Recent advances in technology have put digital tools into the hands of a wide variety of filmmakers. It was only a matter of time until a savvy festival programmer decided to showcase content created with this evolving art form. Jussi Myllyniemi founded the Clone Digital Film Festival with the philosophy that the very best films deserved a venue and a festival that would expose them to new audiences. In addition, Jussi realized that fellow filmmakers and audiences alike wanted to know the stories behind the content creation. Now in its seventh year, "Clone" has expanded to a new home in the administrative hub of southern finland; Hameenlinna. Just a few minutes north of Helsinki the festival has a new base of operations at the newly opened Verkatehdas. The new Arts and Cultural center is housed in a converted canvas factory and features a 4K Digital projector , multiple conference rooms , state of the art cinema's, as well as a stage for live theater and a large banquet hall. Hämeenlinna is the central city of the province of Southern Finland, it is a traditional, vibrant, educational and cultural town only an hour away from the capital Helsinki.
Animation was the theme of this years festival. Menithings filmmakers Aristomenis Tsirbas and Dane Allan Smith were invited to host this years event. The calendar included a panel of representatives from Softimage UK, producers of the first Finnish 2D animated feature 'Röllin Sydän' and Menithings discussing the current state of independent animation in both America and the Nordic countries. In addition to the panel, Menithings also hosted a retrospective presentation of the 10 year history of work that included visual effects, music video's , short subjects and an HD trailer from the upcoming theatrical release TERRA. The acoustics and image quality in the new facility are unparelled in the nordic region. Guests were treated to footage and commentary from Menithings Director Aristomenis Tsirbas' that spanned his career in digital filmaking .
One of the hallmarks of a quality film festival are the parties. Clone offered a variety of options each evening as the festival schedule wound down. Events we attended included live musical performances, excellent food and Nordic wines and spirits. The Finnish patrons were appreciative of the International guests and generous hosts. The November festival date and the northern latitude meant just a few hours of daylight. The city looked like a Holiday card with the back- lit frost tinged tree's, highlighted with the sun low on the horizon. A blue moon sat high above the festival each night lending the event a magical quality. Well off the beaten path, and true to its Scandinavian roots- Clone is a rare local festival that is not to be missed.
http://www.clone.fi/english/index.htm -

Dane Allan Smith