See the film trailer above.
Year of Production: 2025
Running Time: 8mins 49s (film version), 8mins 40s (2-channel installation)
Shooting Format: Found Footage 16mm Film (during the work process of this film the original found footage material was first printed into Kodak 3378 EASTMAN EXR Sound Recording Film and these prints were then manipulated with bleach chemicals)
Master Format: Quicktime File (4K)
Production of this film has been supported by The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Lapland Regional fund, Arts Promotion Centre Finland / The Arts Council of Lapland, AVEK – The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture, VISEK – The Centre for the Promotion of Visual Art and Filmverkstaden.
Crew:
Panu Johansson: concept, direction, editing, sound design
SYNOPSIS:
“Wherever Street Piece” is a found footage film that describes impersonal and fragmented memories that cannot be directly linked to the life of one particular individual. Simultaneously the film documents the way these past realities – forgotten people in forgotten situations – blend together from the perspective of the present. Obviously not everything can be stored and passed on, but if we neglect the lessons of the past, are we also bound to repeat its mistakes?
STILL IMAGES:
Images below are meant for web preview only. Full quality press images can be downloaded here.
Director’s Statement:
“Wherever Street Piece” is a short 9 minute found footage experimental film. The piece is based on black-and-white found footage material filmed on 16mm in several anonymous cities in the late 1960s. I personally rescued the footage from being thrown away in the early 2000s. What makes the material fascinating is that all the information related to this silent footage has been lost. So, the stories of the people filmed and the purpose of the footage remain shrouded in mystery. Or do they?
It’s thought-provoking how things change and yet remain the same. When I look at the film’s original footage, shot in several different countries about 60 years ago, many visual cues like clothing and material culture connect it to the past. Yet, the same footage is fully connected to the present as well. The sounds of the past still echo in today’s streets.
People continue to demonstrate in the streets for tolerance and, unfortunately, also against it. Direct conflicts cannot always be avoided. The spirit of the times feels ominous, but forward-looking forces still know how to combine a positive social message with joy and fun in an admirable way. Amid and in between these conflicts, everyday life also proceeds as always and still does.
The working process of this film thus reflects the idea that while some information is lost over time, much still remains recognizable. At the start of the process, the original 16mm found footage films were first printed onto Kodak 3378 sound recording film. This film stock was once used to reproduce optical soundtracks and is characterized by high contrast. As a result, a significant part of the grey tones of the original material have been lost. After this, I have manipulated the printed material frame by frame using bleach chemicals, which have dissolved parts of the material’s emulsion. The somewhat decayed moving images that emerged as a result of the process have retained their recognizability, but at the same time they have broken away from pure realism and turned into something that is far harder to define.