If you do this, I will call you by your first name instead of Mom
2019, short documentary
19:10, HD video, sound
“Your film will not have a happy ending because my life doesn’t have one. Although there’s no sad ending either.”
Excerpt
Full film available for professional preview on request.
Built from recorded conversations between Rosaliina Paavilainen and her mother, the film examines a mother-daughter relationship shaped by alcoholism, separation, foster care, shame, anger, and longing. The mother is heard but never seen. Her voice is paired with static images of her empty apartment and the objects inside it.
The separation between voice and image creates room for contradictions between what is said, remembered, and visible. Neither participant controls the account completely. Instead of offering reconciliation or a definitive explanation, the film asks how a shared and painful family history can be spoken about by people who experienced it differently.
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Cinematography: Ollie Piani
Editing, sound, producing and directing: Rosaliina Paavilainen
Exhibition
Young Artists 2019, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Finland (2019) and reGeneration4 at Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (2020). Lausanne’s collections. Short Stories: Short Movies from Sweden & Finland
Malmö, Sweden, 2019
Collection
Photo Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland