Nº63 Pasi “Sleeping” Myllymäki

Pasi “Sleeping” Myllymäki is a Finnish filmmaker born in 1950 in Janakkal. He specialises in experimental short films familiar to punk and underground circles. 

Myllymäki graduated as a graphic designer from the Lahti School of Crafts and Design in 1976 . Inspired by the do-it-yourself spirit of the punk movement, he began making short Super 8 mm film films together with amateur photographer Risto Laakkonen. The duo made almost 50 experimental short films between 1976 and 1985. Nearly all of these films are magnetic sound films less than three minutes long. 

The minimalist expression of Myllymäki’s and Laakkonen’s short films was too much for most to digest. Thus, their films were not shown at all at official film events, but only at film screenings by art film enthusiasts as well as at new wave music events. For example, 3000 Cars (1980) is a classic of a minimalist film, in which Myllymäki and Laakkonen depicted cars in the parking areas of department stores as stop motion animation. Similarly, the film Five Words (1982) lists the sub-stylistic expressions for genitals found in the modern Finnish dictionary. Outraged by the sleepy reception of his works, Myllymäki adopted the artist’s name “Sleeping”.