll. And in any case, you will see an intense
personal story, the one about a natural born rocker Remu Aaltonen.

Categories
Cover story Misc

India in Helsinki

{mosimage}One more year you can get a taste of exoticness and discover a bit more
about the  Asian country in the festival Colours
of India that will be held next Sunday, 30 September in the Cable Factory,
Helsinki.

Everybody in Finland
seems to complain lately about the lack of time to dedicate to other activities
due to the amount of work, even if many people leave their offices at 4 or 5 p.m.  This is not the case of the brave volunteers
who formed the non-profit organization Aarambh, who are able every year
to dedicate some extra hours for a good cause: the promotion of primary
education and basic health care for people with limited access in the remote
regions of developing
economies.

The idea came some years ago from some people coming mostly from India and Pakistan, well
settled in Finland,
who wanted to take advantage of their network and privilege situation to make a
difference and help others back in the harsh reality of their native countries.
As Rajive Acharya, one of the responsible of the project explains to
us:  “As the
principle of synergy works wonders, Aarambh through the mobilization of
well-meaning and dedicated individuals aims at doing something for the
impoverished in the developing countries”.

So what the visitor
can expect from this year festival? The organizers seem to have activities for
all kind of tastes. If you like Indian food and products, or you are planning
to make a trip there in the near future; this is an excellent opportunity to
get to know all what you need. Meanwhile you can assist to the performance of Bharatnatyam,
a form of Indian classical dance, get close to the marvelous world of Indian
cinema industry with a special Bollywood dance by Etnofit dance
group or try your abilities in the “Sports Corner” playing some Indian Street
games (we have not been informed that this would involve messing around with
tigers or elephants, so you can play them safe!). The children of Steiner School
will take part in the festival as well with a theatrical presentation

Instead of sleeping
all Sunday and watching again the boring TV, do something different and fun and
drag yourself to the Cable Factory in Helsinki
to enjoy all the excitement that India and its culture can offer to
you. 

Colours of India on 30.September.2007 at Puristamo, Cable Factory.
The event is open
between 11:00 hrs – 18:00 hrs.
Entry ticket: 2
euro for adults and 1 euro for Children aged 7-13 years.
More information about Aarambh activities in: www.aarambh.fi

 

Categories
Misc News

Porcupine Tree concert to a larger venue

Those who already bought the ticket can change their tickets in the evening of the concert at the Jäähalli box office. Porcupine Tree will play also in Tampere the following day. The opening act for both concerts will be Finnish band Hidria Spacefolk. The band's only concert in Finland so far was at Ilosaarirock Festival last summer.

The English band is one of the most acclaimed progressive rock bands to come up in the last 20 years. Lead by guitarist Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree has released 12 albums. The last one, Fear of a Blank Planet, released last spring, features the guest appearances of Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and legendary King Crimson leader Robert Fripp.

Porcupine Tree: official site | MySpace

Hidria Spacefolk: official site | Wikipedia

Porcupine Tree + Hidria Spacefolk
15.12 Jäähalli, Helsinki – Tickets 42e
16.12 Pakkahuone, Tampere – Tickets 38e

Categories
Cover story Misc

The experimental accordion

{mosimage}Kimmo Pohjonen, one of the most experimental artists
in Finland, will present his work UNIKO once again in Helsinki. This
performance (25 September, Savoy Theater) will serve as a warm up for the US
premiere on October.

Uniko is a crossover work by Kimmo Pohjonen and
Samuli Kosminen. It features an instrumental line-up that includes accordion,
voice, percussion-sampler, and a string quartet. On top of that electronic
sound processing provides the essential strand of the work.

The piece was world premiered at the Huvila tent
during the Helsinki Festival in 2004. It was performed by Kluster duo (Pohjonen
and Kosminen) with Kronos Quartet. After that it was performed three times: with
Kronos Quartet in Moskow and Modle Norway and with Proton String Quartet in Leigo,
Estonia. Samuli Kosminen and Kronos will be
substituted by Juuso Hannukainen
and again by Proton.

