The fifth LOIKKA festival held in Helsinki from March 22 to 25, 2012, attracted its record audiences this year. The festival also saw the announcement of its new artistic directors, Thomas Freundlich and Valtteri Raekallio.
Freundlich and Raekallio are long-term artistic collaborators whose previous film work includes North Horizon, seen at 18 film and dance festivals around the world. In 2004, Raekallio and Freundlich founded Liikekieli.com, Finland's online magazine for dance. Liikekieli.com received the 2008 Finnish State Award for Dance Arts.
"I have been delighted by the strong growth and great atmosphere of LOIKKA over the last years," said Hanna Pajala-Assefa, founder and previous artistic director of LOIKKA festival. "I am happy to hand over this vibrant and well-established event to my successors, and I'm certain they will continue to bring together audiences and artists in the realm of dance film."
"Dance film is in a period of tremendous growth and diversification both in Finland and worldwide. Heading LOIKKA festival is an exciting opportunity. We look forward to exploring new avenues for the festival's programming, including 3D dance film," said Thomas Freundlich and Valtteri Raekallio.
LOIKKA presents a wide range of international and Finnish dance short films as well as dance documentaries. LOIKKA is organized by the open production and artists' collective MAD Production. The open call for the LOIKKA 2013 festival will open in August 2012.
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