Film award news!
Moving People and Images Award (the MPI Award) was granted to August Joensalo and their film Space Is Quite a Lot of Things directed by August Joensalo. The award is given for the first time and is aimed at a filmmaker whose work emphasizes inclusivity and diversity. The award is sponsored by Suomen elokuvasäätiö - Finnish Film Foundation, AVEK - Audiovisuaalisen kulttuurin edistämiskeskus.
The curiosity about a world without gender sets a journey through a world of
jellyfish and disco uncles, creating the environment for four trans to share
how they relate (or not) to their own gender, imagine visions of their own
queer utopia, and reveal whether gender can be felt in the toes.
August Joensalo is a film director and writer who uses film as a medium for
creating relatable utopias for queer and trans people. They are graduating from
their MFA in 2021. Joensalo aims to find ethical ways to represent queer bodies
on image, with a special focus on trans narratives. Joensalo proposes
alternative ways of being and existing in the world, ways that fall outside the
binary of language, bodies, and identities.
In addition, Khadar Ayderus Ahmed's long debut film Gled & Nasra was
awarded at Toronto International Film Festival with the Amplify Voices Award.
The award is a recognition for promoting the diversity of cinematic art. Teemu
Nikki's Blind man who didn't want to see Titanic won the audience vote in the
Orizzonti Extra -series at the Venice Film Festival.
The news article on Finnish Film Foundation's website in Finnish.
