Our Students win the Roma Independent Film Festival Best Student Short

The Student Short Award – Best Student Short, goes to Better So by Jaakko Ylitalo, a young Finnish debut director who is currently studying screenwriting at the Turku Academy of Arts. “The film manages to put you into the protagonist’s world, you feel his confusion over the things he can’t understand or remember. You also feel his pain, the sense of loss, not only of his memories but also of himself. Even the ending, although one is partly relieved by the fact that he doesn’t kill himself, represents the loss of control, of being able to decide about one’s own life and therefore sadly becomes bittersweet.”

Juho, an amnesiac, finds himself lost in the night with his only aid being voice recordings of his past life. As Juho gets closer to his destination, the past and the present begin to intertwine, revealing the true meaning of his journey.

From a small coastal town in Finland, Jaakko Antero Ylitalo is a first-time director, presently studying screenwriting at the Arts Academy of Turku UAS. His own work often delves in the moral gray area and deals with repressed emotions and bittersweet feelings. After losing a family member to Alzheimer’s disease, Jaakko grew tired of how fictional stories often portray people with dementia as passive and weak-willed individuals.

The TurkuUAS third year student team includes: Jaakko Antero Ylitalo: screenplay and director (FilmStudent2021-), Erika Taivaansaari: producer (ProductionStudent2021-), Koldo Toribio: cinematography (FilmStudent2021-), Pinja Pälvimäki: sound design & music (FilmStudent21-)