Saturday, September 10, 2011

Nyrki Tapiovaara Centenary - The Way of a Young Man (two day seminar)

The Nyrki Tapiovaara weekend seminar was organized by The Risto Jarva Society at Cinema Orion (Helsinki), 10-11 September, 2011.

Nyrki Tapiovaara (*10.9.1911 Pitäjänmäki, †29.2.1940 Tolvajärvi) was a Finnish film director, screenwriter, actor, theatre director, film critic, and a film society pioneer. He directed the films Juha (1937), Varastettu kuolema (1938), Kaksi Vihtoria (1939), Herra Lahtinen lähtee lipettiin (only half of which survives, 1939), Miehen tie (1940, completed by Erik Blomberg and Hugo Hytönen after Tapiovaara's death in the Winter War). Nyrki Tapiovaara was born into a cultural home. The graphic artist Tapio Tapiovaara and the designer Ilmari Tapiovaara were his brothers. Nyrki Tapiovaara interrupted his studies in law, moved in the modernist and leftist circles of the 1930s variation of the Tulenkantajat [The Torchbearers], and was a co-founder of Projektio, Finland's first film society, together with Alvar Aalto et al., in 1934. He was a prominent radical film and cultural critic. Timo Linnasalo has said that Finnish film history can be crystallized into three names: Tapiovaara, Jarva, Kaurismäki.

Saturday, 10 September 2011
12.00 Opening words by Matteus Marttila (chairman) and Eero Tammi (vice chairman)
12.15 "The Cultural Background of Nyrki Tapiovaara" - by Matti Rinne, author of the excellent book Yksitoista Tapiovaaraa [11 Tapiovaaras, Helsinki: Teos, 2008] -
13.00 "Are Contemporary Finnish Film Directors Cowards?" - panel discussion with Petri Kotwica (Musta jää), Juho Kuosmanen (Taulukauppiaat), and Mazdak Nassir (Jalil).
14.00 "Juhani Aho and Nyrki Tapiovaara" - by Panu Rajala, a high profile authority of Finnish literary history and author of several books, most recently on Juhani Aho, Aila Meriluoto, and Mika Waltari.
14.30 screening: Juha (1937)

Sunday, 11 September 2011
12.00 Lauri Tykkyläinen on Nyrki Tapiovaara and his two tv documentaries on him.
screening: Nyrki Tapiovaara - elokuvaohjaaja (1973)
screening: Varastetun kuoleman maisemissa (1987)
14.15 Juha Kuosmanen on Herra Lahtinen lähtee lipettiin
screening: Herra Lahtinen lähtee lipettiin (incomplete, 1939)

Several members of the Tapiovaara cultural family were present in the audience.

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