OPEN CALL FOR CAST, CREW AND AUDIENCE MEMBERS (CLOSED!)

Written By Hannaleena Hauru

For Finnish version klikkaa tästä

Update (23 February 2022). The open call is now closed. We received 333 applications in total. Me and Emilia are making the selections this week. We will email each applicant by Sunday 27 February.

If you missed the deadline, unfortunately and for fairness we won’t be able to take late runners in consideration. So please don’t email me at this point.

And one more thing: there was my typo in the English call, so everyone who sent their application by 22 February are in consideration. Sorry for the mixup my mistake caused for some applicants!

-Hannaleena

Hi, I’m filmmaker Hannaleena Hauru. I’m looking for cast, crew and audience members for my new film combining performance art and filmmaking.

This call is open for all: I hope to find a diverse group including students, professionals, amateurs as well as people outside these groups and outside the culture circles. Working languages in this project are Finnish and English. Working takes place in Helsinki, Finland.



This will be my MA thesis project for Uniarts Helsinki and Goethe Universität, where I’m studying comparative dramaturgy and performance research. I will be using an essay film approach similar to my two previous films, Metatitanic (2018) and Fucking with Nobody (2020). I’ll also continue developing the collective dramaturgic methods I’ve used in my previous projects.


The topic for this new project is Finnish national identity as part of colonial history and heritage. The film will premiere in 2023.



key words: carnevalism, lightness, group hierarchies, brands, holiness, sacred national symbols, obtainability, memories, uncomfortable, haptic, passion, collective dramaturgies, colonialism, nationalism, archetypes


I’m looking for cast and crew members (approx. 30 people) and audience members (approx. 30 people).


One special feature in this project is, that it’ll be done from scratch in collaboration with a specific audience. This is why I’m looking for audience members already at this point. When the group meets for the first time, also the audience will be present and meet the makers. We will plan together, what kind of an art piece are we going to do.


My own interest is in collectively making an entertaining and uncompromising film while dealing with colonialism and Finnish national identity. I wish to find a diverse group with different views, experiences, ideas and thoughts about nationalism and colonialism, that will be become part of this project. That’s why as a writer I have not set any narrative frames before the group has come together and started working.


The most active working period will be January and February 2023. In addition the whole group will work together during 22-26 August 2022. Working takes place in Helsinki. I am the director, (screen)writer and editor in this project.




This project is a collaboration between Aamu Film Company ja Uniarts Helsinki and it happens in two stages. In the first part the cast and crew work together with the selected audience in a setting that combines performance art and filmmaking. The finale of the first stage is February 2023, in a premiere combining film and performance. In the second stage a film will be produced from the project materials to a larger audience. This film will be produced by Aamu Film Company, Emilia Haukka as the producer. There are no other group members assigned yet, everyone else will be collected through this open call. At the moment the project is supported by Kone Foundation, that has awarded me with a personal working grant. Other funding for this project will be gathered during 2022. The film that is made in the second stage of this project for larger distribution is planned as a paid professional production.



If you are interested, DEADLINE to send your application is 22 February 2022. Applying does not commit you to anything yet.



Do you know me from beforehand? For all friends, acquaintances and long-time colleagues, I will not be personally asking anyone to join this project. For equality I want to try an open call that applies to everyone, even my close friends. I wish that the group would consist of new as well as old faces, experienced as well as newcomers. Main thing is that the upcoming group shares the motivation to the topics and working style of this project.



Please don’t hesitate to share this open call forward!

Original photo: Ryhmä kesäasuissaan purjeveneellä. (CC BY 4.0) Photographer unknown (1917) finna.fi


HOW TO APPLY:

This call is open for all: students, professionals, half-pros, hobbyists or to you who does not belong in any of these groups. You can also apply as a group.

You can apply to me a member of the:

1) Cast

2) Crew

3) Audience

4) Something else!

Note: because this is a collaboration with Uniarts Helsinki, students studying at the Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy (TeaK) have an advantage point in applying - especially if they are students willing to make this as their MA thesis project. The first part of this project is made in association with Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy and the resources for artistic practice is directed firstly to projects that advance the studies of as many students as possible. In the first stage of the project students of TeaK will take part through gaining study points.


1.CAST

I’m looking for 10-15 performers to a project combining film and performance art. I’m looking for people who are interested in the overall dramaturgy of an art piece, and motivated by themes related to colonialism and nationalism.

The project will include an “open studio” period where the audience will collaborate with the cast and crew while practicing and shooting. It’s required that you are interested in experimental and close collaboration with the audience.

Cast members can also work in other roles in the group, behind the camera or as audience members. When applying please also tell if you are interested in (screen)writing.

The starting point is to make a fictional film, performers are not required to share their personal stories or perform in documentary settings.



2. CREW

I’m looking for the following crew members:

  • director’s personal assistant

  • assistant director

  • location manager

  • cinematographer and camera assistant

  • light designer and 1-2 light technicians

  • costume designer and costumer

  • set designer

  • make up and hair designer, and a make up artist

  • props master

  • sound recordist and sound assistant

  • composer

  • 2. film editor

  • sound designer

  • color grader

  • sound mixer

If your field is something else (for example a stunt coordinator or an intimacy coordinator) you can still apply!


This project combines performance art and filmmaking, so please note that we will not be working only under film circumstances. There will be an open studio period, where the audience members will take part closely to the working and shooting sessions.

Crew members can work in multiple roles, also as cast or audience members. You can apply with a wish to work in a double role, for example as a designer and a performer. When applying also please tell if you are interested in (screen)writing.