{sidebar id=24}However,
the original line-up will travel to New York in the beginning of October. Uniko
will premiere in the United States on 3 October at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music for a total of three performances.

In
February 2008, Kluster and Proton will perform Uniko at Köln Philharmonie.


Musicians 

Kimmo Pohjonen –
accordion, voice
Juuso Hannukainen – accordion samples, string samples, voice samples
Teppo Ali-Mattila – violin
Siiri Rasta – violin
Maarit Holkko – viola
Veli-Matti Iljin – cello
with Heikki Iso-Ahola – sound engineer, sound design
Mikki Kunttu – light design

Tuesday 25.9.2007 – 19.30

Savoy Theater, Helsinki
Tickets 20/15e

{mov}kalma{/mov}

 

Front page photo by Milena Strange

Categories
Articles Misc

Name Calling

What mental image comes to mind when you
read the name Antonio Díaz? What about Eduardo Alonso? Forget the fact that
they are coincidentally the same names as the FREE! editors, but concentrate on
the subconscious photo-fit that the names conjure. Are they handsome or are
they ugly? Are they muscular or are they wobbly around the edges? Are they
somebody you would like to meet for a coffee or would you rather snub their
ugly wobbly faces?


Names are the real first impression that we
make of people, since they walk a few paces ahead of us on class registers,
passports and job applications leaving us at the mercy of somebody's mental
interpretation long before we make a physical appearance. I know because
countless people in Finland and online have made the gender mistake with Asa,
but I guess my parents made the error first – it's a girl, Mr and Mrs Butcher!

Asa is both a male and female name
depending upon the country, yet in Sweden Åsa is only a female name, which is
why the gender confusion occurs a little more often here in Scandinavia.
Despite countless people asking about my weird name, to which I always say,
"Unique!", it has served me well, with people remembering me over all
the Johns, Roberts, Michaels and Williams. A teacher once caught me running in
the corridor during my first year and he then caught me doing something else a
few years later, so he unfairly said, "I've spoken to you before,
Asa!" 

There are certain names that are
intrinsically burned into our minds as only one person, for example in Robbie
Williams' biography he writes that some of the members of his rehab group
complained about constant namedropping, so they asked him to only use first
names: "Well, Elton and I…" There is really only one Elton in the world,
there will only ever be one Elvis, there is only one Clint and there is
definitely only one Harrison. 

"Hello, my name is Adolf!" isn't
really going to get you invited to many Bar Mitzvahs, even though over 50 boys
in Finland were christened with the name over the past seven years. The names Adolf,
Osama, Saddam, Idi, Fidel and Pol all have a slightly tarnished reputation
thanks to just one user and that's all it takes. Why do we think that somebody
christened Adolf or Osama will actually turn into Hitler or bin Laden? Don't we
realise that it took a great deal more than their first name to turn them into
monsters? Or did it?

Can the ladies imagine moaning Johnny, Albert or
Donald during the throws of passion? 

We do rely heavily upon the associations
made with names and it is something that has been embedded in our psyche from
our nickname days at primary school. How can you be considered cool with a name
like Nigel, Norman or Gerald? Can the ladies imagine moaning Johnny, Albert or
Donald during the throws of passion? Dwayne, Melvin and Ralph are, well, do you
really need me to explain? I know this is purely personal and you are probably
foaming at the mouth in anger, but I'd guess your name was featured in that
paragraph.

The Finns among you are breathing a sigh of
relief at being ignored, but, then again, you are all named Juhani, Johanna,
Tapani, Maria, Tapio, Mika, Marko, Petri or Minna, so it doesn't really matter
– hello to Jussi too! It was refreshing to read in the Finnish media recently
that the European Court of Human Rights had overturned the Finnish authority's refusal
to allow the forename Axl Mick, which is a real rock and roll name. The days of
boring first names should come to an end and with it a new dawn of how the hell
do you spell that?

