DEVIL S LUNGS a total 3D VR 360º experience, celebrating the mystical power of Finnish accordion & of women through music and dance.
DEVIL S LUNGS Mystical stories about Finnish accordion collected by the accordion virtuoso and composer Anne-Mari Kivimäki; an eclectic mix of Finnish folk and contemporary dance traditions in the dazzling performances by choreographer Reetta-Kaisa Iles and Tsuumi Dance Theatre; fierce ethno-rock sounds of Kivimäki/Iles band "Puhti" inspired filmmaker Alla Kovgan to dive into virtual reality. The result is a surreal deadpan 3D VR 360º experience, challenging boundaries between traditional and contemporary, male and female, hellish and heavenly, ecstatic and everyday, celebrating power of women through Finnish music and dance. Year: 2018 Total Running Time: 10 15 Shooting Format: 360º 3D VR Camera: Nokia OZO Sound: Binaural 9.1 360 Sound & Stereo
directed by Alla Kovgan screenplay: Alla Kovgan & Reetta-Kaisa Iles choreography: Reetta-Kaisa Iles (in collaboration with Tsuumi Dance Theatre) cast: Reetta-Kaisa Iles Eero Grundström Timo Saari Liisa Ruuskanen Anne-Mari Kivimäki Tuomas Juntunen Salla Korja-Paloniemi Tuikku Juntunen director of photography: Mko Malkhasyan composer & arranger: Anne-Mari Kivimäki & Eero Grundström 360º 3D VR creative math & on-line: Marc Downie (OpenEnded Groupl) sound design and 3D sound mix: Aki Silventoinen VR 360º choreography adaptation: Hanna Pajala-Assefa costumes: Jaana Kurttila executive producer & producer: Hanna Pajala-Assefa (Loikka Kontakti) producers: Leandro Righini & Mari Righini (Capefinn Oy) Elizabeth Delude-Dix (DocWorks) Kinodance Kihtinäjärvi Records Laine Productions
Reetta-Kaisa Iles, choreographer Anne-Mari Kivimäki composer Timo Saari Tuomas Juntunen
Eero Grundström, composer Liisa Ruuskanen
Suistamon Sähkö
Puhti
REETTA-KAISA ILES (b.1976) is a choreographer and a performer, multitalented practitioner of contemporary art. Her creativity bursts in many different directions: from improvisation to dance theatre, from contemporary dance to folk-music and -dance. Iles works as a singing-dancer in a vivid music theatre duo Puhti and experimental electronic band Suistamon Sähkö. Iles also runs Tsuumi Dance Theatre, a Helsinki-based professional company, jointly with Tuomas Juntunen, a dancer and musician. Iles has a master degree in choreography from Theatre Academy of Finland. In 2016 National Council for the performing arts awarded her artistit grant for five years. ANNE-MARI KIVIMÄKI (b. 1976) is a musician, composer and lyricist, with the accordion at the core of her creativity. A founder of several bands including the boundary pushing duo Puhti, experimental electronic group Suistamon Sähkö, and Anne-Mari Kivimäki & Palomylly, she created multi-disciplinary artworks featuring the accordion and developped a new style of playing: a contemporary Karelian accordion trance. Anne- Mari has a Master's degree from the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department and is currently preparing her doctorate project Suistamo - The Laboratory of Tradition. She won Artist of the Year Award in Finland s Ethnogala in 2017. Her solo album Lakkautettu Kylä (A Closed- Down Village) won the Folk Music Album of the Year Award 2015 (Finland), climbing to #10 in the World Music European Charts and receiving the German Record Critics' Award in 2016. PUHTI: In 2001 Anne-Mari Kivimäki was preparing her final concert for the Department of Folk Music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. The concert was to be based on Karelian traditions. Researching the archives of the Finnish Literature Society when she discovered tape recordings and fell in love with the stories of accordionist Ilja Kotikallio, who talked about illatsus get-together evenings in Karelia that included music and dancing as a central part of the festivities. This prompted Anne-Mari the to ask choreographer Reetta-Kaisa Iles, who had graduated as a dancer from the Theater Academy of Finland, to join her. The duo named Puhti meaning vigor in old Finnish was born. Corky and off-beat, moving, vivid and solemn, the duo's repertoire suits both to small club settings and large-scale festival arenas. Accordions, vocals, rhythmic stomping and a pyngyr - a five string bass variation on the kantele a traditional plucked instrument native to Finland, Estonia and Karelia