Episode 29
Mari welcomes me to the ‘Filmiä- ja valoa elokuvafestivaali’ at Matin-Tupa Cinema. She introduces me to the past, present and future of the cinema that’s been in her family for 70 years.
Guest: Mari Keskinen, 4th-Generation Cinephile
Download an MP3 file of Episode 29 – Film & Lights Festival at Matti’s Home
Show Notes
The Matin-Tupa (or Matti’s comfortable little cottage) cinema was opened in Ylistaro, South Ostrobothnia on 6th Jan 1946 by Matti W. Luoma, with a screening of ‘Urhojen tie’, or Union Pacific , by Cecil B. DeMille. It has been a second-home for four following generations of the Luoma family, and is currently managed by Anssi Luoma, with help from his daughter Maija. You’ll here Maija make an unscheduled entrance in this episode, while I was speaking to her sister, Mari.
Photo Gallery: Enter Matti’s Cottage
Matin-Tupa is a single screen cinema of wooden construction, with the technology to be able to project both 16mm and 35mm film, along with modern digital 3D movies. Unsurprisingly, the old film is only projected occasionally nowadays, in fact, only once in 2015. Mari and I sat down in the projection room(!) during the annual, Filmiä- ja Valoa elokuvafestivaali. This three-day event is an eclectic mix of local documentaries, live musical accompaniment to old movies, current Hollywood films and live performances of music from movies. You can hear my interview with one of those film-makers in next week’s show. You can see the programme for 2015 here http://www.filmiajavaloa.fi/fv//Ohjelmakartta_2015
Photo Gallery: The Auditorium
You’ll here Mari tell me about some of the famous Finnish visitors to the festival, here are some links to some more background on these guests:
When you listen to the podcast, you’ll hear Mari tell me about the significance of the old green sofa, that the younger family members used in the cinema. The podcast ends with my thoughts following a visit to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with my children and Brother-in-Law, where we saw a few of the original Star Wars posters from Anssi’s collection of 20,000 movie posters!
Photo Gallery: A Peek Backstage
Finnish words in this Episode
- Tupa – little cottage
- Matin Tupa – Matti’s comfortable little cottage
- Loppiainen – Epiphany (a public holiday in Finland)
- Filmiä- ja Valoa elokuvafestivaali – ‘Film & Lights’ Movie Festival
- Dokumentti – Documentary film
- ‘Halpa Aitta’ – A documentary, written by Anssi Luoma, and produced for the film festival LINK
- Hyvät, pahat ja toivotut – The Good, the Bad & the Requested. The theme of the music concert performed during the festival, where the audience were able to request songs for the band to play.
- It is a play on the words ‘Hyvät, Pahat ja Rumat’ – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
- Kela – Reel (of film) wrongly translated as ‘roll’ during the interview!
- Esirippu – Curtain
- Suomen Filmikamari – The Finnish Chamber of Films, founded in 1923, it is one of the leading organisations in the Finnish film industry.
- Hiljaisus – The Silence – A Finnish wartime movie, featuring Sinikka Mokkila
- Yliheitto – something you know how to do ‘by heart’; without thinking about it
Links
- Matin-Tupa Cinema
- Filmiä- ja Valoa elokuvafestivaali
- Suomen Filmikamari
- The Kermode & Mayo Film Review Show – do yourself a favour and listen, trust me!
- On Twitter @wittertainment
- And of course, hello to Jason Isaacs!
Next episode – The Jussi Shirt: Ostrobothnia’s Uniform
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