Bio & CV

Lives and works in Merimasku, South-Western Finland.

Niina Suominen works as visual artist, producing media art / experimental animation short films. She is impressed by the works of pioneering masters of experimental animation from 1920's to 1950's.

Suominen was educated in the traditional techniques of animation making. In her work she is fascinated with reflecting on traditional rules of animation and figuring out ways to break or subvert them.

The basis of Suominen's work is a theme, a topic or some aesthetically interesting detail. Improvisation, movement and rhythm are important constituents of her works.

For twenty years Suominen has explored trash, waste, the thrown away and the left behind. The visual world of her works is constructed upon the qualities of these materials, her observations about them and experimenting with their possibilities. She is interested in abandoned surroundings, found objects and human reality.

Suominen is a member of AV-arkki - The Centre for Finnish Media Art, Artists' Association MUU and Photographic Centre Peri.

Suominen's works are distributed by AV-arkki.

Education in arts

2004 BA/Turku University of Applied Sciences, The Academy of Arts.

1993 The Institute of Arts and Handicrafts of South-Western Finland, Blacksmith Artesan.

Works

Diabolus ex Machina (2024)
Golden Headacher (2022)
What Time is? (2020)
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (2015)
In Memoriam (2013)
A Finnish Fable 2011 (2011)
A Wondrous Dark Forest (2011)
Dark Creatures (2011)
I Call Myself Sane (2010)
Good Stuff (2009)
English Lessons, College (2008)
Comeuppance (2007)
Diorama (2006)
Room (2004)
Polaris (2003)
Punctata (2002)

Prizes

Honorary Mention, Golden Headacher, Rising of Lusitania – AnimaDoc Film Festival,
Szczecin Poland 2023
1st Prize A Finnish Fable 2011, Videomedeja, Serbia, 2011
1st Prize I Call Myself Sane, Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand France, 2011
Honorary Mention Good Stuff, Kettupäivät Festival 2009, Helsinki Finland
Honorary Mention Good Stuff, Animatricks 2009, Helsinki
Honorary Mention in the political animation category Good Stuff, Klik! 2009, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Honorary Mention English Lessons, Tampere Film Festival 2009
The Prize for Young Art, Turku Finland 2007

Exhibitions

Galleria Huuto. Diabolus ex Machina 1.-25.2.2024.
Finn Agora - The Finnish Institute In Hungary, Budapest. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (installation) 14.-18.2.2024.
Kampus Art Turku, Finland Educity Media Wall. Good Stuff 1.−29.11.2022
ARX, Hämeenlinna Finland. Good Stuff 22.2.-18.4.2020.
Forum Box Helsinki, Finland. Mediaboxi, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 28.11.2014 - 21.12.2014.
Galleria Huuto Jätkäsaari, Helsinki Finland. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 4.10.-19.10.2014.
Villa Roosa, Melankolia, Orimattila, Finland. In Memoriam 2014.
Pori Art Museum, Finland. In Memoriam 29.11.2013- 19.1.2014.
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Gallery, Art Cinema A Finnish Fable 2011, 2013.
Hibiya Library & Museum, Tokyo Japan. A Finnish Fable 2011, 2013.
Villa Roosa Orimattila, Finland. A Finnish Fable 2011, 2013.
Galleria Rajatila, Tampere Finland. A Finnish Fable 2011, 2013 .
Taidehalli TR1, Festart, Tampere, Finland. A Finnish Fable 2011, 25.2.-25.3.2012.
Suomesta -gallery Berlin, Germany. A Finnish Fable 2011, 21.1.-11.2. 2012
Villa Roosa, Gourmet, Orimattila, Finland. Good Stuff, 2012.
Turku Art Museum, Finland. A Finnish Fable 2011, 18.11.2011-15.1.2012.
Brinkkalan Kassaholvi, Turku, Finland. A Wondrous Dark Fores, 26.11.-18.12.2011.
Turku Art Museum, Finland. I Call Myself Sane, 8.4.-29.5.2011.
Kerava Art Museum, Finland. A Finnish Fable 2011, 14.9.-16.10.2011.
Pori Art Museum, Finland. I Call Myself Sane and A Finnish Fable 2011, 01.-27.11.2011 .
"Illusions of Reality" series, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Good Stuff, 2010.

Selected screenings

Does not include co-directed works, co-productions or productions prior to 2009.

Diabolus ex Machina

Galleria Huuto, Helsinki Finland. 1.-25.2.2024.

