Outdoor screening: Savage Beauty – The World’s Greatest Light Installation

From the Mountains of Ireland to Joensuu Market Square
This time, Savage Beauty won’t be confined to a screen. In November, the film will be screened outdoors at Joensuu Market Square, accompanied by a multisensory installation created by light artist Kari Kola and the film’s director Janne Tanskanen. Together, they will bring the world of the film to life in the heart of the city.

Savage Beauty, a documentary about Joensuu-based light artist Kari Kola, his monumental artwork and the story behind its creation, is the story of a visionary for whom nothing is impossible. The city of Galway commissions Kola to create a light installation as part of its European Capital of Culture 2020 programme, expecting him to make “something big”. Kola decides to illuminate an entire mountain. The work is named Savage Beauty, inspired by Oscar Wilde’s description of the Connemara landscape.

In the documentary, Kola and his team set out to create the world’s largest light installation amid Ireland’s rugged wilderness, battling extreme weather conditions, bureaucracy and, ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic that brings the entire world to a standstill.

Now, a piece of that experience is coming to Joensuu Market Square. It’s time to wrap up warm, grab a cup of hot glögi and head to the square on a November evening. This time, the cold, darkness and light of Savage Beauty won’t just be something you watch on screen – you’ll feel it on your own skin, together with the rest of the audience. And what an experience it will be!

Kari Kola’s lighting, combined with fog, wind and rain effects and the outdoor screening itself, will create an experience in which the film extends beyond the screen and into the surrounding urban space. Come and experience the weather of Ireland in the middle of Joensuu Market Square.

The event is made possible through Rokumentti’s collaboration with the East Finland Film Commission and Joensuu City Center Association Virta.