movie – APN 201

New film: Sleep 2023

Celebrating 10 Years of Cinematic Innovation

Juha Lilja Unveils “Sleep” Sequel: A Captivating Dive into Digital Wakefulness

In a bold exploration of our digital age, acclaimed filmmaker Juha Lilja returns with the highly anticipated sequel to his avant-garde masterpiece, “Sleep.” A decade after the groundbreaking original, Lilja’s “Sleep” (2023) takes audiences on an unprecedented 5-hour and 21-minute journey, challenging the pervasive influence of mobile phones in our lives.

Synopsis: “Sleep” (2023) marks a radical departure from its predecessor. Instead of the vulnerability of sleep, Lilja confronts the wakeful grip of modern technology. Armed with his mobile phone, he immerses himself for over 5 hours, disconnected from reality. Shot with a Canon EOS M, the unfiltered footage captures Lilja’s digital odyssey—no embellishments, no lights, just raw and thought-provoking reality.

Critique and Aesthetics of Cohabitation: In the spirit of Christopher Costabile’s master’s thesis, Lilja’s “Sleep” serves as both a critique and exemplar of the aesthetics of cohabitation. The unyielding gaze into Lilja’s digital world mirrors our collective obsession with mobile devices. It’s a cinematic reflection, devoid of external lights or effects, exposing the intimate dance between human consciousness and the omnipresent mobile phone.

YouTube Premiere and Concept Art: Celebrating a decade of innovation, “Sleep” (2023) will premiere on Lilja’s YouTube channel APN 201 Movies on January 15th at 16:00 CET. Embracing the aesthetics of cohabitation, the film takes the form of concept art, aligning with Costabile’s thesis, ensuring its availability to the masses at their own homes. The film might later be screened at selected festivals, events, or galleries.

Availability: “Sleep” (2023) promises a YouTube debut, offering a global audience the chance to witness Lilja’s digital wakefulness. Subsequent screenings at festivals, events, or galleries will be announced in due course.

To understand the significance of the new film, it is useful to first learn about the previous one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_(2013_film)

For press inquiries, interviews, or additional information, please contact: info@apn201.com

About Juha Lilja: Juha Lilja is an award-winning filmmaker renowned for his avant-garde approach to cinema. With an illustrious career spanning decades, his films continue to provoke thought and redefine the boundaries of cinematic storytelling.

Official Website: http://apn201.com

Social Media: https://twitter.com/lilja_juha| https://www.facebook.com/apina2001 | https://www.instagram.com/apn201design/

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New Shorts

ART? Posted by APN201 Wed, June 28, 2023 23:11:24

While trying everything I made 6 shorts in 6 days. I used AI for brainstorming the ideas. Which one is your favourite?
Enjoy.

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Sleep Revival

ART? Posted by APN201 Fri, January 20, 2023 22:28:35

Exactly 10 years after the making of my 8-hour long Warhol remake, Sleep, it gained unexpected traction. For reasons unknown to me, YouTube algorithm decided to suggest this movie (from my dormant secondary channel) to hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Before long this abandoned channel was alive again. It was getting hundreds of followers and comments and thousands of views every day. From the comments it seemed like especially the members of gay subculture, “bears” were interested in the channel. Sleep was the champion, but my other films started also getting views – especially those where I’m naked or almost naked.

This all seems to connect with trending of sleepstreams – people live streaming their sleeping. Sleep was not really a stream, but somehow it was fitting this trend. Of course I decided to ride the wave. I’m not interested in streaming, but I figured, that somehow I need to feed the YouTube algorithm and deliver content to my new fans.

I took my camera from the closet and started shooting myself sleeping again. I did not want to make live streams. Instead I wanted to improve the concept of original Sleep – to have interesting images of a sleeping man. I used my vintage Soviet lens, sat down in my Design armchair and let the camera roll. When I woke up, I moved the camera and did it again, and again and again, until I had about an hour of material. Then I quickly edited it, applied some sounds, grain and heavy color grading and uploaded it to YouTube. The “premiere” event in YouTube gained some live fans chatting with me. Soon the video had over 5000 views. We needed more and better sleep.

I made another one when I sleep on a small sofa. I added more scenes and faster cut. It become 1½ hours long. I set it premiere in a couple of days time (Saturday 21. January) so that possible fans can make the time to watch it.

Next night I set my camera up again. This time I decided to sleep on an old Persian rug. This time I graded it differently. I did not desaturate the colors that much. Just enough to catch the night atmosphere and vintage feeling. I can not wait longer, so I set it to premiere on Sunday a day after the sofa movie.

Let’s see what happens with the premieres and how long I have the interest in filming myself sleeping. Maybe when I have 8 hours of footage, I can edit Sleep 2023 – a sequel, to celebrate the 10th anniversary.

My main focus now is the World Premiere of Natura in IFFR Rotterdam next week. Therefore I decided to harness the success of my sleep to promote Natura. It has worked quite well. The Natura trailer in IFFR YouTube channel has already 1000 new views now. You should watch it and comment it NOW! (Or even better come to the world premiere in Rotterdam 29th January 2023)

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Rotterdam, we meet again

Uncategorised Posted by APN201 Fri, January 13, 2023 23:15:01

Back in 2015 I was in IFFR (Rotterdam International Film Festival) with my 8-hour movie, Sleep. It was amazing experience. Now after all the years I’m going back. I did the role of cryptomillionaire in Matti Harju’s dabut feature film, Natura. The movie will have it’s world premiere in Rotterdam January 29th and I will be there together with Matti. It’s amazing movie. I wish everyone could join the premiere.

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Dark Room

ART? Posted by APN201 Wed, August 10, 2022 14:45:02

A family is inside a freestanding room-sized camera obscura by a small lake. They observe the image projected by the pinhole, when suddenly something scares them.

After participating in another movie project, I got inspired to make my own film as well. I have owned a Pinhole Pro S lens for a while, but had forgotten about it. I wanted to make a film as a timelapse from a series of pinhole images.

Trailer

Although the film is an experimental study about the capabilities of using pinhole photography in film making, I did not want it to be a pure technology demo, so I wrote the script around the theme of camera obscura – a dark room. The film is currently in post production. It is planned to premiere this autumn.