Pirjo Honkasalo
(Finland)

Pirjo Irene Honkasalo (born 22 February 1947) is a Finnish film director who has also worked as a cinematographer, film editor, producer, screenwriter and actress. In 1980 she co-directed Flame Top with Pekka Lehto, whit whom she worked earlier and later as well. The film was chosen for the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. In the 1990s she focused on feature documentaries such as The Trilogy of the Sacred and the Satanic (Mysterion, Tanjuska and the 7 Devils and Atman). Honkasalo returned to fiction with Fire-Eater (1998) and Concrete Night (2013), both of which were written by Pirkko Saisio. Concrete Night won six Jussi Awards in 2014, among them the Jussi for the Best Direction and the Jussi for the Best Film. Its world premiere was at the Toronto International Film Festival in Masters series.

Pirjo Honkasalo worked as provincial artist laureate in Central Finland 1974–1975. At that time she drove around the area with one-armed scholar who made research of traditional handcrafts. Honkasalo photographed all the interviewees voluntarily. On that journey she met the main characters of her documentary Their Age. She is the first honorary member of Women in Film & Television Finland ry. The organisation says that "Honkasalo has [...] made touching films of universal topics" and also spoken out about the gender inequality in film industry.

Films
Filmography
Concrete Night / Betoniyö
2013
Ito – a Diary of an Urban Priest
2010
The 3 Rooms of Melancholia
2004
Fire-Eater
1998
Atman
1997
The Cinderella of Tallinn / Tallinnan Tuhkimo
1996
Tanjuska and the 7 Devils / Tanjuska ja 7 perkelettä
1993
Mysterion
1991
Da Capo
1985
250 Grammes – a Radioactive Testament / 250 Grammes – a Radioactive Testament
1983
Nine Ways to Approach Helsinki / Yhdeksän tapaa lähestyä Helsinkiä
1982
Flame Top
1980
Two Forces
1979
Their Age / Ikäluokka
1976
The Land of Our Ancestors
1973
The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth
1968
Ennen kuolemaa
1967

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