Violent Jazz from The North is a feature documentary produced by Kuume Productions. It was an official selection for the Helsinki DocPoint Film Festival. Inquiries for distribution and festivals: juho@kuumeproductions.com
Heikki Ruokangas is an avant-garde jazz guitarist living in the Northern city of Oulu, Finland. He has a unique style of playing, characterized as ”violent jazz” – harmonies where melody meets mayhem.
The documentary follows Heikki’s life on the fringes of jazz and contemporary music as he follows his unique vision. Ruokangas is respected in the European circles of avant-garde and his music has been published in the UK, USA and Germany. In the North though, he has to be his own agent, record his music in semicold half-finished log cottages and deliver the posters for his upcoming gigs himself.
Heikki’s vision drives him into interdiscplinary experiments with music, geometry and performance, and finally lands him into tours to Denmark and Estonia. But is his music too weird for audiences? Can Heikki find success with violent jazz, and what does success even mean?
Kuume Productions 