City in spaces and films
Aleksi Kinnunen
Editor-in-chief of the festival magazine and one of the founders of Karhupuisto Film Festival
The Karhupuisto Film Festival is expanding into a week-long event in its second year. Thank you for the enthusiastic reception and participation during our inaugural edition in the autumn of 2025.
In addition to last year’s venues—the Teatteri Sirkus Suosalo tent in Alli Trygg’s Park, Karhupuisto Summer Street, and Kallio Church—we now have access to an old cinema on Pengerkatu.
Operating under the names Kinola, Kino Pylvässali, and Arina since the 1930s, this Art Deco hall is remembered as the long-time home of Ryhmäteatteri, which was located there for over thirty years. The venue is now known as Alō.
Many people from the 1990s remember the televised "Nyhjää tyhjästä" broadcasts from this hall, hosted by Neil Hardwick. One particularly active Martti on stage has been crucial to this festival's success.
Once again, the highlight of our program is the world's best new urban-themed films, which we select from festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Tallinn. We will be screening over ten Nordic or Finnish premieres.
The selection includes acclaimed international new releases, from Cannes Critics' Week winner La Gradiva to the Mexican Berlinale winner Sad Girlz, as well as new American film discoveries like Lurker and The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.
The event is also expanding to include international guest filmmakers, who will be coming to Karhupuisto to present their works. Lurker director Alex Russell will hold a masterclass.
Kallio's cinematic visions are represented by Pussikaljaelokuva, which celebrates its 15th anniversary with themed walks, and Jim Jarmusch's 90s classic Night on Earth, which will be screened outdoors in Karhupuisto, featuring Matti Pellonpää dozing off behind the wheel of a Volvo taxi, driving from Sörnäinen to a complex destination.
Inspired by New York's Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest, we are, of course, looking for the person who most resembles Pellonpää. Sakari Kuosmanen will choose the winner before Jarmusch's film.
Six essayists in the festival magazine delve into films from various perspectives. Among the local writers, Iida Sofia Hirvonen offers tips for slacking off in the spirit of Éric Rohmer's films. Emmi-Liia Sjöholm delves into the relationship dynamics of Before Sunset, which will be screened in the park. Enjoy your reading!
The initial idea behind the Karhupuisto Film Festival was to bring film culture back to Kallio, which was once known as the city's cinema district. In the early 20th century, there were as many as 12 movie theaters operating simultaneously in the Kallio area.
With creative spatial solutions, the festival became an urban cultural and spatial experiment, a combination of local and international. Viewers travel with the films from Kallio to New York, Naples, Lagos, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin, Vilnius, and Manila.
We express our support for the unique, internationally significant but threatened Suvilahti DIY, where we will hold the festival's open closing screening.
Welcome to experience the world's best new cinema, curated classics, and an early autumn celebration of encounters and urban culture among the lime trees of Karhupuisto from September 7th to 13th.