Categories
Misc News

Surprise performance Sigur Rós in Helsinki

The previously announced screening of the documentary about Sigur Rós’ home coming tour on Thursday the 28th of September at Andorra cinema has been cancelled.

Home – Sigur Rós will see its world premiere at the Reykjavík International Film Festival in Iceland, three days ahead of the Finnish premiere in Helsinki.

People who have tickets for the screening at Andorra can buy tickets for the Sigur Rós gig and closing screening at the pre-sale on Wednesday the 26th of September. The next day tickets will become available to others as well.

Sigur Rós last performed in Finland during two sold-out concerts at Helsinki’s Kulttuuritalo in 2005.


Sigur Rós: official site | MySpace | photo blog

Heima / Home – Sigur Rós: trailer [Quicktime, 4:17 min.]

Rakkautta & Anarkiaa 20th Helsinki International Film Festival

 

Related:

Love, Cinema and Anarchy

Categories
Interviews Music

A quick q&a with Martti Vainaa

{mosimage}Martti
Vainaa & Sallitut Aineet. This pop band went big with the song Pelimies.
Even The Smurfs covered this hit. Moving towards a disco direction, the band
released last May a new single, Toinen Nainen, and prepares a new album for
this autumn.


What's the
background of the band? Where did you guys meet and come together as
a group?

Max is from
Jyväskylä, which is also the place where this band was formed. The others
have spent their early years in Pieksämäki. They actually have known each
other for many years before this band started in 2001 as a trio. The first
three members were Max, Dan and Dick. Lazy and Wolf joined finally in 2005.


When and
where was the band's first gig?

On the 20th
of May 2001.


What was it like to hear your song on the radio for the first time?

We felt
like singing along. Not! But close.


Since our
readers are mainly non-Finns can you explain/translate the band's name
for us? 

It's easy.
The name is: The Late Martin And The Legal Substances.


One of the
big questions many Finnish bands face is deciding whether to 
sing in
Finnish or English. What made the band decide to sing in Finnish
as opposed
to English?

We sing
stuff that is so down to earth so it's got to be the native caveman
language, Finnish. Even though Max writes some of our songs first in
English.


So, you are
currently in the studio and working on a new album. What can fans expect
of the new single/album? Are you moving in a new direction?

It is going
to be more dance and more pop, but also more rock. What can we say?
Hope you like it. The single is called Toinen nainen and it's in
stores since May. The album release is in autumn.

What can
you tell us about your hit song Pelimies?

They are
still playing it in restaurants and clubs, and that's cool. It is a
sporty song with a hint of night and lovelife.


What has
been the effect of your success with the song Pelimies on the band?

We got a
record deal and some special fans because of it.


What has
been the highlight of the band's career so far?

The
"Onnellinen nyt" tour during which we were welded together as a
group.


What's it
like to have The Smurfs cover your hit song Pelimies?

It's an
honor…


Finally
what are the band's plans for the coming months? Touring?

We are
currently in the studio, but we'll make just enough touring to keep us in shape
for autumn.

 

Name: Max
Poster                                                 Name: Lazy
Diamond

Born:
17th October in Jyväskylä                               Born: 14th March in Pieksämäki

Instrument:
Vocals                                                 Instrument:
Drums

Any Former
Bands: Duo Väkisin                                Any Former
Bands: About a dozen bands in childhood

Hobbies:
Floorball, music, running                            Hobbies:
Running, reading and radio

 

Name: Dick
Burner                                                 Name: Dan
Suker

Born:
11th February in Pieksämäaki                          Born 22nd February in Pieksämäki

Instrument:
Keyboards                                            Instrument:
Guitar

Any Former
Bands: So many                                    Any Former
Bands: Several (currently also Portrait of Beyond)

Hobbies: Texas Hold'em, jogging,
floorball, reading    Hobbies:
Agriculture, taekwondo, languages, history

 

