VUFF 2024 film festival draws on youth, old age and Vantaa identity.
The two-year-old Vantaa Urban Film Festival VUFF 2024 will light up the area around Myyrmäki station on 21–24 March. In celebration of the city’s anniversary year, the festival offers, among other things, a series of films on the theme Your Place in the World, which delves into the heart of Vantaa identity. Read more
Thu 21 March
2 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
23 WALKS
Britain 2020 | 1 h 42 min/ Rated 12 | language: English | subtitles: Finnish | drama
23 Walks is a tender, complex and heart-warming comedy drama about finding love later in life. Fern andDave, two older strangers, have been bruised by their individual circumstance. They meet walking their dogs in a North London park, and over the course of twenty-three walks together the romance begins to blossom. But Dave and Fern haven’t been completely honest with one another and their future together may be threatened by the secrets they have withheld.
• Please note: After the film, a video and panel discussion on the topic “Old people have the right to love too”. The VUFF audience will be greeted by the former MP and former mayor of Vantaa Pirjo Ala-Kapee and her partner Tuomo Sintonen on a video. This couple on a foreign adventure tell the audience their love story. Afterwards, Professor Emeritus Timo Airaksinen and the family psychotherapist | couple and sex therapist Paula Maria Mäkelä take the stage at Kino Myyri to discuss love in old age.
5 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
El PARAÍSO
Italy 2023 | 1h 46min | language: Italian, Spanish | subtitles: English | drama
Story of love between a mother and a son, a vivid tragedy that plunges its heroes into the constantly shifting nuances of their innermost moods, into delicacy and into violence.
Julio Cesar is almost forty years old and still lives with his mother, a Colombian woman with a compelling personality. The pair of them share practically everything: a little house on the river filled with memories, the small amount of money earned working for a local drug dealer, a passion for evenings of salsa and merengue. According to the director, the film asks a cuestion: can we really draw a line that distinguishes love and madness, the indomitable force of sentiment from the profound fear of being left alone forever? El Paraíso premiered in the Orizzonti section at the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival, winning the awards for best screenplay and best actress (Margarita Rosa de Francisco).
5 pm | SKENESALI | BUY TICKETS
PÄIN SEINÄÄ (Headfirst)
Finland 2014 | 1h 34min | Rated 12 | comedy drama)
A single mother tries to resque her daughter from state custody with the help of a teacher and a stranger with bad drinking habits.
* After the screening, film students from Vaskivuori High School discuss the urbanity of young people in Vantaa. The course focusing on film screening has been organised in cooperation with Pop Up Kino Helsinki and Vaskivuori High School.
7 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
VIFTEN (Empire)
Denmark 2023 | 1h 33min | Rated 12 | drama | subtitles: Finnish
St. Croix, the Danish West Indies, 1848. Anna Heegaard and Petrine are close friends. Although both are women of colour, their living conditions are very different – Anna is free and owns the enslaved Petrine. Anna shares her life with Danish Governor General Peter von Scholten at her country house, where she manages the home, her fortune, and her beloved and trusted housekeeper Petrine. Things are seemingly fine until rumours of a rebellion begin to swirl. Which side are Anna and Petrine really on, and is it the same one?
Fri 22 March
2.15 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
THE TASTE OF THINGS (La passion de Dodin Bouffant)
France 2023 | 2h 12min | Rated 7 | drama | language: French | subtitles: Finnish
France, 1889: Simmering passions between a master chef and his longtime partner bubble over in this sumptuous award-winning period love story.
The film follows the life of Dodin Bouffant as a chef living with his personal cook and lover Eugénie. They share a long history of gastronomy and love but Eugénie refuses to marry Dodin, so the food lover decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
5 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
INSHALLAH A BOY
Jordan 2023 | 1h 53min | Rated 12 | drama | language: Arabic | subtitles: English
After the sudden death of her husband, Nawal is struggling to cope with the upheaval in her life. However, her pain is soon compounded by the possibility of losing her home to her brother-in-law. Desperate to keep her home and provide a stable life for her daughter, Nawal resorts to deception by faking a pregnancy. But as time passes, the lie becomes harder to sustain and Nawal faces a difficult choice. With only three weeks to find a solution, Nawal embarks on a journey that challenges her fears, beliefs, and morality, as she fights to secure her rightful inheritance and protect her daughter’s future.
