Pirjo Honkasalo

Pirjo Honkasalo was born in Helsinki, but the family moved to Pori when she was one year old. She started there at the age of 17 and was only 21 years old when she graduated in 1969. The school had great connections to FAMU and Honkasalo was very active and interested in the international projects. In 1971–1972 Honkasalo studied and worked as an assistant in Temple University, Philadelphia. Studies included visual anthropology. ==Work==

Honkasalo has worked with some other well-known Finnish filmmakers such as Rauni Mollberg and Jörn Donner, who have also helped her in her career. Her most recent film Concrete Night is shot in black and white. She claims that in black and white it's possible to make the environment and story more simple and clear. Honkasalo's films are known for their lack of talk. "Picture can reach the unspoken part of a human. The part indescribable with language". Honkasalo thinks that this silence makes the filming itself almost sacred. Honkasalo insists on making the final cut of her films, which is why for an example the BBC won't buy her work. ==Selected filmography==

• Pilvilinna (1970) (cinematography) • The Earth Is a Sinful Song (1973) (with Rauni Mollberg) • Their age (1976) (with Pekka Lehto) • Two Forces (1979) (with Pekka Lehto) • Flame Top (1980) (with Pekka Lehto) • Nine Ways to Approach Helsinki (1982) (with Pekka Lehto and Jörn Donner) • 250 Grammes – a Radioactive Testament (1983) (with Pekka Lehto) • Da Capo (1985) (with Pekka Lehto) • Mysterion (1991) (with Eira Mollberg) • Tanjuska and the 7 Devils (1993) • The Cinderella of Tallinn (1996) (with Marja Pensala) • Atman (1997) • Fire-Eater (1998) • The 3 Rooms of Melancholia (2004) • Ito – a Diary of an Urban Priest (2010) • Concrete Night (2013) • Orenda (film) (2025), It competed in the Big Screen Competition section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam to be screened in February 2025. ==Awards==

Many of Honkasalo's films have been nominated in several international film festivals. She has received four life-work awards: BAT Prize at Sodankylä 1993, Suomi-Finland Award 1998, Laterna Magica for director 1999 and Aho & Soldan award at the DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival 2004. Their previous co-direction Two Forces won the Jussi for the Best Team in 1980. • Amanda award for the best documentary, Norwegian International Film Festival 1993 • Kettu prize (Best Finnish documentary film) 1993 • State of Finland Film Award, 1993 • Kettu prize (Best Finnish documentary film) 1996 • State of Finland Film Award 1996 Fire-Eater (1998) • Grand Prix of American Film Institute, Los Angeles Film Festival 1998 • Youth Jury Award, Locarno Film Festival 1998 • State of Finland Film Award 1998 • Don Quixote Award – Young cinema, Locarno Film Festival 1998 • Rouen Audience Award, Rouen Nordic Film Festival 1999 Concrete Night (2013) • Grand Prix, Warsaw International Film Festival 2013 (Nominated) • Jussi for the Best Direction 2014 • Jussi for the Best Film 2014 • Dragon Award, Göteborg Film Festival 2014 (Nominated) ==References==