Golden Headacher

Prizes: Honorary Mention, Rising of Lusitania – AnimaDoc Film Festival, Szczecin Poland.
Tricky Women/Tricky Realities International Animation Filmfestival, Vienna, Austria 6.-10.3.2024
Finn Agora - The Finnish Institute In Hungary, Budapest. 14.-18.2.2024.
Stuttgarter Filmwinter - Festival For Expanded Media. 17.1.-23.1.2024, Germany
Fredrikstad Animation Festival 19.-22.10.2023, Norway.
Luff, Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival,18.-22-10-2023, Lausanne Switzerland
Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris, 11-15.10.23, Paris France
Balkanima, 19th European Animated Film Festival 4.-9.10.23, Belgrade, Serbia
Revolutions per Minute festival, Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts (27.9.-1.10.23), USA
Rising of Lusitania - Animadoc Film Festival 2023, 07-13.09.2023, Szczecin, Poland.
Minikino Film Week in Bali, Indonesia September 2023
Fronteira Cine Brasília, from August 29th to September 3rd.
Turku Animated Film Festival, 23.-27.8.2023 Turku Finland
Animist Tallinn 16-19 August 2023, Tallinn, Estonia.
Animafest Zagreb, Kroatia 5-10 June 2023.
Premiere at Espoo Ciné International Film Festival. Espoo, Finland 8/2022.

TV-PREMIERE IN FINLAND

13.5.23 YLE Teema/Fem.

What Time Is?

Selected for AV-Arkki Festival Catalogue 2020-2021.
8-9/2021 IndieLisboa, Lissabon, Portugal
8/2021 Turku Animated Film Festival. National competition. Turku, Finland.
19.-25.7.2021 Melbourne International Animation Festival. Competitive screening "Abstract Showcase"
1.-4.7.2021 Fest Anča International Animation Festival. Screening "Contemporary Abstract and Non-narrative Animation". Stanica Žilina-Záriečie, Slovakia
21.5-6.6.2021 Kurtzfilm Regensburg, Germany. International competition.
3/ 2021 Festival International du Film sur l´Art (FIFA), Montreal, Canada
1/2021 Minimalen Short Film Festival, Norway
11/2020 Jukka Ruohomäen 50-vuotis säveltäjäjuhla, Musiikkitalo Helsinki./Jukka Ruohomäki 50 year composer career screening, Musiikkitalo Helsinki.
3.-11.10.2020 Curtocircuíto - International Film Festival, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
10/2020 Uuden musiikin lokakuu, Oulu
10/ 2020 Aesthetica Short Film Festival, UK
10/ 2020 Fredrikstad Animation Festival, Norway
20.8.2020 Sähköä ilmassa, Runokuu-festivaali, elokuvateatteri Orion, Helsinki
4.-8.3.2020 Tampere Film Festival- National competition

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

14.-18.2.2024 Finn Agora - The Finnish Institute In Hungary, Budapest (installation).
March 2022, Tampere Film Festival, Finland. Screening: "Rituals".
21.-25.8.2019, Turku Animated Film Festival, Finland, retrospective Niina Suominen.
18.3.2017 Kinos-festivaali Lahti, Finland.

In Memoriam

21.-25.8.2019, Turku Animated Film Festival, retrospective Niina Suominen
19.3.2017 Finnish Film Foundation Lyhyesti kerran kuussa screening, Helsinki, Finland.
International Short Film Festival Peru 2013 -
25 FPS Festival, Zagreb Croatia 2013
Leiden International Short Film Experience 2013, Nederlands
Tampere Film Festival - National competition, Finland, 03/2013
43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam - AV-arkki P&I screening, 01/2013