Name: Wolf
Gustav

Born: 22nd July in Pieksämäki 

Instrument:
Bass

Any Former
Bands: Aikuiset Naiset, Pikku Enkeli

Hobbies:
Outdoor activities, music, internet, Pro Evolution Soccer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Misc News

Miehen Työ up for Nordic film prize and Oscar

The winner of the Nordic prize (worth 350,000 Danish crowns, or about 47,000 euros) is chosen from a total of nine nominated films from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland, usually two per country. The jury decided to let only one film represent Finland this year, however. According to a Finnish jury member to YLE News, Miehen työ was a clear choice by itself, and a second, equally strong candidate could not be found.

This year’s winner will be announced on the 9th of October. The prize will be awarded on the 31st of October.

The Oscar nominations will be announced on the 22nd of January and the award gala will be held on the 24th of February.

The film
Miehen työ is a film about family man Juha (Tommi Korpela) who is fired from his job at a concrete factory, a fact he wants to keep secret from his wife. In order to support his family, he ends up working as a male prostitute. The script for the film was written by Salmenperä. Petri Jokiranta and Tero Kaukomaa were the producers.

The Council
The Nordic Council was formed in 1952 as a forum for parliamentary co-operation between the five nations and three autonomous regions (Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland) that make up the Nordic region. Besides the film prize, the Council, made up of  87 elected members from the national parliaments, also awards prizes for literature, environment and music.

Last year’s winner of the Nordic Council Film Prize was the Swedish film Zozo by Josef Fares (director and scriptwriter) and Anna Anthony (producer).

European Film Awards
Miehen Työ is also on the selection list for the European Film Awards. The nominees for the Awards, voted by the members of the European Film Academy, will be announced at the Sevilla Festival de Cine Europeo in Spain on the 3rd of November. The winners will be presented at the 20th European Film Awards ceremony in Berlin on December 1st.

Miehen työ – Official site (in Finnish)
Miehen työ / Man's Job – Blind Spot Pictures

Nordic Council Film Prize
All nominations for the Nordic Council Film Prize 2007

European Film Awards (European Film Academy)

Academy Awards (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

Related:

Finnish gigolo – FREE! Magazine's review of Miehen työ

Categories
Cinema Features

Love, Cinema and Anarchy

{mosimage}
Watch out if you walk around the Finnish capital on September 20th
– 30th! Riots of crazy cinema lovers are expected to take the most important
theatres and fight for the best seats to enjoy one more year one of the best
film festivals in Finland:
Rakkautta ja Anarkiaa (Love and Anarchy). 

And as the old proverb says, if you cannot beat them, join them. The
20th edition of the festival offers an overwhelming good quality of films for
all kind of tastes. Cinema from all over the world gathered by a team of
organizers who truly love the seventh art, giving you an opportunity to enjoy all
kind of products, from the last and new hot releases from Hollywood to some
exotic Asian and European films that otherwise would be almost impossible to
see in the big screen. And do not worry if your knowledge of foreign languages
does not allow you to understand fluently Japanese or Korean, because all the
films in the festival will have English subtitles. Since the catalogue of films
grows year after year, this time there will be six different cinemas in Helsinki featuring
screenings: Bio Rex, Maxin, Kinopalatsi,
Andorra, Koff
Screen Dubrovnik and Kino Engel. Cultural events or just sharing a drink with
other cinema lovers and participants in the festival will be held in Andorra.

The festival also counts with a very useful and accurate web page with texts
in Finnish and English where you can find information about all the venues,
screenings, schedules, most awaited films voted by the audience, etc. There you
can also buy in advance festival catalogues and tickets. All design around
R&A is exhaling a youthful and fresh touch with funny illustration and
pictures that try to transmit the real spirit that links to all the visitors:
the love for good cinema.

