The 15th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) 's Tiantan Award Jury welcomes yet another distinguished addition - Finnish director Teemu Nikki. Renowned for sweeping three major awards at the BJIFF with The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, Nikki brings his signature cinematic style, one that blends stark realism with profound warmth, infusing the Tiantan Award with Finland's unique philosophical contemplation and deep reflections on human nature.

　　

Teemu Nikki, Jury member of the 15th BJIFF “Tiantan Award”

If Finnish cinema were a prose poem, Teemu Nikki's chapter would be etched with the dialectics of ice and fire. In 2017, Armomurhaaja propelled him into the spotlight. The film dissects the power dynamics between humans and animals, with Nikki constructing a cold, clinical ethical laboratory within its frames. The film was awarded Best Screenplay in the Competition section at the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival. In 2022, Teemu Nikki's The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic emerged as the dark horse of the 12th BJIFF, claiming Best Feature Film, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay at the Tiantan Award. With its blurred, wavering cinematography immersing viewers in the world of the blind, the film conveys a restrained yet profound warmth. When the protagonist, undeterred by his blindness, embarks on his journey across mountains and seas for love, the entire world seems to move toward him as well. This cinematic embodiment of profound humanistic care was unanimously praised by the Jury of the Tiantan Award that year.

　　

　　

　　

Awards won by The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic at the 12th BJIFF Tiantan Award Competition Section

Across Teemu Nikki's cinematic oeuvre, the dialectics of life and death remain his most fervent thematic obsession. Unlike many directors who drape death in melancholic sentimentality, Nikki's lens resembles that of an anatomist, dissecting death into myriad microscopic moments. In Death Is a Problem for the Living (2023), Nikki turns his gaze toward terminally ill individuals from the lower rungs of society. Through the lens of dark humor, he probes into contemporary anxieties about mortality, the crisis of trust in healthcare systems, and the existential void of seeking meaning in life. As the solemn façade of death rituals is peeled away layer by layer, what remains is an intricate tapestry woven with both absurdity and tenderness. The film was nominated for Best Feature Film at the Progressive Cinema Competition of the 18th Rome Film Festival and also won Best Music and Best Supporting Actor at the 14th BJIFF. The haunting melodies of Finnish folk instruments transform the weighty theme of death into an eternal reverberation through trembling strings.

　　

　　

Awards won by Death Is a Problem for the Living in the Competition Section of the 14th BJIFF Tiantan Award

Nikki's connection with BJIFF began as an artistic resonance, but it has since evolved into a profound cross-cultural dialogue. In 2022, The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic swept three major Tiantan Awards. Two years later, in 2024, he returned to the Tiantan Award with Death Is a Problem for the Living, being selected into the Competition Section again and securing two prestigious accolades. Now, as a member of the 15th Tiantan Award International Jury, Nikki's presence is like opening a window Beijing International Film Festival to face the Nordic film spirit. This journey from Helsinki to Beijing became a vivid footnote to the interaction between the unique Finnish spirit of “Sisu” and the vitality of Chinese films.

　　

Interaction with the audience by Teemu Nikki at the 12th BJIFF after the premiere of The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic

From his first short film in 1995 to the present day, Teemu Nikki has spent three decades undertaking the odyssey of a cinematic solitary voyager. His films relentlessly pose the question: When vision is obscured, the body is imprisoned, and life is marked with an expiration date, where does the light of humanity find its cracks to emerge? As this Nordic cinematic poet takes his seat on the Tiantan Award Jury, we look forward to his piercing yet compassionate gaze exploring new cinematic frontiers.