Pirjo Honkasalo
Pirjo Honkasalo is an established director, screenwriter, producer and photographer who has won countless awards for her work. She directed several films in the 1970s and 80s with Pekka Lehto (including Da Capo, 1985). In the 1990s, she made the so-called Trilogy of the Sacred and the Evil, consisting of the films Mysterion (1991), Tanjuska and the 7 Devils (Tanjuska ja 7 perkelettä, 1993) and Atman (1996). In 2004 she made the multiple award-winning The 3 Rooms of Melancholia (Melancholian 3 huonetta).
Director’s Filmography:
Ito � kilvoittelijan päiväkirja (Ito � A Diary of an Urban Priest), 2009
Melancholian 3 huonetta (3 Rooms of Melancholia), 2004
Tulennielijä (Fire-Eater), 1998
Atman, 1996
Tallinnan Tuhkimo (The Cinderella of Tallinn), 1995
Tanjuska ja 7 perkelettä (Tanjuska and the 7 Devils), 1993
Mysterion, (1991)
Da Capo, (1985)
250 grammaa (250 Grammes - a Radioactive Testament), 1983
Yhdeksän tapaa lähestyä Helsinkiä (Nine Ways to Approach Helsinki), 1982
Tulipää (Flame Top), 1980
Kainuu 39 (Two Forces), 1979
Vaaran merkki (The Sign of Danger), 1978
Ikäluokka (Their Age), 1976
Horros, 1969
The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth, 1968
Ennen kuolemaa, 1967
EDUCATION
1965-69 University of Art and Design, TAIK, Helsinki Finland,
degree in Cinematography
1971-72: Temple University
(School of Communications)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Post-graduate work in Film Studies
Graduate Assistant
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
1969-75 Partner in documentary production company EPIDEM
1976-87 Partner in production companies P-Kino Oy and Kinofinlandia Oy with Mr. Pekka Lehto
1986- Director and producer of personal production company BAABELI Ky
PUBLICATIONS
RUT BRYK, a book of photographs, published by Kirjayhtymä Corp., 1986
EXIT, (co-writer, Pirkko Saisio) a book of short stories on Mexico and in the mind, published by Kirjayhtymä Corp., 1987
While studying Pirjo Honkasalo worked as a photographer in Finland’s biggest magazine house, Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet. She has worked throughout the years as a still photograher for films, theatre and opera, for those productions she also designed numerous porters. In the 80s she was a permanent contributor for the magazine Kodin Kuvalehti, photographing Asia and Mexico.
In the 70s Pirjo Honkasalo worked two years as a Regional Artist in the Province of Middle Finland staying in a remote village and working with local people.
In the 80s and 90s she designed several multimedia sets for theatre, opera and dance productions in the main pruduction houses of Finland, including Jorma Uotinen’s Unisono (a dance production at Helsinki City Theatre), Richard Warner’s Parsifal (at the Concert Hall of Tampere, produced by the Finnish National Opera) and Rickhard Strauss’s Salome (at the Finnish National Opera). For the year 1988 she worked as a visiting stage designer at Turku City Theatre.
Pirjo Honkasalo was a founding member and a boardmember of the Internatinal Film- and TV-Students Association, IFTSGA (founded 1967 in Prague). She also was a founding member and a boardmember of the International Federation of Film and TV Unions, FISTAV (founded in London 1976).
From 1989-90 she was a board member of the Finnish Film Foundation, FFF. From 1993-99 she was the president of the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture in Finland, AVEK. She has also been teaching in most of the Academies of Art in Finland and been a jury member of several international film festivals.
Pirjo Honkasalo has been granted the 15-years Award of the Arts by the State of Finland, 1989 and
A Gold Medal (ACTI LABORES IVCVNDI) of the 450 years Jubilee of the City of Helsinki, 2000
- ARTIST PROFESSOR (Taiteilijaprofessori), 2001
Bob Connolly
Bob Connolly is one of Australia’s leading documentary makers. Working with his wife, the late Robin Anderson, he has made such internationally acclaimed films as Facing the Music, Rats in the Ranks and the Highland Trilogy as well as Franklin River Journey, and has won over 50 awards, including an Academy Award nomination.