Do you work in post production? The idea is, that you will also take part in the one-week session in August, where the project planning starts together with the audience. January-February 2023 won’t be intensive working time for you, the active post production will start from March 2023 onwards. The final film, as the outcome from this project, will premiere by the end of 2023

3. AUDIENCE MEMBERS

I’m looking for 30 humans who will be the audience in this project.

You don’t need any previous experience and/or expertise to become an audience member. The main thing is that you are interested in the topics.

The audience will be involved in all stages of the production. When the cast and crew meets for the first time, the audience will also be present and meet the makers. One focus point in my MA Thesis is to study the role of the audience as part of creating cinematic dramaturgy. Audience members will be met individually and in groups. Audience members have the possibility to work as part of the crew, or as cast members in addition to being spectators. The borders of treating the audience as a mass or as a guided herd will be broken on purpose. For example: anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s “Deep hanging out” will be used in the project: instead of framed interviews or question forms the group will spend time together with the audience, in different environments. Meetings with the audience will also happen in spaces selected by the audience instead of meeting only in spaces controlled by the cast and the crew.

In the later stage a film will be made for a larger audience from the production materials, but the premiere in the end of February 2023 will be made to primarily to these 30 people in the selected audience.

When applying to become an audience member, please also tell if you are interested in (screen)writing.


4. POSSIBLE OTHER GROUP MEMBERS

Would you like to part of this project in some other role or in some other way? It is possible. Send your motivation and tell what you’d like to do. 



FOR EVERYONE APPLYING:

Deadline to send your application is Sunday 20 February 2022. Send:

  • Motivation (1 page max OR video max 3 min)

  • CV (max. 1 page) 

email to: hannaleena.hauru@uniarts.fi

As the email subject line write: Mukaan elokuvaan / application

If you apply with a video, send is as a link (use Youtube, Vimeo etc.). Remember to send the possible password, and triple check that your link works. Do not send your video file as an email attachment, thank you.


In your motivation (1 page or max 3 min video):

  1. Tell what you’d like to do in this project

  2. What in the project topics interests/bothers/inspires or speaks to you? If colonialism and Finnish national identity are not close topics to you beforehand, you can get to know the links at the end of this page. There’s some stuff that has inspired me lately regarding this project.

  3. Do you have a point of view, special skills or some issue/topic/thing you would like to bring with you to this project?

  4. Remember to attach your CV (1 page) to the application

  5. Make sure your schedule fits with this project before applying (timetable below)

 

You can apply alone or as a group. You can also apply as a representative of an institution.

The selections will be based on motivation and forming a diverse working group, not for example your skill level, experience or merits.


I’ll go through the applications together with producer Emilia Haukka and will get back to you by 27 February 2022. Sending an application does not commit you to anything yet. For each group member agreements regarding possible study points, work internships, copyright issues and salary will be made later on. For this project negotiations with Finnish Film Funders have not yet started, and Aamu Film Company and Uniarts Helsinki are also still in negotiations how the co-production will happen. The aim is, that as the end result Aamu Film Company will produce a film, where the whole working group will get paid. The baseline is, that also the selected audience members would get paid for their contributions.


TIMETABLE: 


20 February 2022 Deadline to send your application

27 February 2022 I’ll get back to you regarding your application

22-26 August 2022 The whole group (cast, crew and audience) are working together in Helsinki or capital area, Finland.

September-December 2022 Preliminary planning in smaller groups

January-February 2023 Altogether 6 weeks of intense full time work, mainly Monday-Friday 9:00-17:00, in Helsinki

note: audience members will take part in January-February max. on 6 days. Audience members are required to be available also during office hours (9-17) on some days.

March-April 2023 possible interviews / other meetings regarding the written thesis I’ll make as part of my studies.

Other details regarding the schedule will be planned later together with the group.


ABOUT RESEARCH IN THIS PROJECT : 

I don’t require any theoretical interest from my fellow group members and audience - or readiness to work in an academic setting. But because this project has a strong link to research, I’m sharing here some of my thoughts and personal aims for those who are interested in this side of the project.

This project is part of my studies in comparative dramaturgy and performance research for Uniarts Helsinki and Goethe Universität in Frankfurt.

I’ll be working through performance art, social and political studies, culture and history research, religious studies and philosophy to find parallels to film dramaturgy in my own work. The aim of the comparative work is to find knowledges from other fields that could help in creating decolonizing dramaturgic tools for western filmmaking.

I want to examine how building dramaturgies in fiction films could be renewed to work for the benefit for voices that are marginalized. It’s not enough that working groups become more diverse and inclusive, we have to change the deep structures and working methods in filmmaking.

I’m a white, middle-classed, academically trained Finnish cis woman and work as the convener and facilitator of this project. Whatever the final working group will be, I’ll still hold a power position, as this project is born around my requests. The rooted patterns of my thinking are present for example in the way this call letter has been made, and how that sets frames to this project. In this project there is no escape from the the underlying point of view of a white person. But my point of view is, that the privileged white people holding power need to actively take part in decolonization processes. For me making this visible and critically examining the production structures in a step towards changing my rooted patterns.

Stuff that has been inspiring me relating to colonialism and nationalism.

(Most on the list are unfortunately in Finnish, but E. Tuck & K.W. Yang: Decolonization is not a metaphor  is in English, and writings by Franz Fanon are widely available in English as well).

 

If you read everything so far, I encourage you to apply just for the sake of being this much interested.


Hannaleena Hauru
Previous

FWN nominated for 6 Jussi awards at the “Finnish Oscars”
Next

etsin työryhmää ja yleisöä uuteen elokuvaani (HAKU PÄÄTTYNYT!)