Labour Day

Action-fueled slow cinema documentary seen through the windshields of food couriers’ cars weaves together the parallel journeys of migrant platform workers and the European middle class, illuminating how algorithmic control entangles us all.

Estimated premiere: 2027

DIRECTOR Joel Karppanen (b. 1993) is a filmmaker, visual artist, photographer, writer, critic and the artistic director of Oulu Music Video Festival.  Karppanen’s works have been exhibited widely, e.g. in Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, KunstHausWien and Mänttä Art Festival among others, and can be found in various collections including The Finnish State Art Commission, The Finnish Museum of Photography and Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation. He has received recognition including New Photo Journalist Award and Young Hero Grant in 2017, and the main prize for the best film idea in Kettupäivät Festival in 2023.

Karppanen has directed several music videos and experimental shorts which have been screened in film festivals and museums. His oeuvre explores themes of labor and class, with both his films and photographs being described as “historically-aware”, “honest” and “sensitive”. Originally from Northern Finland, Karppanen lives and works now in Helsinki, Finland.