Karri Niinivaara

Movies

8 Views of Lake Biwa
Sound Designer
"8 views" is an eastern art tradition where one place (primarily the area around Lake Biwa in Japan) is described through eight motifs, among which are scarlet, snow, sailboats returning home in the evening, rain, autumn moon, temple bell, gust of wind, flight of forest geese. These motifs frame eight intertwining tragic love stories, the setting of which are modern Russian fishing villages of old believers on the border of Estonian-Russian settlements and cultures by Lake Peipsi. The spiritualization of everything living and inanimate from Japanese animism, the eroticism of shunga and the humble language of prayer merge into a spiritual and magical world of a small community, where one still believes that one is connected with everything.
The Gravedigger’s Wife
Sound Engineer
Guled and Nasra are a loving couple, living in the outskirts of Djibouti city with their teenage son, Mahad. However, they are facing difficult times: Nasra urgently needs an expensive surgery to treat a chronic kidney disease. Guled is already working hard as a gravedigger to make ends meet.
The Dinosaur
Sound Designer
Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.
Night of the Living Dicks
Sound Designer
A woman who has had enough of anonymous dick pics finds eyeglasses that give her the ability to see which men are the real dicks – but the dicks can also see her.
Donner - Private
Sound Designer
Jörn Donner’s entire production can be considered as a self-portrait, a life-spanning performance. Whilst others have painted one image or another of Donner, John Webster’s interpretation differs in that it pulls most of its material from Donner’s last-intended interview in December 2019, and an immense never-before-seen collection of photographs from albums simply labelled “Donner – Privat”. As a result, the film morphs into an epilogue of sorts, of Donner’s life story.
Fucking with Nobody
Sound Designer
Hanna teams up with her sister and counterculture friends to create a parody romance on Instagram between herself and young actor Ekku. Hanna starts living a crowd-pleasing love story for the public, only to find herself tangled up in the unresolved past with her “you were never my boyfriend” friend Lasse, who also happens to be the real-life co-writer and cinematographer of Fucking with Nobody. Fiction and auto-fiction crash and melt into each other, as writer-director Hannaleena Hauru plays the lead role of an ever-single film director Hanna.
Waste vol. 1
Sound Designer
A documentary consisting of six chapters.
Fraemling
Sound Designer
Director Mikel Cee Karlsson is working on a film with and about his best friend Mathias – a young father who one day reveals that he is living a double life. Circumstances have driven Mathias into a criminal underworld where debts seem impossible to pay off. In a spiral of threats, lies and violence, Mathias is desperately looking for a way out. When things finally seem to look up for him, the pressure he has lived under for several years has fatal consequences, leaving Mikel forced to make crucial decisions about the film he is working on.
Two Bodies on a Beach
Sound
A woman wakes up on a beach tied in a plastic press wearing only underwear and high heels. “Not again”, she sighs and decides to track down the enemy and strike back. She gets a companion from an older woman, who has been pushed to the borders of society. During their journey through classical cinematic landscapes these nameless women from different generations struggle to connect and understand each other’s perspectives while their passion for men and male attention gets in away.
The Human Part
Sound Designer
Pekka Malmikunnas is a bankrupt, penniless man, who has convinced his family that he is still the CEO of a large IT company. Maintaining this façade in order to save face has become something of a full-time job for him. When Pekka’s parents unexpectedly come for a visit, he throws a lavish family dinner party in order to dispel any doubts. The soirée is a success until Pekka’s god-daughter gets run over by a car. The reckless driver becomes a mutual enemy for the family. The driver tries to atone for his actions, but the situation spirals out of control and Pekka attacks the man. Pekka realizes things have gone too far and decides to tell his family the truth. It does not hurt as much as Pekka thought, bringing the pieces of a once broken family back together.
Metatitanic
Sound Designer
A no-budget metafilm filled with pop cultural references, Metatitanic deconstructs the performative essence of romantic love.
Off the Map
Sound Editor
Career woman finds out that her boyfriend is living a secret double life. She finds a bag of money and decides to make a run for it. She is accompanied by a little girl who is also on a run from her criminal step-father. Together they're trying to make it to her grandmothers house.
Off the Map
Sound Designer
Career woman finds out that her boyfriend is living a secret double life. She finds a bag of money and decides to make a run for it. She is accompanied by a little girl who is also on a run from her criminal step-father. Together they're trying to make it to her grandmothers house.
Armi Alive!
Sound Designer
Armi Ratia is the woman behind the legendary design company Marimekko and a worldwide celebrity. A theatre company has taken on the task of trying to portray the life and work of this complex person. The sets mainly consist of the well-known patterns that we all have grown to love. Armi is a brave, risk-taking businesswoman and her passion for her company repeatedly takes its toll on her employees, finances and family. The company grows while Armi's personal life is shaken by suicide attempts and turbulence. In Armi Alive!, Oscar-nominated film producer and director Jörn Donner portrays a fascinating woman with fervent ideas about the new Finnish man, her company, fabrics and clothes.
The Fascist
Sound Designer
A traffic warden runs into a surprising argument with a persisting customer.
Lisa Limone and Maroc Orange, a Rapid Love Story
Sound Director
This 3D animated opera deals in a socially critical manner with the topic of illegal immigrants fleeing from Africa to Europe and it is also a story of impossible love between orange boy Maroc, a singing boat refugee, and lemon girl Lisa, who collects singing seashells and dreams about love. Maroc is the brave hero-type, bound by prejudice and poverty. Lisa is the daughter of a rich businessman and tomato ketchup plantation owner. Here we have the fruitier version of Romeo and Juliet - a 3D animated operatic extravaganza!
Fanatics
Sound Designer
A buddy comedy about a fanatic small town football supporter who falls in love with a perfect girl, only to notice that his dream-girl supports the wrong football team. Now he has to befriend the enemy or forget the girl he loves.