5 pm | SKENESALI | BUY TICKETS
HARD TO BREAK
Finland 2024 | 1h 21min | Rated 12 | documentary
The documentary tells an energetic and intimate coming-of-age story about 18-year-old Atte and 16-year-old Jonsu, who find themselves entangled in serious troubles as they seek approval from their social media followers and peers. In their quest for connection and acceptance among their peers, these two Finnish teens suddenly find themselves entangled in the world of addiction and violence. As the light-hearted days of youth fade, they are faced with the harsh realities of adulthood.
Hard to Break won the main prize at the Tampere Film Festival in early March.
• Interview with the creators after the screening!
6.30 pm | SKENESALI | BUY TICKETS
MICHAEL MONROE – DOKUMENTTIELOKUVA + HANOI ROCKS CONCERT RECORDING from 1985!
Finland 2023 | 1h 37min | Rated 18 – Alcohol served during the screening!)
The Michael Monroe documentary is a story about dreams and shattering dreams. It tells the story of Matti Fagerholm’s journey from Finland to Michael Monroe, to the top of the rock world in the international limelight. The world and possibilities were open, until time and time again huge success was left a hair’s breadth away.
Nevertheless, Michael Monroe is the most successful Finnish rock star of all time. Michael’s success can’t be measured by sales figures alone. He is a talking point that has left an indelible mark on the rock world. To this day, many rock heavyweight superstars see him as their role model. Michael didn’t just come and go; he’s stayed to stay. Without characters like Michael, rock ’n’ roll would no longer exist.
7.15 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
TAEVATREPP (Stairway to Heaven)
Estonia 2023 | 1h 47min | Rated 12 | drama | language: Estonian | subtitles: English
With his last breath Uu’s friend entrusts him with the secret of how to go to the past. Uu is an engineer and doesn’t believe in miracles, but the trick works. In the past there is a pleasant, eternal summer, long hair, girls and Jenkki chewing gum. In his real life, it is autumn, his friends are bitter, the girls are married and his father is seriously ill. At the end of the day, however, Uu has to decide in which time to live his life – in the summer of the past or in the autumn of the present.
Sat 23 March
12 noon | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
PRINSESSA PIKKIRIIKKI
Finland 2024 | 1h 15min | U | children’s film
2 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
SÄPINÄÄ HAKUNILASSA (Breaking Free in Hakunila)
Finland 2006 | 52min | documentary
Introductory film: JASMININ KAKSI KOTIA | Jasmin’s Two Homes (Finland 2022 | 13min | documentary)
The documentary shows what life was like for young people in Hakunila in 2006. The daily lives, friendships and thoughts of children and young people with a migrant background are observed during school lessons and in parties, on wintry courtyards, at house parties, on the football pitch and in drama rehearsals. The common language is Finnish, and hopes for the future are bright.
The director is Jean Bitar, Lebanese-born but definitely Vantaa local. He left his native country at the age of 18 and arrived in Finland in 1979.
Over the years, he has made other documentaries in his hometown. Bitar is known for his brilliant portrayals of everyday life in Finland. The people in his documentary may be struggling, but the stories are still driven by optimism.
The leading roles in Bitar’s film are played by Hevoshaka, Hakunilanrinne, Hakunila, Sotunki and Kimokuja schools’ students, whose lives he followed for two years.
Please note: Director Jean Bitar joins us at the screening and tell us more about his film. Young people who appeared in the documentary in 2006 are also expected to attend!
• After the screening, an interview with director Jean Bitar. Audience will also have the possibility to taste some lebanese delicacy cooked by the director.
4.30 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
THE TASTE OF THINGS (La passion de Dodin Bouffant)
France 2023 | 2h 12min | Rated 7 | drama | language: French | subtitles: Finnish
France, 1889: Simmering passions between a master chef and his longtime partner bubble over in this sumptuous award-winning period love story.
The film follows the life of Dodin Bouffant as a chef living with his personal cook and lover Eugénie. They share a long history of gastronomy and love but Eugénie refuses to marry Dodin, so the food lover decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
5 pm | SKENESALI | BUY TICKETS
MUURMANIN PAKOLAISET
Finland 1927 | 1h 22min | Rated 18 – Alcohol served during the screening! | drama, silent film | subtitles: Finnish, English
• Silent film screening with live music accompaniment! Musicians Hermanni Yli-Tepsa (contrabass, violin) and Saara Viika (cello) performing.
