synopsis
Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s poetry collection The Book of Questions, Finnish visual artist Heidi Piiroinen turns her attention to the materiality of 16mm film itself. Using a chemical technique known as mordançage, she etches the film strip, lifting layers of emulsion to create veil-like, ever-changing textures. The fluid imagery gives tangible form to river currents, deltas and wetlands. Water emerges as a living organism with a memory of its own, its flow echoing the passage of blood through the circulatory system. Ceaseless movement becomes a metaphor for human existence.
“Why do the waves ask me the same questions I ask them?” — quote from the movie
biography
Heidi Piiroinen (1978) is a Helsinki-based visual artist and photographer. After two decades in photojournalism, she shifted towards an intimate, process-driven practice spanning film, installation and print. Her short film I Am a River competed at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.film details
| director: | Heidi Piiroinen |
| producer: | Stéphane Querrec, Heidi Piiroinen |
| script: | Heidi Piiroinen |
| photography: | Heidi Piiroinen |
| editing: | Heidi Piiroinen |
| sound: | Salla Hämäläinen |
| Distributor: | Light Cone , AV-Arkki |
Film at festival
| premiere type: | Czech Premiere |
| festival edition: | 2026 |
| section: | Constellations |
| language: | No Dialogue |
| subtitles: | No Subtitles |
| colour: | Colour and B&W |
Info
| director: | Heidi Piiroinen |
| original title: | I am a River |
| country: | Finland, France |
| year: | 2026 |
| running time: | 6 min. |
