Juho Kuosmanen Retrospectives 2025

Silent Trilogy

Mykkätrilogia

Juho Kuosmanen

Finland

2024 Fiction 59 min

OV with French subtitles

The first film in the programme tells the story of Romu-Mattila, who lives with his dog. After losing his flat, decides to sell the rest of his possessions and move to Sweden. The story was inspired by Seppo Mattila, who fought with the Kokkola town council over his flat. The second film is a new version of Salaviinanpolttajat (The Moonshiners), the first Finnish fiction film, which has long since disappeared. The last part of the trilogy was inspired by two things: the desire to make a space adventure with cardboard sets and props and other amateur techniques, and to film Jaana Paananen, who appears in the previous silent films, again

Screenplay : Juho Kuosmanen, J. V-s, Anna Airola
Cinematography : J-P Passi, Arsen Sarkisiants
Editing : Juho Kuosmanen, Jussi Rautaniemi
Music : Tuomas Asanti, Miika Snåre, Ilkka Tolonen, Laura Airola, Oona Airola, Miika Snåre

Production : Elokuvayhtiö Oy Aamu, OTSO Film
International sales : Totem Films

Silent Trilogy came about in the early 2010s, when I met Heikki Kossi, who had moved to Kokkola. I wanted to make a cinematographic performance in which all the sounds were created live while the film was projected onto the screen and light and shadow played together. I have always loved background noises and creating them reminded me of magic. It was fascinating to see how different objects produced mechanical sounds which took on completely new meanings when combined with an image. I thought that this kind of cinematographic performance would be close to the magic and playfulness of early film screenings. (Juho Kuosmanen)
Silent Trilogy consists of three short silent films: Romu-Mattila and the Beautiful Woman (2012), Moonshiners (2017) and Distant Planet (2023).