A Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic conquers Venice Orizzonti

Nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize with Euthanizer, and Palme d’or candidate in 2019 with his short film All Inclusive, Nikki’s sophomore feature was selected among 8 international candidates for the new Venice Orizzonti Extra sidebar. The section dedicated to movies “made without any restrictions in terms of genre, length, or destination”, was a perfect platform for A Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic.

The small budget film produced by Nikki’s long-time production partner Jani Pösö, is an atypical action/thriller, shot from a blind man’s perspective. It’s the story of Jaakko, a wheelchair-bound blind man, locked in his home who is in love with Sirpa. Both live away from each other and have never met in person, but they have daily phone conversations. When Sirpa is overwhelmed by shocking news, Jaakko sets out on a perilous journey to join her.

In the title role is Nikki’s long-time friend Petri Poikkolainen, a trained actor, who had a successful career as stage actor before becoming blind, and partly paralysed due to multiple sclerosis.

Nikki said the shooting was rushed due to Pokkolainen’s deteriorating health conditions. “I did not want to make a documentary about a disabled actor. I wanted to work with Petri, an actor who happens to be blind, and in a wheelchair. Our main character has the same disease as Petri, but the script is fictional,” he underlined.

The film won over not only the Orizzonti Extra audience, but also several reviewers in Venice, such as Italy 24 News who gave it the “Lion of Emotions”.

Nikki’s feature was produced by It’s Alive Films and Wacky Tie Films, with backing from Yle, the Finnish Film Foundation, the Tampere Film Fund and Church Media Foundation. It is currently playing in Finnish cinemas. Intramovies handles global sales.

The Venice Film Festival which closed on Saturday was also successful for the Danish VR experience End of Night by National Film School of Denmark graduate David Adler, who picked up the Best VR Story Prize. In it, audiences can project themselves in 1943, sitting in a boat with Josef, who is rowing from Nazi-occupied Denmark to safety neutral Sweden.

Adler’s VR companion piece to Christoffer Boe’s feature A Taste of Hunger ran last year at Venice VR competition programme.

End of Night was produced by Makropol.