Bob trained as a journalist at the Australian Broadcast Corporation and then spent a decade there as a foreign correspondent, current affairs reporter and documentary filmaker. He made 30 documentaries for the ABC, winning several national awards for production and direction.
In 1978 Connolly left the ABC to work independently with Robin Anderson, producing First Contact (1983), followed by Joe Leahy's Neighbours (1989) and Black Harvest (1992). Set in the PNG Highlands and shot over ten years, these 3 films won 30 national and international awards, including an Academy Award nomination for First Contact. All three won the Grand Prix at France's prestigious Festival Cinema du Reel, and AFI awards for Best Documentary.
In 1996 Connolly and Anderson released Rats in the Ranks. The film ran 5 months in Australian cinemas. Their last film together was Facing the Music (2001) which like all its predecessors was judged Best Documentary by the Australian Film Critics Circle. It too won the AFI Award for Best Documentary, and was voted most popular film at the Sydney and Brisbane Film Festivals.
Filmography:
Mrs. Carey’s Concert (2011)
Facing the Music (2001)
Best Documentary -- IF Awards
Audience Award -- Brisbane International Film Festival
Best Documentary -- Australian Film Institute
Rats in the Ranks (1996)
Black Harvest (1992)
Byron Kennedy Award -- Australian Film Institute
Special Jury Award -- IDFA
Robert Flaherty Award -- Yamagata International Documentary Festival
Grand Prix -- Cinema du Reel, Paris
Joe Leahy's Neighbours (1989)
Best Documentary -- Australian Film Institute
Grand Prix -- Cinema du Reel, Paris
First Contact (1983)
OSCAR Academy Award Nomination
Grand Prix -- Cinema du Reel, Paris
Best Feature Documentary -- Australian Film Institute Awards
Best Documentary -- Sydney Film Festival
Leonard Retel Helmrich
Leonard Retel Helmrich finished the Dutch Film and Television Academy in 1986 and in 1990 he made a feature film The Phoenix Mystery. His first documentary Moving Objects (1991) was awarded with the Special Jury Price for the Best Artist-Profile at the International Golden Gate film festival of San Francisco. In those days Retel Helmrich developed his own film style based on the principles of Single Shot Cinema, a method of looking which was developed by himself.
After finishing Moving Objects he decided to travel to Indonesia (where his parents were born) to get some inspiration and to show the people all around the world what was happening in this beautiful but also very complicated country. He discovered that the power of Suharto was decreasing. In 1995 he made a film about Suharto and his wife in their Jakartan palace, after that he went to Solo (Mid-Java) to film a demonstration against the Suharto regime. During his activities he was arrested by the police and they accused him to be a Western spy. Thanks to the Dutch Embassy and his brother Anton - who was coincidentally in Indonesia - he was released after a few days. He was thrown out of the country with the status "persona non grata". That means: he was not allowed to visit Indonesia anymore. Leonard Retel Helmrich traveled to Kansas City Missouri to work together with the Institute of Art in developing the principles of Single Shot Cinema. In 1997 his brother went to Indonesia to discuss with the government how to change the "persona non grata" status. After all he succeeded in doing that and Leonard Retel Helmrich could return to finish his work. Unfortunately a lot of material was destroyed or not usable anymore.
That's why Leonard Retel Helmrich decided to change his whole strategy. A lot of journalists were reporting of the Fall of Suharto and Retel Helmrich wanted to focus on the micro-aspects by following an Indonesian family in one of the Jakartan slums. All changes in politics, religion, islamization, poverness, social injustice, globalization, criminality, corruption and so on would influence all Indonesians in their daily life. He decided to film a triptych about the survival of the family in those touching days in Indonesia. In 2001 he finished Eye of the Day (Stand van de Zon). In 2004 he made Shape of the Moon (Stand van de Maan), which was a worldwide success.
Since then Retel Helmrich’s films have screened and won acclaim at film festivals world wide, garnering major awards for both his drama and documentary work. His awards include the inaugural Grand World Documentary Award at Sundance 2005 and the prestigious Joris Ivens Award at IDFA Amsterdam 2004 for his Indonesian feature documentary Shape of the Moon (Stand van de Maan). In 2010 he won for the second time the Grand VPRO/IDFA Award for feature documentary for Position Among the Stars (Stand van de Sterren) together with the IDFA Award for the best Dutch documentary. It was for the first time in the IDFA history that someone has won an award for the second time. In January 2011 he won again the World Documentary Award at Sundance for Position among the Stars.