7 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
DHORPATAN – NO WINTER HOLIDAYS
Nepal 2023 | 1h 19min | language: Nepali | subtitles: English | documentary
Two lifelong rivals Ratima and Kalima arried to the same man. Two women in their seventies must forget the past and work together to look after an empty, snowbound village for the whole harsh winter.
7 pm | Skenesali | BUY TICKETS
El PARAÍSO
Italy 2023 | 1h 46min | language: Italian, Spanish | subtitles: English | drama
Story of love between a mother and a son, a vivid tragedy that plunges its heroes into the constantly shifting nuances of their innermost moods, into delicacy and into violence.
Julio Cesar is almost forty years old and still lives with his mother, a Colombian woman with a compelling personality. The pair of them share practically everything: a little house on the river filled with memories, the small amount of money earned working for a local drug dealer, a passion for evenings of salsa and merengue. According to the director, the film asks a cuestion: can we really draw a line that distinguishes love and madness, the indomitable force of sentiment from the profound fear of being left alone forever? El Paraíso premiered in the Orizzonti section at the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival, winning the awards for best screenplay and best actress (Margarita Rosa de Francisco).
Sun 24 March
12 noon | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
BARIR NAAM SHAHANA (A House Named Shahana)
Bangladesh 2023 | 2 h 17 min | language: Bengali | subtitles: English | drama
The story follows the turbulent life of Dipa, a young divorced woman whose refusal to suffer silently makes her a misfit in a rural town in 90s Bangladesh. She is raised by weak and ineffectual parents in a peculiar family dynamic dominated by her maternal uncle and aunt. Under their authority, Dipa is married off to a widower in England over a trunk-call wedding ceremony to protect her from the dangers of teenage passions. Dipa suffers marital rape, refuses to settle and escapes. Seven years later, Dipa has become a transformed and confident professional, yet she still must fight the social stigma and the burden of ”family honour” to live on her own terms.
2 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
ANDRA AKTEN
Sweden 2023 | 1 h 54 min | U | language: Sweden | Subtitles: Finnish | drama
Movie ‘Second Act’ (2023) follows Eva, who is left with time on her hands but develops a friendship with the great actor Harald Skoog realizing that life is not yet over, in fact, it may have even just begun.
*After the film, the screenwriter Vera Kiiskinen and Aalto University Professor Raija Talvio are interviewed on the Kino Myyri stage.
3 pm | SKENESALI | BUY TICKETS
TAEVATREPP (Stairway to Heaven)
Estonia 2023 | 1h 47min | Rated 12 | language: Estonian | subtitles: English | drama
With his last breath Uu’s friend entrusts him with the secret of how to go to the past. Uu is an engineer and doesn’t believe in miracles, but the trick works. In the past there is a pleasant, eternal summer, long hair, girls and Jenkki chewing gum. In his real life, it is autumn, his friends are bitter, the girls are married and his father is seriously ill. At the end of the day, however, Uu has to decide in which time to live his life – in the summer of the past or in the autumn of the present.
5 pm | KINO MYYRI | BUY TICKETS
ONCE UPON A TIME IN A FOREST (Havumetsän lapset)
Finland 2024 | 1 h 30 min /
Once Upon a Time in a Forest is a film about brave young people who are defending one of the last coniferous forest areas in Europe. It is a morality play and a love story of a younger generation whose main object of love is the Finnish forest.
The director Virpi Suutari is an award winning filmmaker known for her personal cinematic style and emotional narratives that often challenge the borderline between documentary and fiction.
• After the screening Vaskivuoren lukio students will lead a discussion!
The course focusing on film screening has been organised in cooperation with Pop Up Kino Helsinki and Vaskivuori High School.
5 pm | SKENESALI | BUY TICKETS
INSHALLAH A BOY
Jordan 2023 | 1h 53min | Rated 12 | drama | language: Arabic | subtitles: English
After the sudden death of her husband, Nawal is struggling to cope with the upheaval in her life. However, her pain is soon compounded by the possibility of losing her home to her brother-in-law. Desperate to keep her home and provide a stable life for her daughter, Nawal resorts to deception by faking a pregnancy. But as time passes, the lie becomes harder to sustain and Nawal faces a difficult choice. With only three weeks to find a solution, Nawal embarks on a journey that challenges her fears, beliefs, and morality, as she fights to secure her rightful inheritance and protect her daughter’s future.