Mika Taanila is a film director and visual artist from Helsinki, Finland. His films differ in genres varying from documentaries, avant-garde, and film art. Some of his most memorable work include Tectonic Plate, Return of the Atom, and Optical Sound. Taanila has also won one of Finland’s most prestigious art awards, the Ars Fennica Award, in 2015.
Taanila’s work focuses on issues of unnatural urban surroundings and futuristic utopias of present day science combined with the idea of failure and collapse. More specifically, a recurring theme in his pieces of the fragility of technology and its impact of human beings.
His work has been showcased all around the world in festivals, galleries and museums. In fact, many of Taanila’s short films have been screened at over 300 international film festivals. Most popularly he has been featured in the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival alongside the 2017 Venice Biennale.
He co-founded the production company Elokuvayhtiö Testifilmi Oy with partner Jussi Eerola created to focus on film art. Their mission is to “emphasize the vast potential of cinematic possibilities over traditional storytelling”.