He has served on the jury of many film festivals, including Shanghai, Warsaw, Seoul, Sibiu Romania and Amsterdam, and has had major retrospectives of his work run at Visions du Réel in Nyon (Switzerland) and Rencontres Internationales Du Documentaire in Montréal and at the ASTRA in Sibiu Romania. He has also lectured and screened his films at numerous educational institutions including the Flaherty Seminar program in New York, and at Harvard University where he was on a Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. Leonard shoots as well as directs all his own films, and is best known for a philosophy and approach he calls ‘Single Shot Cinema�, which involves long takes with a hand held but smooth camera moving close to the subject, and above all in his films it is the framing and movement of the camera that captures and leads the emotions of the audience. He has run over 20 workshop programs in Single Shot Cinema technique for film festivals, television broadcasters, independent film makers film schools and universities worldwide � in Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and in Africa. During his Harvard fellowship he was editing his latest film Position Among the Stars which is the third film of his trilogy on contemporary Indonesia and he is currently writing a book on “Single Shot Cinema�.
Filmotgraphy:
Position among the stars (2010)
Special Jury Award Sundance World Cinema 2011
Grand Jury Award IDFA 2010
Dioraphte IDFA Award for Best Dutch Documentary 2010
Grand Jury Award Zagrebdox 2011
Special Jury Award Sarasota Filmfestival 2011
Special Jury Mention Silverdocs 2011
Grand Jury Prize Alba Filmfestival 2011
Shape of the moon �2004�
Joris Ivens Award IDFA 2004
Grand Jury prize World Cinema Sundance 2005
Best Cinematography Award Documentary Festival Chicago 2005
Opening film International Film festival Bermuda 2005
Grand Jury Award Full Frame Festival USA 2005
Crystall Film Award - The Netherlands
Asja.biz Prize � Best Documentary
First prize Cinemambiente Environmental Film Festival Turin 2005
Audience Award Renconters Documentary Film festival Montreal 2005
Flight from heaven �2002�
Nomination Golden Calf - The Netherlands best documentary
Eye of the day �2001�
Third place public award IDFA 2001
Special mention FIPA-Biarritz 2002
Public award Visions du Reel Nyon 2002
Award Prix SRG SSR idée suisse 2002
Audience Award 7th International Filmfestival Split 2002
Grand Prix of the Jury Maremma Doc Festival Palmares 2002
Third place public award Maremma Doc Festival Palmares 2002
Dutch Emmy Award (Gouden Beeld) Best Documentary 2003
The body of Indonesia’s conscience (1999)
A portrait of Feike Boschma (1998)
Closed Circuit (1996)
Writers block (1995)
Moving Objects (1992)
Special Jury Award San Francisco Golden Gate Film Festival 1992
Danniel Danniel
Lives and works in Amsterdam as a film director, scenario writer and editor
Filmografie (scenario and directing)
1981 THE WAY TO PARIS (scenario and directing)
1986 EI (EGG) (scenario and directing)
1988 VIADUC (scenario and directing)
1995 MYKOSCH (scenario and directing)
1996 TRALIEVADER (scenario and directing)
1997 WINTER �89 (scenario and directing)
1999 DE ZAAK BRAUN (scenario and directing)
2000 RUSSEN 2 afleveringen ( directing)
2001 RUSSEN 4 afleveringen ( directing)
2003 ARNA’S CHILDREN (co-directing with Juliano Mer Khamis)
Montage (recent works)
2004
PITRE, Jessica en Frank Gorter
MISS CHARME, Christel van der Meer
GOLESTAN Sabine Konig
OUWE JONGENS, Saskia Hits, Tsunima Film
TERUG NAAR ANGOLA
2005
INGELIJSTE HUWELIJKEN Heddy Honigmann
VROUWEN VAN SREBRENICA Lidija Zelovic
NEUBACHER PROJECT Marcus Neubacher
WAR IS BUSINESS Frank Vellinga
2006
FOREVER Heddy Honigmann
JAN FRIJMAN Faby Hulsebos
WACHT OP MIJ, GALG John Albert Jansen
2007
EMOTICONS Heddy Honigmann
TALKING GUITARS Clair Pijnman
LADY SINGS THE TAMBOE Milushka Terbraak
EL OLVIDIO Heddy Honigmann
2008
INSIDE BURMA Karin Junger
AFTER THE RAPE Catherina Sanches
HET VELEDEN VAN NEDERLAND IdtvDocs
EEN BETER LEVEN Karin Junger
SHIGEY Mark Smits
2009
RISE & FALL Fiona Tam
PULSE Sabine Konig
VOOR LATER ZORG Claire Pijman
CLAUS EN VLANDEREN J.A. Janssen
M.L.D.F. Maria Moc
AT THE DREAM’S EDGE Shirley Barenholz
SHOUT (tv version) Esther Gould
2010
CRIME SCENE AFGHANISTAN Shoresh Kalantar
DAUGTERS OF MALAKEH Jet Homoet
FLYING BIRDS Sabine Konig
THE HOUSE THAT LEO BUILT Jordan Melamed
2011
END AND BEGIN John Albert Jansen
900 DAYS Jessica Gorter
(Co-)auteur of differant scenario’s, a.o..