are Puhti s musical palette. The duo has been also influenced by their journeys to Viena Karelia, Mozambique and Nicaragua. Among achievements: The Kaustinen Folk Music Festival nomination (2006), The Young Artist of the Year (Kaisa, 2006); Artistic Ambassadors to UK, Ireland, Russia on behalf of Festivals of Finland; Finnish-Russian Cultural Forum (2007); Etno is Happening (YLE, 2010); and others. If we really wanted to create a sensation at the Eurovision Song Contest we should send the duo Puhti there. Reetta-Kaisa Iles and Anne-Mari Kivimäki are strong singers with a mythical talent for extracting something joyful and new from the old traditions Anne Välinoro
Salla Korja-Paloniemi
Alla Kovgan, director Hanna Pajala-Assefa, 360º choreography adaptation
ALLA KOVGAN, director: Born in Moscow, Alla is a New York-based artist, bringing 15 years of experience working with dance and film collaborations on screen and in theatre/gallery, as well as a strong record as a documentary writer/director and editor. Her film Nora, about Zimbabwe-born choreographer Nora Chipaumire, has been presented at over 120 festivals, received 30 awards in various genres, and was broadcast on ARTE/ZDF, PBS, TV3 (Spain), NRK (Norway) and SVT (Sweden). Within the last decade, she also co-directed and edited the Emmynominated "Traces of the Trade" (Sundance, PBS) and "Movement Revolution Africa" (ARTE/ZDF). Alla also edited "My Perestroika" (Sundance, PBS, Silverdocs, Full Frame Festival award winner). Since 1999, Alla has been a member of the KINODANCE Company, an interdisciplinary artist collaborative, creating performances and installations. KINODANCE's work has been supported by the Bank of America Celebrity Series, ICA (Boston), New England Foundation for the Arts and others. Critics describe KINODANCE performances as " a daring and dramatically theatrical experience and a breathtaking synthesis of live and filmed dance For the last 5 years, she has has also been developing a 3D feature film CUNNINGHAM about legendary American choreographer Merce Cunningham to be released in 2019. Alla is a recipient of many grants and fellowships, including a Poynter Fellowship at Yale University, a Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Artist Fellowship and a Brother Thomas Fellowship for artists working at the highest level of artistry and creativity. (www.kinodance.com) DIRECTOR S NOTE: "When I first saw choreographer/dancer/musician Reetta-Kaisa Illes and accordion virtuoso Anna-Mari Kivimäki, founders of the world music band Puhti, perform six years ago, I was immediately struck by their unique presence, their incredible ability to fuse different music traditions, virtuosic improvisational skills, and most importantly, the power they exert on stage through taking on both female and male roles. Through their music and their performance, they link the past and the present, filling the mysterious spaces in between. Anna-Mari Kivimäki s accordion is at the heart of their artistic explorations. The instrument occupies a controversial position in the history of music but more importantly in Finnish history. Once referred to as sin squeezer and devil s lungs, it was at times, feared and dismissed and at others, praised and revered. Puhti s accordion has a power to transcend, which in the past was used to communicate with the outer the otherworldly the holy and the demonic. But also it has a prominent place in the world music scene, which introduces electronics into the mix, evoking a new form of archaic trance. When LOIKKA KONTAKTI launched VR dance program, I sensed that immersing the viewers in this archaic trance and in to the world of Reetta- Kaisa s and Anna-Mari s with all its elements would suit VR perfectly and let a new form of a 360º total immersive theatre come to life. The PUHTI women came on board and DEVIL S LUNGS was born. Alla Kovgan
Mko Malkhasyan, cinematographer
