You hadn’t made a fiction film in over a decade. Why now and why with Concrete Night, based on Pirkko Saisi’s eponymous novel?
Pirjo Honkasalo: Actually I hadn’t directed a fiction film in 15 years. I was planning to make Concrete Night ten years ago. Then I received tempting invitations to direct documentaries around the world and laid it off. I had already cast some actors, including Jari Virman (one of the two male leads). After my last documentary Ito-A Diary of an Urban Priest (2009) I felt I had come to the end of a certain period with documentaries and that it was time to go back to fiction.
Would you say that the film explores similar themes to your documentaries that deal with ethical, social, religious issues?
PH: Unfortunately I have the same head!! The way I look at people is the same for fiction films as for documentaries.
Why do you often choose young teenagers as main protagonists in your films?
PH: It’s a super-interesting age. Your identity is still fragile and the world where you’re stepping into is mainly unknown. It’s impossible to predict who will influence you and crack this empty space. Also you can be deeply hurt. You haven’t yet built walls to protect you and you see things as they are. So in that sense it’s a dangerous but fascinating age.
In Concrete Night the extreme care of your work around black and white images and sound elevates the realistic drama to a poetic and mystical level. How do you actually construct your film to have the poetic /symbolic images and plot working together?
PH: I have good professional knowledge of all parts of filmmaking besides directing, such as cinematography, sound recording, editing. As cinematographer, I had pre-shot many scenes on location in Helsinki. The style was there before anything started. Then I continued to work with the cameraman Peter Flinckenberg and the gaffer Jani Lehtinen. I think we formed an excellent troika!!
I also plan very carefully and used everything in the film (there were probably only four images that were not used). We had only 21 shooting days so I told the actors that it was forbidden for them to improvise their lines written as a stylised dialogue by Pirko Saisio.
Why did you choose to film in black and white?
PH: First of all I wanted simplicity. Today, you have 3D, complicated post production. I want to simplify things. Secondly, I wanted to give a timeless feel to the film.
Was the casting process very long, in particular to find the young debutant Johannes Brotherus?
PH: I have a strange way of casting people by playing a long classic symphony. I don’t ask any question. I just look at the actors. With Johannes I never got tired of looking at him. He was the only one who had the courage, while the symphony was playing, to feel it by turning inwards. That’s why I chose him. I didn’t know anything about him but then discovered he had had small parts in theatre. He has a natural gift and an unbelievable ability to concentrate.
What’s next? Are you going back to documentary?
PH: I have a topic in mind but haven’t decided yet.
Do you feel concerned by the focus that is put these days on gender equality in the Nordic film industry?
PH: Finland was the first country in the world to allow women to vote. However I felt something was wrong when we celebrated the centenarian of Finnish cinema and we found out that only six female directors had been making movies, and I was the only one who had directed more than one movie. I thought I had broken the ice, but it took another 23 years for the next one!!!
We have a Cinematographers Guild and it’s only since last year that they have two female cinematographers. I think that the number of female directors in Finland is around 13-17%. The best situation is perhaps in France with around 30%. People tend to believe that in the Nordic region we’re the best in terms of gender equality, but that’s not the case!