Jesse Jalonen
Bio
Jesse Jalonen is a filmmaker based in Finland.
His debut feature, Nobody Meets Your Eyes, had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2022 and has been since screened at various international festivals. It was awarded as the Best Film at FILMADRID and with the Memory and Archive Award at Family Film Project. He was named as the Inspirational Director of 2023 by The Association of Finnish Film Directors. His script for Nobody Meets Your Eyes was nominated for the Sylvi Award for the best screenplay of the year.
Jalonen has also written and directed the short films Falling Snow (2019) and Pauli (2014) and holds a Master’s degree in film directing from ELO Film School Finland at the Aalto University. He has also served as a cinematographer on approx. 20 films or installation pieces since 2011, including Family Time, the debut feature by Tia Kouvo (world premiere at Berlinale Encounters 2023). His work on Family Time was nominated for the Jussi Award for the best Cinematography.
Contact
jalonen.jesse(at)gmail.com
Works
Nobody Meets Your Eyes
Kukaan ei katso sinua silmiin
2022
65 minutes
trailer
All around us, there lives a group of “invisibles”, people who are only perceivable via a
camera. We meet two of them: Tuomas is a single parent to his daughter, who is the only
person in the world seeing him normally; Ninni is a young woman in an emerging online
relationship, meeting her crush for the first time “in real life”. In combination with these
parallel stories, the film uses street footage and testimonies from other “invisibles” to reflect
on questions of loneliness, visibility and perception. Our world is exposed as one where the
prosaic and the poetic, the factual and the imaginary, live together.
awards:
DíaS DE CINE AWARD FOR BEST FILM (filmadrid)
Memory and archive award (Family film project)
Festivals:
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2022 (World Premiere)
FICValdivia 2022
filmadrid 2022
Family film project 2022
Salerno international film festival 2022
Idromeno Independent FIlm festival 2023
Finn Filmnapok 2023
Frame[o]ut 2023
love & anarchy – helsinki international film festival 2022
espoo ciné 2022
suomalaisen elokuvan festivaali 2022
oulu music video festival 2022
cast: Arttu Timlin, Ida-Maria Olva, Kimiya Eskandari & Jonas Rothlaender, edited by Sanna Liinamaa, production design by Jenni Nylander,
costume and make-up design by Mirva Mietala, sound design by Samuli Ala-Lahti, produced by Ella Ruohonen / Aalto University, co-produced by Juho Fossi & Antti Fossi / Fossi Films
