Cinéma Laika / Cinema Laika / Kino Laika

The small city of Karkkila sits in the middle of Finland’s forests. Iron ore mining turned it into an industrial centre 200 years ago. Now, writer Mika Lätti and filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki want to open a cinema in an abandoned foundry. It is a bold enterprise in an era when actual movie-going seems to be a dying pastime. But Lätti and Kaurismäki are convinced that Karkkila is the ideal spot to realise their plan. The film follows the progress of the undertaking right up to opening day. But above all, it is a portrait of the city’s inhabitants, each and every one of whom could be a character in a Kaurismäki film, and many of whom are involved in the building conversion. Everywhere in town – at the factory, in the pub and the barns, at the motorcycle club, and on a drive through the forest in an old Cadillac – people are talking about the cinema and film in general. This documentary is a declaration of love for the magic of movie theatres and their power to underpin a community.