Giant’s Kettle (Hiidenkirnu) is a Finnish art film created in 2017-2023 by the artist duo Markku Hakala & Mari Käki.

The black and white film with static camera and no dialogue builds on the very origins of cinematic tradition, but takes from there to a completely different direction challenging many givens of the film making process and the film language.

The film premiered internationally in the 1st Feature Competition at Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn, was awarded as The Best Debut Film at Girona, and has been critically acclaimed for pushing the boundary of cinematic expression (see awards & reviews). The movie is accompanied with an art exhibition in Galleria Ratamo on 19.2.-15.3.2026.

Somewhere up north at the age of peak reason

there is a man longing for connection but unable to break loose,

and a woman feeling alien to the world,

which has everything figured out for her,

without her.

They make their best to fit in and fulfill their roles but struggle to connect with the world, themselves and others. But something important is missing, as if the whole world was drained of love, chugging along on mere duties and bureaucratic inertia, passing over the baggage of the generations.

During the family trip back to the past everything starts to break apart. For how long is it possible to resist the force of life?

Giant’s Kettle is a love story without love, a cinematic journey into the unconscious, an epic tragicomedy of the mundane, and a mystery in a world emptied of mystery.