Who Is Malla Hukkanen, and What Is Film Photography?

Marja-Leena “Malla” Hukkanen (1959) has devoted more than four decades to film photography. She is one of the few Finnish photographers to have built her entire professional career in this field. She is particularly known for her long-standing collaboration with director Aki Kaurismäki, and over the course of her career, she has photographed more than one hundred Finnish films.

Film stills are not simply frames taken directly from a film, but photographic interpretations of individual scenes. The photographer enters the set after the scene has been filmed, then directs the actors and reconstructs the moment. The aim is to capture the atmosphere of a particular scene — and sometimes even the essence of an entire film — in a single photograph. There are often only a few minutes to do so, requiring precision, speed, and the ability to work under pressure.

The work of this Finnish photographer shows that film still photography is not merely supplementary material produced alongside a film, but an independent art form with its own distinctive visual language, created within an environment where, as Hukkanen observes, “everything has already been set up” for the photographer. She therefore emphasises that her photographs are the result of a collaborative effort involving the entire film crew — set designers, costume designers, make-up artists, actors, directors, and cinematographers.

In addition to official film stills, Hukkanen has documented moments behind the scenes, as well as photographs that were used as props within the films themselves. She has also worked as a script supervisor, responsible for maintaining visual continuity and consistency between scenes.

Although film stills are primarily used for promotional purposes, their significance extends far beyond marketing, and they have left a lasting mark on contemporary art photography. As the exhibition text also points out, American artist Cindy Sherman, one of the pioneers of staged photography, gained international recognition with her series Untitled Film Stills, which draws on the aesthetics of film photography. Although her images did not depict actual films, audiences immediately recognised them, confirming that film stills have become an integral part of the visual language of contemporary photography.