When the documentary STILL NOT THERE was finished in 1996, Arno Rafael Minkkinen had explored his roots through a unique series of selfportraits for 25 years. Now today, still going strong, he has a body of selfportraits covering over 35 years.
His photographs, though direct and unmanipulated, still manage to convey a spirit which hovers on the borderline of reality. Through Minkkinen we see the naked body of a man merging with the different elements of nature. The series soon becomes that endless search for that visible line which separates man from the primordial. While the film STILL NOT THERE can be wieved as a full scale documentary, the work operates on a fictional level as well. Through a unique visual collaboration, wherein Minkkinen conceives and performs while Koskela films and edits, audience gain insight into the very works to which the film pays homage.
French novelist Michel Tournier, of the Academie Goncourt, provides a critical understanding of Minkkinen`s work, underscoring not only the philosophical implications on his photographs, but also, their inherent sense of humour. His non-linear narration drives us through the mental landscape of our film.
STILL NOT THERE
-a quarter century of self-portraiture
Creative documentary film - dur. 52min / DigiBeta
based on the life and work of Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Photographs: Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Videosegments: Arno Rafael Minkkinen and Kimmo Koskela
Narration: Michel Tournier
Script, cinematography and editing: Kimmo Koskela
Sound: Pirkko Tiitinen
Production assistant: Samuel Miikkulainen
Director, producer: Kimmo Koskela
Length 52min, DigiBeta
Production: Koskela Art & Media House / Kimmo Koskela
Co-production with Finnish National TV YLE, FST
Gernot Steinweg, Germany
Production year 1996
Prizes
-Emmy Award nominee for Finland, 1996
-Prize of Honour at the Art Film Triennal in Kalmar,Sweden 1997
-The Silver Key award at the sixth international Art Film
Festival in Bratislava, Slovak Republic 1998
Koskela films with Arno Rafael Minkkinen near The Arctic Ocean in 1995
Photo by Ester Rovira
The new STILL NOT THERE - DVD release is in production and will be released spring -10.
The DVD purchase coming into the world's foremost online photography bookstore photo-eye in spring 2010.
The DVD will consist a reedited 58 min version of the award winning original film STILL NOT THERE from 1996 and an extra track of a 30 min. interview with Arno Rafael Minkkinen filmed in 2009. The DVD also consists of a slide show of Minkkinen’s forty years of selfportraits from 1970´s to 2010 and a small booklet about the photographer. The DVD will be published in four languages: English, French, German and Finnish.
