Ilppo Anssi Pohjola (born 30 January 1957 in

Keuruu Keuruu (; sv, Keuru) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The popul ...

) is an independent filmmaker, producer and artist based in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. His international breakthrough was '' Daddy and the Muscle Academy'' (1991), a documentary about

Tom of Finland Touko Valio Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist who made stylized highly masculinized homoerotic art, and influenced late 20th-century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential ...

. Pohjola has produced the cinematic installations and films by

Eija-Liisa Ahtila Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born 1959 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a contemporary visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Helsinki. Ahtila is most known for her multi-panel cinematic installations. She experiments with narrative storytellin ...

since 1993.Vetrocq, Marcia E.: "In the Cut" in ''Art in America'', January 2004, p. 84–87, 135. Ilppo Pohjola works with the vocabulary of film, examining its structural and social elements in order to create a body of work that pushes the limits of the medium's physical possibilities. He works between the narrative tropes of Hollywood and the deconstructive methodologies of independent film. The cumulative bodies of knowledge in Pohjola's works are noticeable for their crispness of conception and excess of information. Given his interest in the formal elements of filmmaking, the content of Pohjola's works are surprisingly physical and sensual, even if assaultive.Doroshenko, Peter: "Routemaster: Theatre of the Motor" in ''Inova Exhibition Catalogue'', January 2003. His film ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'' won the

Jussi Award The Jussi Awards are Finland's premier film industry prizes, awarded annually to recognize the achievements of directors, actors, and writers. History The first Jussi Awards ceremony was held on 16 November 1944 at the Restaurant Adlon in Hels ...

for the best documentary film in Finland, 1991.

Biography

Ilppo Pohjola studied at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, USA and at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west- Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

in Toronto, Canada. He graduated from Harrow College of Higher Education in London, UK in 1988. He achieved international breakthrough with his first cinema feature, the 1991 documentary ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'', featuring artist and gay culture icon

.Olaf Möller, "Transformation and Ecstasy" in ''58. Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen Festival Magazine'', 2012, p. 38 The film received several awards including the

(the "Finnish Oscar") for the best documentary film. In subsequent works Pohjola 'proved himself to be one of the most extraordinary avant-garde filmmakers of his day'. Pohjola's second film, ''P(l)ain Truth'' (1993), also a documentary but of a more poetic and metaphorical kind, is about a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

person undergoing a sex reassignment operation.Huhtamo, Erkki: "Pohjola, or Eulogies of Excess" in ''Framework: The Finnish Art Review'', June 2005, p. 86–91. ''Asphalto'' (1998), starring

Irina Björklund Irina Felicia Björklund (born 7 February 1973) is a Finnish actress and singer. Early life and education Björklund was born in Danderyd, Stockholm County, Sweden before moving to Finland with her family. Björklund also lived in France during h ...

and

Peter Franzén Peter Vilhelm Franzén (born 14 August 1971) is a Finnish actor, author, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his role as King Harald Finehair in ''Vikings'' (2016–2020). Personal life Franzén was born in Keminmaa, north Finland. ...

, bridges the artist's interest in gender stereotypes and the erotics of the auto by shuffling footage of demolition derby, clips of pinup models in latex shorts bearing oil company logos, and moments with a young couple in relationship distress. The following film, ''Routemaster'' (1999) continues the exploration of the limits of classical film narrative by focusing on filmic movement in tandem with the speed of racing cars. Drawing from the tradition of structural film and the principles of

minimalist art Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially Visual arts, visual art and Minimalist music, music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-es ...

, ''Routemaster'' uses repetition and rapid, complex editing to disrupt the flow of linear time and strict spatial continuity. ''Routemaster'' was also presented as a multichannel installation in three different versions with live sound by

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

and sound designer Jim McKee. His latest work to date, ''1 plus 1 plus 1 – Sympathy for the Decay'' (2012) has been described as a "death triptych", combining themes and techniques used in his previous works to achieve a

gesamtkunstwerk A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, literally 'total artwork', translated as 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of al ...

