Bio
Finnish artist and filmmaker Elina Oikari works in the realm between art house cinema, media art and documentary film methodology centered around cinéma vérité and essay film. Her work often deals with current social themes, timeless places, and absurd encounters.
Elina aims to challenge the conventional underlying narrative framework and sound design in video and filmmaking. She has worked over 15 years with fiction, documentary and alternative film, and holds a Master of Arts from the ELO Film School Finland in Aalto University (2014).
Oikari’s work has been widely shown at several festivals in Finland and abroad, including Helsinki International Film Festival 2025 & 2022, New Horizons IFF, Wrocław 2022, Encounters FF, Bristol 2022, Nordische Filmtage Lübeck 2021 & 2019, Go Short — ISFF Nijmegen 2022 and Gijón International Film Festival 2019.
Films
Some of my latest work
Tempest of My Eyes, 2025
Tempest of My Eyes is a short film inspired by William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. In this post-apocalyptic science fantasy, Prospero controls the dreams of other characters and their struggles on a forgotten island. The film's final form and soundtrack took nearly a decade to complete, but in its current form it captures the rusty landscapes with a jagged velvety touch.
SCREENINGS:
- National Premiere: Helsinki International Film Festival, Shorts Competition, 20.9.2025
- World Premiere: Suspaustas Laikas -Experimental Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania, two of Elina Oikari’s films in the festival’s opening screening: 30.7.2025
- Ribalta Experimental Film Festival, Limina Competition: 15.3.2026
The film production is supported by Aalto University. The music and sound design have been supported by Kone Foundation. The festival travels have been supported by the Finnish Film Foundation.
Directed and Written by
ELINA OIKARI
Music and Sound Design by
AINO EEROLA & JYRI PIRINEN
Sound Mastering by
JYRI PIRINEN
Director of Photography
PIETARI PELTOLA
Edited by
INKA LAHTI & ELINA OIKARI
Set Design by
JUHA-MATTI TOPPINEN
Costume Desing by
LAURA HAAPAKANGAS
Makeup Artist
TIINA JUNNO
Graphic Design & Poster by
BARBARA SIEMASZKO
Producers
TANJA HEIKKILÄ, ELINA OIKARI, AINO EEROLA & JYRI PIRINEN
Actors
TAHVO HIRVONEN, AKSA KORTTILA, PAULA VESALA, JOHANNES HOLOPAINEN, AARNE TAPOLA, MATTI KAJANDER, MAZHAR ALBEKOGLU, SEPPO-ILMARI SIITONEN, GUSTAVO CONSUEGRA, SANNI PRIHA, ANTTI LANG & MAREK ANTONI BURAKOWSKI
Special thanks to NOAM LERVILLE
I Was Born, 2024
A man borns on the river. He travels in contrasting landscapes and seasons. The protagonist yearns for nature’s peace, but is continuously surrounded by the artificial while a mysterious figure seems to follow him on his journey.
By merging existential gaze into surreal landscapes, I Was Born examines the paradoxical relationship between human and the nature.
SCREENINGS:
28.3.2026 NoFilter Kino, Warsaw, Poland
30.7.2025 Suspaustas Laikas -Experimental Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania
16.3.2025 Ribalta Experimental Film Festival, Limina Competition - international premiere
1.12.2024 Pori Film Festival, Kasvukipuja ja käsiteltävää -screening - world premiere
The short film is supported by:
The Central Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, AVEK – Center for the Promotion of Audiovisual Culture, the Finnish Film Foundation, and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY
Elina Oikari
PRODUCED BY
Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, Zone2 Pictures
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Pietari Peltola
SOUND DESIGN AND MUSIC BY
Jyri Pirinen
FILM EDITOR
Elina Oikari
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND SET DESIGNER
Moona Pennanen
DRAMATURG
Mikko Myllylahti
ANIMATION BY
Gabriel de la Cruz
GRAPHIC DESIGN & POSTER BY
Barbara Siemaszko
COSTUME DESIGN BY
Elina Oikari
MAKE UP ARTISTS
Elina Oikari
Yassine Khaled
LINE PRODUCER
Elina Oikari
COLORIST
Hannu Käki
DCP MASTERING
Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
DRONE PILOT
Anttu Koistinen
ARCHIVE MATERIAL
Haslund Film
SOUND RECORDING BY
Jyri Pirinen
Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
Támara Aalto
DRIVERS
Pietari Peltola
Muhis Munshed
Timo Oikari
Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
Slim Lakhdar
ACTORS:
MAN
Yassine Khaled
SWIMMER, GAS STATION CUSTOMER, SKIER
Raine Siiriä
WOMAN AT THE BALCONY
Petra Lakhdar
Flying Potato & Other Misunderstandings, 2021
The filmmaker relates her vision for directing a neo-western in grainy, transitory images. She imagines that the greatest hurdle her protagonists, Yassine and Hami, will have to face will be the friendly but firm rejection of Finnish society. When violence on the imaginary frontier escalates in the form of a flying potato, the ‘fictitious’ figures begin to speak about their real experiences.
