An elderly woman wearing a red beaded evening gown is lying on a pillow, long hair open. In her necklace is an owl. She stares straight into the camera and shows it her middle finger.

How Great is Your Darkness? – film

Date:20.7.2025
Author:
Category:2024, Activism, Exhibition, Film, Performance
Avainsanat: , , , , , , ,

Short silent comedy film about hate speech against people with disabilities made for the Pavilion of Finland at the 60th Venice Biennale 2024. Length as 1-channel: 11:10 mins. 2-channel: 5:22 mins.

Director, screenplay, edit: Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen
Producer: Danai Anagnostou / Kenno Filmi Oy
Production coordinator: Farbod Fakharzadeh
Production assistants: Martta Tuomaala, Hanan Mahbouba, Ella Kärkkäinen

Director of photography: Rasoul Khorram
Camera assistants: Houman Auriell, Ahmed Ahmedi
Underwater cinematographer: Cristal Alakoski
Underwater camera assistant: Janina Witkowski

Music composer: Kemal Gorey
Sound mixer: Slau Halatyn, BeSharp Studio
Audio Description: Anu Aaltonen
AD Read: Kasper Salonen (english), Anu Aaltonen (finnish)
Set photographer: Ella Kärkkäinen
Stunt advisor: Reka Kontio
Synchro-swimming coaches: Peppi Hietanen, Heidi Tuominen
Safety Supervisers: Sampo Kiesiläinen, Jussi Mikkonen

A young girl with long red hair sits in a wheelchair that hangs in the air over a river. She wears an orange dress and holds a fishing rod, from the end of which hangs a watering can covered in mirrors.
Image credit: Ella Kärkkäinen

Expanded version 2025 is a groundbreaking experiment, comissioned by 1646 Experimental Art Space. 2025 edition has an original score composed by visually impaired Kemal Gorey, based solely on the audio description, without visual cues or time markers. It is mixed by Slau Halatyn, a blind audio engineer, at his studio, BeSharp, in New York City.

Woman in a purple tunic uses a champagne glass as a stethoscope while listening to the doctor's heartbeat from his back.
Image credit: Rasoul Khorram

Synopsis: How Great is Your Darkness? explores hate speech against people with disabilities in social and healthcare and how the lack of mutual understanding shapes disabled people’s perceptions of their rights and their worth. Despite this, healthcare professionals are still regarded as the ultimate experts on disability and serve as gatekeepers to essential services that enable independent living. The work is a collage of humorous performances, where power dynamics are visualized through play with bodies and mobility aids. Hate speech is addressed without words, as the discourse on the topic often increases hate speech and hostility, reducing the issue to disputes over semantics and intentions.

A pink-haired woman is walking down the street like a wheelbarrow, stepping with her hands on the ground. Her legs are held up by a man dressed in white hospital clothes.
Image credit: Rasoul Khorram

The article about the work, written together with poet Sanni Purhonen, is open access in the exhibition publication The Pleasures We Choose, pages 110–137. Edited by the curators Yvonne Billimore and Jussi Koitela. Publisher K. Verlag.

A female doctor in a white coat stands on the wheel of a wheelchair that has been turned on its side. She is surrounded by a green leafy forest.
Image credit: Rasoul Khorram

Performers: Stina Brännare, Jorma Heimonen, Siiri-Sofia Heimonen, Riikka Hänninen, Laura Ignatius, Emilia Jokela, Maria Jäntti, Maija Karhunen, Jessika Katajainen, Timo Kivelä, Karolina Kucia, Veli Kärkkäinen, Aino Laine, Henkka Lindeman, Reeta Lindeman, Anna-Stina Lindén, Sari Loijas, Saana Lågas, Heikki Maunula, Tuuli Mäenpää, Sofia Mähönen, Jaakko Mäkikylä, Ninni Nuunu, Iitu Ora, Johannes Romppanen, Eetu Salmenvaara, Gunilla Sjövall, Tyyne Vahtikari, Sanni Purhonen, Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen

Doctors are diving in the water, wearing white lab coats.
Image credit: Christal Alakoski

Makeup artist (party): Sara Kilpeläinen
Additional Crewing: Pilvi Kovanen & Jennifer Sonprasit, Blockbusters Gang
Assistant Editor: Saarlotta Virri
Colorist: Juhani Vuorisalo, Grade One
Post Production Coordinator: Mia Ekman, Grade One
Production Accountant: Mirva Pulkkinen, Taloushallinta Uniikki

Two doctors are rowing. Their boat is a hospital bed. The oars clatter against the surface of the street. Behind them, a woman in a wheelchair cheers them on.
Image credit: Ahmed Ahmedi

Camera Rentals: Kinos Rentals
Medical outfits:: Puro Tekstiilihuoltopalvelut Oy
Wheelchairs: Helsingin kaupungin Apuvälinepalvelut
Medical sheets: Respecta Oy
Pallets: Stena Recycling

Four disabled women in colorful party outfits. One uses a power wheelchair, another has a guide dog, the third wears a leg prosthesis, and the fourth uses a walker.
Image credit: Ella Kärkkäinen

Produced with the support of The Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Kone Foundation, The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, AVEK The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture, The Church Media Foundation, Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired and the Embassy of Finland in Rome.