.Möller, Olaf: "To Die without God" in ''Filmihullu'' 3/2012. Filmihullu ry, 2012. A recurring theme running through all of Pohjola’s work is transformation – how a person can change from one gender to another (''P(l)ain Truth''), how flesh and steel can fuse in an apotheosis called the crash (''Routemaster''), what time and chemicals do to film images (''1 Plus 1 Plus 1 – Sympathy for the Decay''). What all these films have in common is their intoxicating imagery. Little that cinema has brought forth in the past quarter century leaves the viewer as ecstatic, agitated and euphoric as the films of Pohjola. In addition to directing and scriptwriting, Pohjola works as a producer and has through his company Crystal Eye produced

's films and cinematic installations. He has directed several television documentaries and videos. Pohjola is also known as a photographer and a graphic artist.

Filmography

Director

* '' Daddy and the Muscle Academy'' (1991) * ''P(l)ain Truth'' (1993) * ''Asphalto'' (1998) * ''Routemaster'' (1999) * ''1 plus 1 plus 1 – Sympathy for the Decay'' (2012)

Producer

* ''P(l)ain Truth'' (1993) * ''Asphalto'' (1998) * ''Routemaster'' (1999) * ''1 plus 1 plus 1 – Sympathy for the Decay'' (2012) Works written and directed by

: * ''Me/We, Okay, Grey'' (1993) * ''If 6 was 9'' (1995) * ''Today'' (1996) * ''Aki, Anne and God'' (1998) * ''Consolation Service'' (1999) * ''The Present'' (2001) * ''The Wind'' (2002) * ''The House'' (2002) * ''Love is a Treasure'' (2002) * ''The Hour of Prayer'' (2005) * ''Fishermen'' (2007) * ''Where is Where?'' (2008) * ''The Annunciation'' (2010) * ''Horizontal'' (2011) * ''Studies on the Ecology of Drama'' (2014) Other: * ''After Everything'' (2014), written and directed by Pekka Sassi

Awards

;1992 * Finnish State Award for Documentary, National Council for Audiovisual Arts, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'') * Finnish State Award for Directing, National Council for Audiovisual Arts, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'') * Quality Production Award, National Council for Audiovisual Arts, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'') * Tupilak Award, Stockholm, Sweden (work: ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'') *

for Best Documentary, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'') ;1993 * Teddy Bear for the Best Short Film, Berlin International Film Festival, Germany (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Main Prize in the National Competition, Tampere Film Festival, Finland (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Special Prize of the Jury in the International Competition, Tampere Film Festival, Finland (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Audience Prize in the National Competition, Tampere Film Festival, Finland (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Audience Prize in the International Competition, Tampere Film Festival, Finland (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') *

Seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for " bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. ...

Apple Award, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Quality Production Award, National Council for Audiovisual Arts, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Award for Best Experimental Film, Uppsala International Film Festival, Sweden (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Award for Best Short Film, Kettupäivät, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Public Award for Best Documentary Film, Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Italy (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') * Special Commendation, Prix Futura Berlin, Germany (work: ''Daddy and the Muscle Academy'') * Award for Delivering New Information, National Council for Audiovisual Arts, Helsinki, Finland ;1994 * Public Award for Best Documentary Film, Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Italy (work: ''P(l)ain Truth'') ;1999 * Special Prize of the Jury in the National Competition, Tampere Film Festival, Finland (work: ''Asphalto'') * Quality Production Award, National Council for Audiovisual Arts, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''Asphalto'') ;2000 * Audience Award, Kettupäivät, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''Routemaster'') * Quality Production Award, National Council for Audiovisual Arts, Helsinki, Finland (work: ''Routemaster'')

References

External links

Ilppo Pohjola official website
*
Artist profile.
AV-arkki – the Distribution Centre for Finnish Media Art.
Artist profile.
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.
Daddy and the Muscle Academy
(in Finnish). {{DEFAULTSORT:Pohjola, Ilppo 1957 births Living people Artists from Helsinki Finnish film directors Finnish film producers Sheridan College alumni AFI Conservatory alumni