Since going to all the featured films must be an impossible task for
most of you, we offer here some hints about what the programme of Rakkautta ja
Anarkiaa can offer:

 

{sidebar id=20}This is England
(Great Britain, 2006. Director Shaun
Meadows)

An approach to the harsh reality of England during Thatcher’s government
through the eyes of Shaun, a bullied child that joins a group of skin-heads
trying to find attention, respect and comprehension after his father’s death in
Falkland war.  Great interpretations by
the child Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham as Combo.

Friday 21.9. 18:30  Kinopalatsi 7

Saturday 22.9. 16:30 
Kinopalatsi 8

Sunday 23.9. 21:00  Kinopalatsi 8

Monday 24.9. 18:30  Bio Rex 

 

Control
(Great Britain, 2007. Director Anton
Corbijn)

One of the most awaited films of the festival. Joy Division
became a cult band after its singer, Ian Curtis committed suicide in
1980. Dutchman director Corbijn, who is also known as a top rock
photographer, offers a monochromatic dark film based on the book Touching
from a Distance, the memories of Curtis’s 
widow Debbie, exploring as well the triangle of love and
relations with Curtis’s  Belgian lover Annik
Honoré.

Thursday 20.9. 18:30 
Bio Rex

 

Aachi & Ssipak
(South Korea, 2006. Director Joe
Bum-Jim)

When a responsible person from the festival told me about an anime movie
focused on a gang that tries to control “Shit City” my reaction was like…”wow…I
must see this!”. But far from just curiosity, I found myself totally immersed
in one of the most entertaining, exciting and funny anime movies I have ever
seen. There is a tribute to action cinema history all around the script, from Mad
Max to Robocop, Akira, Indiana Jones… you name it! But the
final product is not just a simple remix of old clichés; it is an explosive,
sarcastic and clever movie that mixes the best of eastern and western animation
cinema traditions. You must not miss this one if you love anime!

Friday 28.9. 21:15  Andorra

Saturday 29.9. 16:30 
Bio Rex 

 

Persepolis
(France and USA, 2007.
Directors: Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi)

Teherán 1978. 8 years old girl Marjane dreams of changing the world, but
later she will discover that the Islamic Revolution did not bring all what she
expected. Persepolis
hits the screen based on the acclaimed comic saga with tones of irony by Marjane
Satrapi. Iranian government seems not to share the excitement of French
public about the movie, and officially protested against it during its
introduction in last Cannes Festival in France. Well known actresses as Catherine
Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni collaborated lending their voices to
the characters.

Sunday 23.9. 17:00  Bio Rex

 

Suely in the Sky
(Brasil, 2006. Director Karim
Ainouz)

Brasil is football and samba, but also hides a darker side of poverty
and difficult conditions for the population. Far from the stereotypical views
of Copacabana beach or from the extreme violence in the “favelas” shown in City
of God, Brasilian director Karim Ainouz takes us to a small
population where the shadow of prostitution hangs over Hermila, a young mother
whose idea for making a living and escape to a better life is to make an
auction among the men being the prize…to spend a night “in paradise” enjoying
her body. Drugs, alcohol and frantic sex for young people trying to find the
meaning of life in the middle of nowhere, but the film also shows a glimpse of
hope.

Friday 21.9. 21:00  Maxim 2

Sunday 23.9. 16:30  Maxim 1

Monday 24.9. 16:30  Kino Engel 1

Tuesday 25.9. 21:00  Kino Engel 2

 

Tales from Earthsea
(Japan, 2006. Director Goro
Miyazaki)

At present times when the topic of loss of balance in Earth is becoming
so hot (and not without real reasons to be worried…) Japanese director Goro
Miyazaki, son of worldwide famous anime director Hayao Miyazaki,
makes his debut in anime cinema with Tales from Earthsea, based overall
on the third book of the saga; a wonderful reflection about the fear of death,
the guilt, the friendship and the dark side of corruption and power. For those
who expect anxiously action here goes a warning: the philosophical dialogues
are the backbone of a film beautifully drawn.

