Production of "If I fall"

2007 | Film Productions | Films

In 2005 Hannaleena Hauru's script If I fall was awarded a prize in NISI MASA's Script Contest, wich had the theme of "Silence".

Pre-production of the film started with the "Defeating the Silences" workshop in Angers (France) in February 2006, where Hauru starting developing the script.

If I fall was produced by the Tampere Polytechnic School of Art and Media, Finland, as Hauru decided to make the film as her graduating work (therefore directing it herself). Cinematographer Jan-Niclas Jansson and editor Sanna Ryhänen also helped make the film as a part of their graduation. Naturally, the technical crew of the film was gathered from Tampere Polytechnic.

In addition to having NISI MASA as a co-producer, If I fall was co-produced with Finnish National Broadcast company YLE, TV1: Uusi kino, that became interested in the script.

If I fall was shot in 16mm film over an eight-day period in March 2007, near the city of Tampere, mainly in the KyrÃ skoski saw mill. The crew encountered challenging situations, as during the filming the big saw mill was fully functional. Fortunately, with the help of its workers, the shooting went very well.

The post-production period lasted for the whole of spring 2007, and finally the film had it's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 46^thInternational Critics' Week, within the "Carte Blanche à NISI MASA" screening. Eight pages of text had become 13 minutes on screen!

Finally, Hauru and her producers also managed to gather funding for a 35mm film copy of If I fall with the help of a subsidy from the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, Finnforest and AVEK (Centre for the Promotion of Audiovisual Culture).

More info:
Website of the film