INCIDENT IN TUNIS
MO & FUN
HOMO LUDENS (co-scenarist)
NEUS (co-scenarist)
Montage, sound montage and supervision for differant features and documentaries for a.o.
Heddy Honigmann, Jos de Putter, Bernie IJdis, Johan van der Keuken, Alex van Warmedam, Emile Fallaux , Dick Maas, Marleen Gorris, Paul Verhoeven, Frans Weisz and many others.LARRY WEINSTEIN
Founding partner of acclaimed Toronto-based Rhombus Media, Larry Weinstein has become one of the world’s most recognized and awarded directors of music documentaries and performance specials. He was recently awarded as an “International Trailblazer� at MIPDOC in Cannes (April 2007) for his work as a documentary director.
Many of his films document the lives and musical creation of 20th century composers, such as RAVEL; THE RADICAL ROMANTIC (John Weinzweig); WHEN THE FIRE BURNS (Manuel de Falla); MY WAR YEARS: ARNOLD SCHOENBERG; SHADOWS AND LIGHT: JOAQUIN RODRIGO AT 90; SEPTEMBER SONGS: THE MUSIC OF KURT WEILL and THE WAR SYMPHONIES: SHOSTAKOVICH AGAINST STALIN have been screened at major film festivals around the world and have received top awards in Toronto, Montreal, Banff, New York, Chicago, Columbus, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Oakland, Paris, San Sebastian, Prague, Tel Aviv and Melbourne. His films have earned numerous Gemini Awards, Emmy Awards and in 1986, his MAKING OVERTURES - THE STORY OF A COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA received an Oscar nomination. In 1998, SOLIDARITY SONG: THE HANNS EISLER STORY won the Louvre’s coveted “Classique en Images� Award as the world’s best film on the arts over a three year span.
Other recent films include RAVEL’S BRAIN (2000), a musical/visual tone poem which was nominated for an International Emmy and won the Best Director Award at HotDocs; ANDREA BOCELLI � TUSCAN SKIES (2001). BEETHOVEN’S HAIR (2005), a musical/pathological/historical film; BURNT TOAST (2005), a TV special composed of a of eight original comic mini-operas; and MOZARTBALLS (2006), an unusual tribute to Mozart obsession � all of these films have won major International Awards.
His 2009 feature documentary, INSIDE HANA’S SUITCASE, based on the book Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levine continues to screen at festivals around the world to wide acclaim, especially popular with young audiences.
Awards & Honor:
2007 � Trailblazers Award, MIPDOC, Cannes � “recognizing international artists who are on the cutting edge of documentary film-making�
2006 � Yogyakarta/Jakarta Film Festivals, Indonesia � Teaching Award/four Masterclasses and eight Screenings
2006 � DocAviv � Larry Weinstein Five Film Retrospective, Tel Aviv
2005 � Music on Film/Films on Music (MOFFOM) - Retrospective/Lifetime Achievement Award, Prague
2005 � HotDocs Documentary Festival - “Focus on Larry Weinstein� Six Film Retrospective, Toronto
26 personal Gemini nominations/11 wins from 1986 to 2006; 3 International Emmy Awards; 2 Primetime Emmy Nominations; 1 Oscar Nomination
