Girl Picture director Alli Haapasalo and cinematographer Jarmo Kiuru, FSC

Girl Picture is a Finnish film about the friendship between three
young women as they experience the emotional ups and downs of life
as they transition from teenagers to women. Director Alli Haapasalo
felt the English title perfectly described the finite time of girls
who are trying to figure out their own life's picture and who are
developing an identity as women through their friendship. The film
follows the girls as they chat and hang out over a few nights
together during the dark winter in Finland. Sex, sexual identity
and finding pleasure is also a theme in Girl Picture. It was
important to Alli to depict the young women discussing and
exploring their sexuality in mature ways rather than with shame or
drama. So much of coming of age is not just about finding who you
are, but what you want and need. In the sex scenes, Alli worked
with an intimacy coordinator, chose not to show nudity and to
portray the characters asking for consent in natural, casual ways.
Cinematographer Jarmo Kiuru had worked together with Alli on three
previous projects. For Girl Picture, they wanted to find a way to
bring the energy and movement of being a teenager, and also wanted
a natural, documentary feel, so the film was shot entirely
handheld. Jarmo also decided to shoot the movie in the 4:3 aspect
ratio. He felt that 4:3 not only frames the face better, giving the
film a more intimate feeling, but he also wanted to show how the
world is limited by parents and other rules when you're a teenager.
Girl Picture won the Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding
Performance in an International Narrative Feature and also won the
World Cinema Audience Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Girl Picture is in limited theatrical release and will be available
to stream in the fall. Find Alli Haapasalo:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1641519/ Find Jarmo Kiuru: Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/DoPJarmoKiuru Instagram & Twitter:
@jarmokiuru Find out even more about this episode, with extensive
show notes and links: http://camnoir.com/ep179/ Sponsored by Hot
Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com The Cinematography Podcast
website: www.camnoir.com YouTube:
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