Saturday 22.9. 18:30 
Bio Rex

 

I am a Cyborg but that's ok
(South Korea,
2006. Director: Chan-wook
Park)

South Korean director Chan-wook
Park has become one
of the favourites for the Western spectators after great hits like Sympathy
for Lady Vengeance or the ultra-violent and visually shocking Olboy.
But this time Park offers a different approach and a new register as a
director, far from his previous obsession about feelings like hate and
revenge,  with a love story settled into
a sanatorium. Tender feelings mixed with madness (and some action shooting
scenes “made in Park”) in a story that step by step that will make you feel
bounded to the sweetness of the two main characters (as a matter of fact the
male actor, Rain, is a real celebrity not only in Korea but in the whole Asia).
The personal vision of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest through the eyes
of Park will definitely not let you indifferent.

Saturday 22.9. 21:00 
Kinopalatsi 6
Sunday 23.9. 16:30 
Kinopalatsi 8
Tuesday 25.9. 22:30 
KesäKino Engel
Thursday 27.9. 21:00 
Bio Rex

 

Doghead (2006, Spain.
Director: Santi Amodeo)

Amodeo belongs to this generation of Spanish directors with a brilliant
present and even better future and international projection that keeps
reminding the spectators that there is life in Spanish cinema after Almodóvar
opened the doors to the exportation of national cinema abroad. The film’s main
character is a young teenager whose head works in a different frame than the
rest of the people. And what a better option that to have chosen for the role
to Juan José Ballesta, who shows film after film that is probably the
most talented young actor in Spain
nowadays. If not, take a look to his previous works in El Bola, Planta 4ª
or 7 Vírgenes.

Saturday 22.9. 18:30 
Maxim 1

Sunday 23.9. 18:30  Maxim 2

Thursday 27.9. 16:30 
Kinopalatsi 8

Categories
Misc News

Tiktak, Tik… tak, Tik…, tak…

According to a press release issued by record company Universal Music, the reason for the split has nothing to do with arguments, personal differences, or anything of the kind. ‘We have lived this band for years already, and now it feels like it’s time to move on in life,’ according to the members of the chart-topping girl band .

The six girls from Helsinki signed their first record deal in 1999 at the young age of 13 and have released seven albums and 22 singles. Their biggest hits include Lopeta (1999), Sekoitat mun elämän (1999), Kyyneleet (2001), Häiritsen sinua (2001), Jää (2002) and Sankaritar (2005).

In 2000 and 2001, the band also had reasonable success elsewhere in Europe and performed in Asia and the United States with English language material under the name Tik N’ Tak.

On November 7th, Tiktak will release one more (double)album, “Sinkut 99-07”, containing all their singles, b-sides as well as rare and new material. The first single from the album, Miten onni korjataan, will be made available for airplay on Monday (17.9).

Petra, Tuuli, Mimmu, Noora, Nea and Emppu will also go on a farewell tour spanning major Finnish cities in November and December.

Tiktak:

Official website (in Finnish)

MySpace

Categories
Misc News

FREE! contributors part of Helsinki Comics Festival

Belgian-born comics fanatic Jelle Hugaerts, who has written about Finnish comics and their creators for FREE! Magazine, will be part of the stage programme at Gloria Cultural Arena. On Saturday at  4 p.m., he will host a discussion in English with the festival’s foreign guests about the public response to comics as an art form in different cultures and countries. On Sunday at 2 p.m. Jelle will himself be part of a panel discussing whether web stores will take over from traditional comic book stores as the main distribution channel for comics.

Fans of Reviews from Marte, FREE! Magazine’s popular music reviews in the form of comics, will have the chance to see more works by our Portuguese contributor. Marte (whose real name is Marcos Farrajota) is a member of the Portuguese comics association Chili Com Carne, of which albums are available through Canicola at the Festival’s comics fair at Gloria.

