Hannu Koivuranta is the cinematographer of the film "Lesson", showed in Gothenburg

Tampere University of Applied Sciences sent eight students to Gothenburg (SWE) to take part in a filmschool student meeting organized by Nordicil. Nordicil operates under CILECT and is an association for Nordic film schools. The attending filmschools this year were TAMK, TAIK, Dramatiska Institutet (SWE), Göteborg Filmhögskolan (SWE) and Den Norske Filmskolen (NOR). The Danish film school couldn’t unfortunately attend this year due to the students’ graduation film schedules. The point of the meeting was to network with new people, share experiences about works-in-progress and completed works and also have a discussion about the work flows each student had.

Laura Rytkönen, Lotta Kallio and Talvikki Tenhunen represented the Fine Arts program while Hanna Lappalainen, Henna Seppälä, Toni Anttila, Outi Hartikainen and Hannu Koivuranta represented the Film and Television program.

Since we arrived to Gothenburg the day before the meeting we had time to attend the Göteborg International Film Festival and got to see e.g. John Cameron Michell’s latest film “Rabbit Hole” and some Swedish short films.

The student meeting was held in Göteborg Filmhögskolan’s facilities. The students were divided to five different random groups. The groups would rotate in 30 minute cycles in different rooms where the students had the opportunity to tell everyone about themselves and their works. The atmosphere was all in all casual, open and supporting. It seemed to be very important for the students to get to know how things were done in a different school. Hopefully next year there can be more time arranged for these discussions.

After lunch and the last rotations the student had the opportunity to partake in two master classes. The first one was held by Tomas Eskilsson who talked about the radically changing field of film financing and how we - the new talent - should react to it. An interesting and compact lecture which arose several thoughts about the future of film making.

The second master class was held by the legendary Ann Kroeber who has worked as a sound effect supervisor and as a sound effect recordist in several feature films (e.g. The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Gladiator, Star Wars) and who has also had the honor of working with Ben Burtt and David Lynch. She presented her works and working methods very enthusiastically keeping the balance of the lecture in working with animals she so dearly loves. It’s a pity there weren’t any students who majored in sound design.

After a tight scheduled day the students headed, like last year, to a nearby restaurant to get to know each other even more and to meet the representatives of e.g. Film i Väst - the regional film fund in Sweden. The evening was pleasant.

Thinking back about the meaning and effect of the student meeting I can’t help but to think that it should last longer. Building a mutual communication over several days would possibly result in even longer dialogues in the future while making it possible for the schools to collaborate on a more serious level. It feels as if this was only a scratch revealing a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. Nevertheless the trip was excellent and getting to know new people as inspiring as ever.

Hannu Koivuranta