The work is relevant for FILM CRAFT because to showcase the beauty of cooking with Valio, we decided to do something different, by creating a full feature film instead of a conventional ad or a traditional marketing campaign. This work goes beyond regular advertising. For a world determined by 3-second attention spans, through-away-culture and ad pollution, we wanted to create the total opposite. We decided to pay homage to a cinema masterpiece, by replicating the cult film Koyaanisqatsi, scene by scene, using only Valio products. COOKINGQATSI is a 1-hour feature film with food as the main and only protagonist.

If you’re ever faced with a food innovation, it probably comes from Valio. Finnish food company Valio is world-known for bringing high-quality products to the tables of 500 million people worldwide. Food consumption and production have globally significant effects on the environment, society, animals, and people's lives. Valio exists to work responsibly for the environment, economy, people, and society, as innovation plays a big part in all the company's activities. The cornerstones of Valio's responsibility are cooperativeness, healthy animals, and sustainable milk production, with which we create work and well-being in Finland. Nothing about Valio is mediocre, and neither is their communication, that's why the brand is always open to trying new ways of messaging like is the case of COOKINGQATSI.

We replicated the cult film Koyaanisqatsi, scene by scene, by using only Valio products. While paying homage to the undeniable classic, we definitely wanted to push creative boundaries. Could we imitate the opening of a flower with a French pastry? Could we create a solar system with meatballs and red peppers? We wanted to build a big drama without compromising the deliciousness of the food, and that was our biggest challenge. We decided to do everything in real life, manually, without any digital effects. We prepared real delicious food and then launched it into the mid-air or dived deep right into it with our high-speed cameras. We believe that our uncompromising, yet curious and sincere approach to food is the reason why the result is so fascinating, hypnotic, and beautiful – in a universal way.

All traditional food advertising commercials look identical. The challenge was to create something unique and fresh, without missing the opportunity to showcase our ingredients big on screen. The main objective was to create a masterpiece paying tribute to the exceptional Valio food. With our 1-hour feature film COOKINGQATSI we wanted to portray the flow of cooking with Valio – the almost meditative state of mind you reach when all your ingredients are working with you, not against you; innovating not only in our high-quality products, but also in the way we communicate.

A 1-hour feature film where the food is the main and only protagonist.

First feature film to premiere in local cinemas and over 100 digital billboards across Finland.

14 different food filming techniques.

56 hours of material

3000 frames per second.

We wanted to build a big cinema piece without compromising the deliciousness of the food, and that was our biggest challenge. We decided to do everything in real life, manually, without any CGI or digital effects. We prepared real delicious food and then launched it into mid-air, used magnifying lenses, reversed the film, and dived deep right into the ingredients with high-speed cameras, combining 14 different food filming techniques. The film is so meticulously crafted, the visuals so fascinating, the original music is almost hypnotic, and of course, the overall result is beautiful – in a universal way.