A Finnish Fable 2011

Prizes: Sphinx Award (1st prize), Videomedeja, Serbia.
14.-16.10.2021, 25th anniversary of Videomedeja Festival. Special program of Sphinx Award Winners. Novi Sad, Serbia.
10.-14.3.2021, Tampere Film Festival, Human being as a species - thematic screening.
6-15.11.2019, Cultura Fest, Helsinki Finland
21.-25.8.2019, Turku Animated Film Festival, retrospective Niina Suominen
12/2017 Anilogue, Budapest, Hungary
8/2017 Turku animated film festival, Turku, Finland
21-26.9.2017 Nordisk Panorama Film Festival Malmö, Sweden
Art Cinema, Helsinki-Vantaan lentokenttägalleria 2.10.2013
Ozu Film Festival, Sassuolo, Italy, 11/2012
Flip International Animation Festival, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, 11/2012
Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival
Fine Finnish Frames screening, Bristol, United Kingdom, 07/2012
XXII Message to Man International Film Festival - Competition for experimental films & Silence is golden online competition, St. Petersburg, Russia, 09/2012
L'étrange Festival - Short film competition, Paris, France, 09/2012
Finnish Short Film Night @ Riff Raff Kino, Zürich, Switzerland, 07/2012
12th New Horizons - International Film Festival - International Competition, Wroclaw, Poland, 07/2012
10th In the Palace - International Short Film Festival - Finnish short films screening, Varna, Bulgaria, 07/2012
Peace & Love Film Festival 2012 - Short Film category, Borlänge, Sweden, 06/2012
TAIS Animation Showcase 2012, Toronto, Canada, 06/2012
58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, AV-arkki market screening, Germany 04/2012
Anirmau '12 - Animation Film Festival - International competition, Lalín, Spain - 04/2012
Lago Film Festival, Revine Lago, Italy. 6/2012
Tampere International Short Film Festival 3/2012
Animax Skopje Animation Festival, Republic of Macedonia , 11/2011
Videomedeja film festival, Novi Sad, Serbia. 12 /2011
28th Helsinki Short Film Festival, competition for animated films, Helsinki, Finland, 11/2011
11th Animatricks Animation Festival - New Finnish Animations National competition, Helsinki, Finland, 10/2011
11th Nordisk Panorama Five Cities Film Festival - Nordic Short Film Competition, Aarhus, Denmark, 09/2011
18th International Animated Film Festival "KROK", International competition, Kiev, Zaporozhye, Sevastopol, Odessa, Ukraine, 09/2011
Reikäreuna Film Festival 2011, Thematic screenings, Orivesi, Finland, 09/2011
AniFestROZAFA 2011, International Competition, Shkodra, Albania 09/2011
9th In The Palace Film Festival municipality competition, Balchik, Bulgaria 06/2011

I Call Myself Sane

Prizes: 1st prize, Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
21.-25.8.2019, Turku Animated Film Festival, retrospective Niina Suominen
Melbourne International Animation Festival 2012, International competition, Australia, 06/2012
Anirmau 12 ́, Animation Film Festival, Lalin, Spain. 4 / 2012
Animax Skopje Animation Festival, Republic of Macedonia , 11/2011
3rd Sadho Poetry Film Festival, Instantsvideo screening, New Delhi, India, 11/2011
12th Animated dreams, 15th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn, Estonia, 11/2011
Rio De Janeiro International Short Film Festival - Curtacinema 2011, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil 10/2011
Cartes Flux 2011 Media Art Festival, Espoo, Finland 10/2011
Reikäreuna Film Festival 2011, Thematic screenings, Orivesi, Finland, 09/2011
AniFestROZAFA 2011, International Competition, Shkodra, Albania 09/2011
Flow Festival 2011, Future Shorts screening, Helsinki, Finland 08/2011
9th In The Palace Film Festival, AV-arkki Market Screening 06/2011
Kinos 2011 - Short Film Festival, Lahti, Finland 4/2011
Tampere Film Festival, National Competition, Tampere, Finland 03/2011
Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand, France 03/2011
Akbank 7th short film festival, Istanbul, Turkey, 03/2011
The 7th Berlin International Director ́s Lounge, Berlin, Germany, 02/2011
24th Stuttgarter filmwinter, International Short Film Competition, Stuttgart, Germany, 01/2011
14th International video festival VIDEOMEDEJA, Novi Sad, Serbia, 12/2010
9. - 14.11.2010 27th Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Germany
14. - 17.10.2010 ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Berlin, Germany
14. - 17.10.2010 Animatricks, Helsinki, Finland

Good Stuff

Prizes:
Honorary Mention, Nordic Glory Film Festival 2009, Jyväskylä Finland
Honorary Mention, Kettupäivät elokuvafestivaali 2009, Helsinki Finland
Honorary Mention, Animatricks 2009, Helsinki Finland
Honorary Mention in the Political Animation Category, Klik! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2009, Netherlands

