About this Event
Baltic Cinema: Other Actors (adv. 15)
Thu 10 Dec | 18:30
£6 / £4.50* per person
Dir. Ilona Sagar UK 2025 / 59m
Other Actors explores the links between bodies and buildings, health and architecture through the lens of Paimio Sanatorium in Finland.
Designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto and completed between 1929 and 1933, the sanatorium represents a radical shift in design for health. Conceived as an ‘instrument for healing,’ the Aaltos proposed an architecture designed not for the verticality of the healthy body but for the horizontal perspective of the sick.
At the time of filming, the sanatorium was at a significant moment in its transition from hospital to a new purpose. As restoration progresses, the film examines its status as a building in flux. The film was made in close collaboration with those who have lived and worked in Paimio Sanatorium, including former maintenance staff, workers at the furniture manufacturer Artek, and surviving architects of the Aaltos' design team, alongside theorists Beatriz Colomina, Heini Hakosalo, and Peter Stadius.
Folding together historical research, professional and lived experience, Other Actors is informed by Aalto University School of Engineering, Kalasatama Undocumented Migrants Clinic and Tuberculosis Research Groups at Leicester University and Imperial College London. Through these intersecting perspectives, the film asks us to consider what we do with the architectural legacies of modernism that linger in our cultural imaginary, and how we can platform those hidden behind its visual façades.
Other Actors screens in the context of the Film London Jarman Award 2026, for which Ilona Sagar is nominated.
---
Doors open 18:00; Film starts 18:30. Pop-up cinema bar open from 18:00 for drinks.
Please note we cannot offer refunds on this event unless the event is cancelled. If the event is cancelled, we will offer a full refund but won’t be able to refund donations.
*Concessions: under 18s, unwaged & 65+
---
Ilona Sagar
Ilona Sagar is a London-based artist and filmmaker. Drawing on archival research and interdisciplinary collaboration, her work explores how civic and social identities are constructed and contested through the infrastructures of health, technology and the body.
Sagar’s work has been presented internationally in venues including the 24th International Exhibition at Triennale Milano, Serpentine Gallery, Barbican Art Gallery, Hayward Gallery, Wellcome Collection, CCA Glasgow, Villa Arson Centre National d'Art Contemporain and Art Rotterdam.
The Film London Jarman Award
A prestigious annual prize which recognises and supports the most innovative UK-based artists working with moving image, and celebrates the spirit of experimentation, imagination and innovation in the work of emerging artist filmmakers. Launched in 2008 and inspired by visionary filmmaker Derek Jarman, the Jarman Award showcases artists' moving image to audiences throughout the UK and beyond through its annual touring programme.
---
Baltic Cinema
Baltic Cinema is a year-round cinema programme at Baltic, lighting up our Level 1 Cinema with the best new and archive films. Expanding on our exhibition themes and bringing otherwise rarely-screened work to the North East.
Supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network.
Accessibility
We want our events to be inclusive and accessible. If you have any accessibility requests or questions, please email [email protected]. Ahead of your visit, you can find out about Baltic's facilities and accessibility here.
Event venue & nearby stays
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.