Movie theaters|Kino Konepaja is expected to have both cinema and bar people, says the manager.
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In Helsinki, a new cinema was opened at Vallila Konepaja.
The theater has a bar whose food can also be enjoyed in the hall.
The new block cinemas are good for the industry, says the director of Kino Engel.
in Helsinki a new kortelikino, that is, an independent, smaller cinema, has opened this week.
Kino Konepaja, as its name suggests, is located in Vallila Konepaja. The cinema has one 55-seat hall and a bar, whose food and drinks can also be enjoyed in the hall.
A theater piloted by film post-production company Whitepoint Digital had to open already in the springbut the construction work took longer than estimated.
The old factory property was a “very raw space” when the theater was started to be built, theater manager Jojo Uimonen describes.
In the summer season, Kino Konepaja also has a terrace.
For the interior the old-time atmosphere of New York’s small neighborhood theaters has been sought. The bar offers, among other things, wine, cocktails, stuffed breads and snack plates.
In the dimness of the hall, they lie on the turquoise sofas. In the summer, there is also a terrace.
“We hope that you will find both movie and bar people here,” says Uimonen.
In its programming, Kino Konepaja plans to focus on high-quality contemporary films. Movies for the whole family are also offered on weekends.
According to Uimonen, the opening week is going to be busy based on ticket sales.
The week’s program includes, among other things Kate Winslet starring drama Lee, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as well as domestic comedy novelties such as The love story of a madman and Butterflies.
At the end of September, Kino Konepaja serves as one of the locations of the Rakkautat & Anarkiaa film festival.
In the movie theater, we curl up on turquoise sofas.
Blocks has sprung up in various parts of Helsinki in recent years.
For example, Riviera, which started in Kallio, opened a second theater in Punavuori in 2022, and in 2023 Kino Kulttuurimylly started in Myllypuro.
Helsinki’s oldest still-operating block cinema is Kino Engel, located on the edge of Senate Square. The increased competition in small theaters is only good, says the person responsible for the operations of Cinema Mondo, which runs Kino Engel Mika Siltala.
“If one of us does well, the others will do better too.”
He believes that the Kallion Riviera, which opened in 2016, started a renaissance of block kitchens, which is still going on. Kino Engel, which focuses on quality films, is also doing well at the moment, says Siltala.
“We have quite a lot of regular visitors and series ticket users who trust our software. In good times, we have about 1,000 viewers a week.”
Kino Engel hosts outdoor screenings in the courtyard in the summer. Photo from 2020.
Kino Konepaja and Riviera offer a restaurant and bar experience along with the movie, but at Kino Engel the focus is on the movie. According to Siltala, there is a demand for different concepts.
“Kortteliteatteri will do well as long as it has its own profile that is slightly different from the others. The audience is so fragmented that it’s not enough to take turns in the Tennis Palace Myrskyluoto Maija and Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Block cinemas have given non-mainstream films the chance to succeed, says Siltala. For example, Japanese-German production Perfect Days (2023) and French Madeleine’s Paris (2022) have been so-called sleeper hits in the box office, i.e. have gathered a lot of viewers in the long term.
A personal atmosphere can serve as a throw-in, but ultimately it’s the movie that brings the viewer to the theater, Siltala reminds.
“Having good premieres is important. Citizens do not come to the movies for some general reason. Finland has a pretty smart movie audience, as a rule they come after a certain movie.”
You can view the software of the capital region’s neighborhood cinemas on the kinot.fi website.
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