MKO MALKHASYAN, cinematographer: An Armenian-born cinematographer Mkrtich (Mko) Malkhasyan relocated to the United States in 2009. For the last 15 years, he has been working on features, documentaries, pop videos and commercials in the US, Europe and Russia. Considered the top cinematographer from Armenia, he won multiple awards including Armenian National Cinema Award (2013) and the Best Cinematography at such festivals as KINOSHOCK (2013), GOLDEN EYE (2012), Newport Beach Festival (2011). Hailed as a true master of light, he has also a deep understanding of choreography on screen, having worked with Kovgan on all her dance film projects for screen and stage. MARC DOWNIE, creative math and on-line: An MIT Media Lab PhD graduate, Marc is a co-founder of OpenEndedGroup, an independent art collective based in New York, whose pioneering approach to digital art frequently combines three signature elements: non-photorealistic 3D rendering; the incorporation of body movement by motion-capture and other means; and the autonomy of artworks directed or assisted by artificial intelligence. Over the last 15 years this group has worked in the broadest variety of media and venues: making art for façade, gallery, dance, stage and cinema; responding to an ever expanding range of materials drawing, motion capture, photography, music and architecture. Always in collaboration and always crossing disciplinary boundaries, they enter and exit fields without permission from, and without deference to, established disciplinary structures. Together the group has presented their work worldwide at venues such as Lincoln Center, MoMA, the Barbican Center, the Sundance Film Festival, the Rome Film Festival and many other venues. OpenEndedGroup has had artists residencies at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the University of Michigan, Arizona State University, Harvard University, the Brooklyn Academy of Music/Bell Labs, etc. HANNA PAJALA-ASSEFA, producer, is contemporary artists and producer working in multiple fields of dance, film and technology. She works as freelancer artist and choreographer in contemporary dance and sensor technology based Sounding Motion method. Through Devil s Lungs production and Loikka festival s Virtual programming she has also extended her expertise into virtuality in its many forms. ELIZABETH DELUDE-DIX, producer, has produced and directed the independent documentaries, including Why the Face ((Director, Producer), Traces of the Trade (Co-Producer/ Executive Producer) opened at Sundance Film Festival, POV premiere, Emmy nomination; Sense the Wind (Producer/Writer), among others. Her work screened at festivals in the US, Europe and Russia and nationally on PBS. She is the recipient of the Rhode Island Leadership Award for her role in founding the state's first public radio station, WRNI. She currently serves as a board member of RI Public Television, Vice-President of the Flaherty International Film Seminar and Chair of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. She is also a founding member of the Jamestown Arts Center Advisory and co-curates a film and writer series.
Kostaja-tango composed by Anne-Mari Kivimäki, Eero Grundström performed by Anne-Mari Kivimäki, Eero Grundström Kihtinäjärvi Records 2017 Ljuuli composed by Anne-Mari Kivimäki arranged by Eero Grundström performed by SUISTAMON SÄHKÖ Kihtinäjärvi Records 2017 Kun minä kerran kuolen traditional song arranged by SUISTAMON SÄHKÖ performed by SUISTAMON SÄHKÖ & Timo Saari Kihtinäjärvi Records 2017 Valtatanssi composed by Anne-Mari Kivimäki, Eero Grundström arranged by Eero Grundström performed by the cast Kihtinäjärvi Records 2017 Daddy Cool composed by Anne-Mari Kivimäki arranged by Eero Grundström performed by PUHTI Kihtinäjärvi Records 2017 Kotiin composed by Anne-Mari Kivimäki, Eero Grundström arranged by Eero Grundström performed by SUISTAMON SÄHKÖ Kihtinäjärvi Records 2017 Helevetin saaria composed by Anne-Mari Kivimäki arranged by Eero Grundström performed by PUHTI & the cast Kihtinäjärvi Records 2017 Produced in collaboration with: Loikka Kontakti, an independent dance film promotion organization, based in Helsinki,Finland. www.loikka.fi Capefinn Oy, a Helsinki-based film production company, creating films & VR experiences in Nordic countries & South Africa. www.capefinn.com Kihtinäjärvi Records, an independent world music and electronica label, representing and releasing Finnish music, music videos, short films and documentaries, including works by Puhti, Suistamon Sähkö, Anne-Mari Kivimäki and Eero Grundström. www.puhti.eu Laine Productions, led by sound designer and musician Aki Silventoinen, creating evocative soundscapes and original music as well as focusing on immersive virtual reality and binaural 360 sound production.
Loikka Kontakti/Alla Kovgan, 2018