70 years old | Finnkino founder Jukka Mäkelä, who left the film business a long time ago, appreciates the new Finnish film

Jukka Mäkelä did not see Disney Animated Films as a child, although their posters seduced him on a school trip to Töölö, Helsinki. He was born into a film family that ran Kinosto. Disney was brought in by rival Suomi-Filmi, so it was out of the question.

“Vaari had dreamed of producing films, but in 1945 Risto Orko wed past him as the owner of Suomi-Film. That resentment was taught by Dad and called Orko a villain. Much later I met him, thankfully. Great guy, ”Mäkelä recalls.

Later, Mäkelä did see the Disney Cartoons, at the latest when they ended up being distributed by Kinosto in the early 1970s. The classics toured for decades on remake premieres. Mäkelä mentions it as his favorite Bambin (1942).

On the hill there are enough stories from the world of the film business. The Disney experience of childhood – or inexperience – is told to begin with Kalle Kinnusen in the book The realm of the big screen – the confessions of film mogul Jukka Mäkeläwhich appeared last fall.

It was born in a three-hour meeting of 30. So Mäkelä talked for 90 hours about the material from which Kinnunen built the book. Mäkelä says that the workshop did not even run out. He made a long and great career as a third-generation mogul in the film dynasty.

But Mäkelä had another dream besides Disney that did not come true. Or is only coming true now, in a way. Jukka Mäkelä wanted to be an architect. His son is currently studying architecture at the University of Tampere.

“When Mikko was little, I took him to churches, concert halls and swimming pools and talked about those buildings. Even at the cottage, he often wanted to hear about the houses. That’s where the interest came from. And he is talented, ”says Mäkelä proudly.

Mäkelä says that three-dimensional design is in his soul too. He got to implement it in the design of cinemas, including the Cinema Palace.

Generic the legacy took Mäkelä to the film industry. He started his father Ilmo Mäkelän and in his cinema-led Kinosto in the 1970s, when Hollywood had changed direction and style. The previous generation did not understand the American new wave.

“There was a scandal that didn’t Martin Scorsesen Wolf nest imported to Finland. Faija did not understand what the little Maxim 2 had to do. I got into a fight there Woody Allenia and Kramer v Kramer, which then rotated for half a year. Dad was punctual and knew how to do things differently, but not a little indie. ”

Ilmo Mäkelä was left out in 1982. Jukka Mäkelä did not get along well with his sets Tuukan and Maunon and drove them out of Kinosto. He started building Finnkino, which now has a 70 percent market share of Finnish cinemas.

For most of the 1980s, Mäkelä ran Finnkino, but at the end of the decade clouds began to accumulate as Winter WarThe losses of the film (1989) burdened the company. Mäkelä was fired in 1995 – mainly for drinking, as he himself says.

“On the day of the slaughter in 1994, I was in Kaivohuone Geena Davisin and Renny Harlin at a charity gala broadcast live on TV. I was whipped to the stage, which was the last stitch in the rain. I was so poisoned that I could barely stand. ”

Finnkino ended up in Rautakirja’s ownership. Today, it is owned by the American AMC, the world’s largest cinema company. Most of it is owned by Chinese entertainment giant Wanda Group.

In 1999 Mäkelä returned from sick leave Markus Selinin for three summers as the program director of the Savonlinna Film Festival. He worked for nine years at SF Film.

The last job in the field was Pekka Pirttiniemen in an animation project produced by The story of King Nalin, which was to become the most expensive film in Finland with a budget of 14 million. In 2011, Mäkelä jumped off the sled.

“Pirttiniemi claimed that there is potential for an Indian story in India and that the film does not need to be sold in Finland at all. I guess it was about a third of it, but it was all nonsense. These have been seen, damn it. ”

In retirement, Mäkelä mainly watches new Finnish films and sometimes Oscar nominees. He doesn’t count on watching TV to see movies. The last time Mäkelä saw Juho Kuosmasen Award-winning in Cannes Cabin No. 6 and before that Zaida Bergrothin Toven.

“They’re hell of a good movie. Kuosmanen and Bergroth and other new factors know how to work with international funding. That going is far away About Edvin Laine and Aleksi from Mäkelä. ”

Jukka Mäkelä has been dry for a long time. He says the forces aren’t the same, but the brain is playing well. The realm of the big screen Mäkelä says that he has also received a lot of good feedback from outside film circles. The book makes him happy anyway.

“We alcoholics have to do self-examination. If you do well, you can find out why you drank. The book has helped with that. Kalle Holmberg was my support person and said that if you have been drinking for 20 years, it will take 20 years to be able to tell what has happened. Now I am starting to remember everything from my childhood. ”