The Helsinki Comics Festival, the biggest of its kind in Northern Europe, will be held for the 22nd time this weekend. The main venue is Gloria Cultural Arena (Pieni Roobertinkatu 12), with additional programmes at the Päivälehti Museum (Ludviginkatu 2-4), Library 10 (in the main Post Office) and Black Door pub (Iso Roobertinkatu 1).

The programmes consist of lectures, discussions, signings, interviews and different comics-related performances. This year’s foreign guests include Christophe Blain (France), Gunnar Lundkvist (Sweden), Keitaro Arima (Japan), Yvan Alagbé (France), Helge Reumann (Switzerland) and Ruppert & Mulot (France). Comics teams from Holland and Finland will compete in an international comics drawing contest.

In addition, there will be a total of 14 different exhibitions at galleries and bars in the city centre.

22nd HELSINKI COMICS FESTIVAL
15-16 September, 2007

Venues:
Gloria Cultural Arena (main venue; Pieni Roobertinkatu 12)
Päivälehti museum (Ludviginkatu 2-4)
Library 10 (Main Post Office, Elielinaukio 2 G)
Black Door pub (Iso Roobertinkatu 1)

Also exhibitions at:
MUU gallery (Lönnrotinkatu 33)
Gallery Jangva (Uudenmaankatu 4-6)
mbar (Lasipalatsi, Mannerheimintie 22-24)
and other locations in the city centre

Jelle Hugaerts:
Of pigs and ducks (FREE! Magazine)
The First Book of Hope (FREE! Magazine)

Marte:
Chili Com Carne
Reviews from Marte (FREE! Magazine)



Related:
Cartoon tracks – FREE! Magazine's interview with Puupäähattu prize winner Marko Turunen

Categories
Misc News

Memorial for Juice Leskinen

Sculptor Timo Hannunen is currently working on the monument, which will consist of two high memorial stones (210 cm high, 120 cm broad and 60 cm deep) that will be placed close to each other. In between them will remain a crack of about 20 centimetres.

Next winter the two-part sculpture will be moved to Kalevankangas cemetery in Tampere, where Leskinen lies buried. It will be placed close to a memorial to artist Veikko Sinisalo, also a work by Hannunen.

Juice Leskinen was one of Finland’s most prominent singer-songwriters and musicians during the last quarter of the past decade. He died of renal insufficiency, cirrhosis and diabetes on November the 24th, 2006.

Obituary of Juice Leskinen [Helsingin Sanomat, in English] 

Categories
Interviews Music

Lauri’s ethnic futuristic rock’n’roll

{mosimage}Lauri
Tähkä and Elonkerjuu
are definitely a fresh band with a very personal style, rooted deeply in their
native South Ostrobothnia region, different from most of the others that wander
the Finnish rock and roll music scene. On the 19th of September they release
their new album, Tuhannen Riemua. With the first single, Hetkeksi
ei Sulle Rupia, scoring very high in the radio charts, Lauri kindly found
some moments to introduce his projects to the readers of FREE!


 

Tell
us more about who is Lauri Tähkä. About your past, and how you started to get
involved in music business until nowadays.

Lauri
Tähkä is a singer and songwriter in a band called Elonkerjuu. I love being out
on a gig and making music. I was born in Finland, South Ostrobothnia, in Teuva,
which has about 6,500 inhabitants. 

Do
you have any special singer or band that you admire?

I don’t
have any specific singers or bands that I actually admire. I respect them
rather than admire. 

Your
music style is a bit different from other pop/rock bands, with more roots into
Finnish traditional music. Tell us why that approach to this music style and
what features can make the music of your band different from other Finnish
bands. 

We are an
ethnicfuturisticrock’n’roll band that uses the dialect of South Ostrobothnia in
its lyrics. 

Introduce
us a bit to your band Elonkerjuu. How did you started to play together? 

Us boys
have played together for fifteen years and when we started to do
ethnicfuturisticrock’n’roll we wanted to take Johanna along. There just weren’t
any other players in Teuva than us at that time. We have been playing with this
composition for about seven years. We have released five albums and been on
about 500 gigs. 