The short film begins as a stylized fiction and in the middle it turns into a documentary reflecting the real experiences of its fictional protagonists.
SCREENINGS:
2024
- FILMZ - Festival des deutschen Kinos, Mainz, special screening FINNISCHER KURZFILMABEND
2023
- Ribalta Experimental Film Festival, Vignola, Italy - Limina Competition
2022
- Black Canvas Contemporary Film Festival, México City, New Horizon Shorts Competition
- Encounters Film Festival, Bristol, United Kingdom, International Competition
- Love & Anarchy - Helsinki International Film Festival, National Competition
- Go Short - International Short Film Festival Nijmegen, The European Competition
- Two Person Exhibition, Turun Taidehalli: 6.5.- 4.6.2022
- Solo Exhibition, Studio, Culture House Laikku,Tampere: 17.9.-9.10.2022
2021
- Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Short Section - World Premiere
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY
Elina Oikari
PRODUCED BY
Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, Zone2 Pictures
CINEMATOGRAPHY & EDITING BY
Elina Oikari
SOUND DESIGN BY
Pekka Aikio
MUSIC BY
Pekka Kumpulainen
ADDITIONAL SOUND BY
Jyri Pirinen
ANIMATION BY
Gabriel de la Cruz
GRAPHICS & POSTER DESIGN BY
Barbara Siemaszko
COLORIST & DRAMATURG
Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
ACTORS & OTHER PERFORMERS
Sophie-Catherine Gallet
Christelle Ighniades
Hami Bahadori
Yassine Khaled
Saila Ikonen
AK Alve
Slim Lakhdar
Elina Oikari
Sakari Suuronen
Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
Stella
Govadas, 2018
Govadas explores the contradiction and harmony between humans and nature through Sámi poetry. The cyclical perception of time among the only indigenous people living in the European Union is presented in the work as unfolding forms and layers based on the archive material from the 1940's and the super 8 mm film footage from 2010’s. Govadas creates a kinetic meditation on time, memory, landscape and the ruptures between them.
The short film is supported by Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland and AVEK - The Promotion Center for Audiovisual Culture.
WRITTERN & DIRECTED BY
Elina Oikari
SOUND DESIGN & MUSIC BY
Pekka Aikio
FILM EDITOR & CINEMATOGRAPHER
Elina Oikari
POEMS BY
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS BY
Ralph Salisbury, Lars Nordström, Harald Gaski
GRAPHIC & POSTER DESIGN BY
Barbara Siemaszko
COLORIST
Sarrah Wilkman, Grade One Oy
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS:
2023
BE POLAR Film Festival, Warsaw
2022
- CulturaFest, Helsinki
- New Horizons International Film Festival, Poland, White Nights
2021
- FRACTO Experimental Film Encounter, Berlin
- Concorto Film Festival, Piacenza, Italy
- when the light hits just right - analogue film & photography festival, Vaasa, Finland
2020
- FIFEQ Festival International du Film Ethnographique du Quebec, Canada
2019
- Gijón International Film Festival, Spain
- Nordische Filmtage Lübeck, Germany
- 21e Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris
- Seoul International NewMedia Festival, Korea
- Rome Independent Prisma Awards, Italy
- Tampere Film Festival, Finland - National Competition
- Skábmagovat Indigenous Film Festival, Inari, Finland
2018
- Rex Fest, Amos Rex, Helsinki
- Curta Cinema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - International Competition
- Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden - International Competition
- Antimatter [media art], Victoria, BC Canada
- Vaasa Wildlife Festival, Finland
- Indigenous Film Festival, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, US