1.−29.11.2022 Kampus Art Turku, Finland Educity media wall.
21.-25.8.2019, Turku Animated Film Festival, retrospective Niina Suominen.
2018 Oulun New Music October.
Espoo Cine 27.8.2014, Espoo, Finland
29th Helsinki Short Film Festival 21st Century Finnish Animation Screening, Helsinki, Finland, 11/2012
42nd Tampere Film Festival, AV-arkki - Good stuff - screening, Tampere, Finland, 03/2012
Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, Bristol, United Kingdom, 09/2012
Animax Skopje Animation Festival, Republic of Macedonia , 11/2011
11th Oldenburg Short Film Days zwergWERK, Oldenburg, Germany, 11/2011
Barbakan Film Festival, Finnish animated shorts screening, Prague, Czech Republic, 11/2011
Reikäreuna Film Festival 2011, Thematic screenings, Orivesi, Finland, 09/2011
Flow Festival 2011, Future Shorts screening, Helsinki, Finland 08/2011
9th In The Palace Film Festival, Balchik, Bulgaria - AV-arkki market screening 06/2011
7th Athens Video Art Festival, Animation programme, 05/2011*
IFFF - Dortmund I Köln - International women's film festival - 04/2011
Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand, France 03/2011
9th Filmmor Women ́s Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey, 03/2011
12. - 28.11.2010 19ème Festival International Séquence Court-Métrage, Toulouse, France
10. - 12.11.2010 21st LJUBLJANA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (LIFFe 2010), Slovenia
5. - 13.11.2010 Filmets Badalona Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
1.11. - 31.12.2010 HSL Culture Tram 7A, Helsinki, Finland
23. - 31.10.2010 XVII Festival Internacional de Jóvenes Realizadores de Granada, Spain
18. - 24.10.2010 53rd International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film - DOK Leipzig, Germany
28.9. - 3.10.2010 EcoVision 2010 International Festival of Environment & Cinema, Palermo, Italy - 3. - 12.9.2010 ISAFF OPEN CINEMA International Short & Animation Film Festival, St.Petersburg, Russia
21. - 25.7. Gimli Film Festival, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
9. -31.7.2010 2010 26th International Festival of Animated Cinema and Comics, Rimini, Italy
19.6.2010 De l'impact de l'alimentation sur l'environnement, Institut finlandais, Paris, France
31.5. - 6.6.2010 50th Krakow Film Festival, Crakow, Poland - 26. - 30.5.2010 Manlleu Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
1.5.2010 - 31.12.2010 Online exhibition of European short films in the course of the RUHR.2010 European Capital of Culture (www.europeinshorts.com)
1.5. - 6.6. 2010 12th Mo&Friese Children's Short Film Festival Hamburg, Germany
24.4 -1.5.2010 Rec 10 - Festival Internacional de Cinema de Tarragona, Spain
9. - 18.4.2010 The 12th Mecal International Short Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
17. - 21.3.2010 Go Short International Short Film Festival Nijmegen, Netherlands
10. - 14.3.2010 Tampere International Film Festival, Finland
13.3.2010 Tampere International Film Festival 40 Year Anniversary Screening, Finland
8th KaraFilm festival 2010. Karachi, Pakistan
4.-8.3.2010 Tricky Women 2010. Vienna, Austria
24.2.2010 Doc Lounge. Helsinki, Finland
10.-14.2.2010 Best of Klik! in five cities: Moscow,Voronezh, Rostov-na-Donu, Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Russia
30.1.2010 FLUXEE - Experimental Art & Entertainment Club, Turku, Finland
27.11 -4.12.2009 16th International Film Festival Etiuda & Anima, Crakow, Poland.
19.-22.11.2009 Arktisen upeeta pohjoismaisen elokuvan festivaali / Nordic Glory Film Festival, Jyväskylä, Finland.
11.-16.11.2009 Tehran 14th International Short Film Festival, Iran.
4.-7.11.2009, Kettupäivät elokuvafestivaali , Helsinki, Finland.
22.10 - 25.10.2009 Helsingin kirjamessut, Kopioston Kulttuurikoti-osasto, Finland.
19-25.10.2009 Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden.
10.-17.10.2009 Curtocircuito, Santiago De Compostela, Spain.
25.-30.9.2009 Nordisk Panorama - 5 Cities Film Festival, Reykjavík, Iceland.
20.9.2009 Kosmorama kinoklubi, Turku, Finland.
18 - 20.9.2009 Animatricks, Helsinki, Finland.
17. - 20.9.2009 KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2009, Netherlands
23.5.2009, Polar Film Festival, Turku, Finland.
Premiere 22.5.2009 Turun ylioppilasteatteri, Finland.

TV-PREMIERE IN FINLAND

5.9.2010 YLE TV1, Finland.

TV-SCREENINGS ABROAD Turner Broadcasting, Latin America and the Caribbean, (pay tv, vod and mobile)

DVD

VIEW 4. Good Stuff - suomalaisten taiteilijoiden animaatioteoksia (julkaisija AV-arkki)
Tampere Film Festival - Short Films from Finland vol. 6 ( A Finnish Fable 2011)
Tampere Film Festival - Short Films from Finland vol. 5 ( Hyvä meininki)
Kinokompo vol.3 - lyhytelokuvia Suomesta vuodelta 2009 (Hyvä meininki)
Luonnonlaki - 120 000 freimiä vetovoimaisia animaatioita (2008, animaatio Ahneen Palkka)
Pixoff- 43 Shortfilms from Finland (tuotantovuosi 2005, koosteella animaatio Polaris)

Bio & CV

Edistyneet asetukset