I
know that you also play “solo” just with your guitar. Actually I saw you in one
show for one private company last year in Manala in Helsinki. Do you play alone
often?

There was
a very nice gang of people in Manala and the atmosphere was great. I go
out on about 3 to 5 solo gigs per year. The gigs with the band take up so much
time that there just isn’t time for any more. 

Talking
about you playing solo, you participated last year in this album with other
many notorious Finnish artists, Soolot, with people there like Jonna
Tervomaa or even Ville Valo. You had this song: Synkkien laulujen maa.
How did you get involved in the project?

The
producer Riku Mattila asked me in on it. It was a great project! 

It
seems also that you are quite popular with the female public. Your image is
warmer than most of other Finnish singers, even you look more “latino”. How do
you assume the contact with the public? 

Hehehe…
Being a performer and going out on gigs is my job, which I love and enjoy. I
don’t think it’s stressing at all! Latino comparison was quite surprising. I
guess The South Ostrobothnians are the Finnish Latinos, hehehe… I have not
consciously created a Latino image. 

Maailma
on Renki,
your first album with Universal, was a kind of breakthrough in your career,
becoming a platinum album. Does this cause pressure on you now that you ´ll
release a new one: Tuhannen Riemua? 

It’s true
that Maailma on Renki has sold over 45000 copies and it’s been a real
surprise. I just can say that we have enjoyed making Tuhannen Riemua.
The songs came easily. 

Please,
tell us more about the new album. In which ways is different (or similar) to
the previous works. Do you have any special songs from the album you like most? 

I love
our album and even though it might sound like a cliché, I think it’s our best
album yet. It’s dynamic! We worked with this album longer than with the others,
which made the project quite hard but rewarding and interesting as well. My
favourite song is Susipihan portilla. 

What
Lauri Tähkä want to achieve in the future? 

A long
career in the music business as a songwriter.

Any
message for the readers? 

Keep The Baltic Sea clean!

Categories
Cinema DVD

A movie to reflect

{sidebar id=32}Guy Ritchie became one of my favorite (and
many others delighted fans`) directors after masterpieces like Lock, Stock
and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. But the higher you climb, the
hardest the fall is, and that exactly happened with his previous work: Swept
Away, a movie to forget, featuring his wife Madonna, which was smashed
without mercy by critic and public.  

So there was a lot of curiosity around his
new film, Revolver, to see if Ritchie would come back to his origins.
And the initial plot certainly reminds his earlier films: gangsters, action,
acid dialogues… He even eliminated the scenes where Madonna appeared trying to
avoid the “kiss of death” that his wife had given to the previous failed work.
But once you get immersed in the story, you can see that there is not much left
from the first successful films mentioned above if not for the repeated
appearance of his “fetish” actor: Jason Statham, perfect in his work as
usual.  Ray Liotta appears as
maybe the best of the whole film, in the role of a tanned and despotic mafia
boss that totally suits him.

Ritchie had warned that this time he wanted
to make a film for intelligent people… and alas that the movie is not easy to
follow! The timeline is broken successively, the thoughts, the real facts and
the imagination of the characters is often mixed, and you really have to pay
attention to catch the subtle angles of the story. This time the sharp
dialogues are not aimed at making you smile, but at making you reflect about
some philosophical questions. The chess game and strategies to win is a great
leitmotiv all over the movie, and looks like Ritchie wanted to create a chess
game also inside our minds. But at the end my feeling is that the product got “over
baked”. Ritchie wanted to play to be a director resembling Christopher
Nolan, David Fincher and himself at the same time, instead of just being
happy of showing his personal style, leading to the viewers and critics to be
still trying to decide if this is a masterpiece, or a piece of shit. Decide
yourselves, but my advice is that maybe watching the film for a second time can
help you understand it more (or maybe not). I still prefer the Guy Ritchie less
philosophical and more into purely entertainment.