Kino Tapiola is a

movie theatre A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

Tapiola Tapiola (; sv, ) is a district of the municipality of Espoo on the south coast of Finland, and is one of the major urban centres of Espoo. It is located in the western part of Greater Helsinki. The name ''Tapiola'' is derived from '' Tapio'', w ...

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, founded in 1955.Tietoa kävijälle
''Kino Tapiola''. Accessed on 9 January 2021. The theatre is one of the few original old-style movie theatres in the Helsinki capital area still remaining in its own, culturally protected state. The theatre has one auditorium, with 194 places. The theatre activity is owned by Espoon elokuvajuhlat ry. Kino Tapiola is part of the Europa Cinemas network, along with seven other Finnish movie theatres.

History

The theatre building, with its single auditorium, was designed by architect

Aarne Ervi Aarne Adrian Ervi (originally Aarne Adrian Elers) (19 May 1910 – 26 September 1977) was one of the most important architects of Finland's post-World War II reconstruction period. Ervi was born in Forssa, and graduated as an architect from the ...

. The gardening plan was made by Jussi Jännes and the colouring plan by artist Eino Kauria. The first film was shown on 3 October 1955 in the auditorium which had 350 places at the time. There used to be a café in the lobby, as well as a parking hall and a service station at the back of the building. The café was later separated from the lobby and converted into a business space. The theatre is one of the traditional premises of the annual Espoo Ciné film festival. The theatre was originally maintained by Urpo Huovilainen and his family. In 1977 the activity was transferred to Adams Filmi Oy until 1982, when Bio Jaseka took responsibility of the theatre. Jaseka ran the theatre until 2007, when it stopped it as economically unfeasible. The activity was carried on from August 2007 by Kino Tapiola Oy, which reopened the theatre in August 2007. The activity of Kino Tapiola, which had suffered from financial troubles, stopped already in August 2008 when paint tore off from the auditorium ceiling just before the start of the Espoo Ciné festival. When

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

was found underneath the paint, the auditorium was declared off-limits. The asbestos-based acoustics of the ceiling had to be dismantled altogether, and the presentation equipment and seats were moved away. The Espoo district court placed Kino Tapiola Oy into bankruptcy on 12 December 2008.

Ciné Tapiola Oy

After the bankruptcy of Kino Tapiola there was a small citizens' movement to preserve the theatre. Ciné Tapiola Oy, a daughter company of Espoon elokuvajuhlat Oy responsible for the Espoo Ciné film festival, was founded as joint venture by the city of Espoo and local activists. Espoo Ciné has organised festival shows at Kino Tapiola from 1993, so the theatre was already known to them. The theatre activity receives constant rent support from the city. In return, the city receives a share of the usage of the theatre for its own activities and events.http://www.espoo.fi/asiakirja.asp?path=1;31;37423;37424;37425&id=63117AC9094D5B5BC2257575004661DE&kanta=Kunnari\\intrakun_e.nsf Kino Tapiola was renovated and opened its doors to the public on 13 August 2010 after a two-year break. The new theatre is equipped with both a traditional

35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on film, 35 mm is the most commonly used gauge. The name of the gauge is not a direct measurement, and refers to the nominal width o ...

equipment and a digital

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

projector. In autumn 2017 the theatre lobby was renovated.

References

External links

Official site
{{coord, 60.17902, 24.81098, format=dms, type:landmark_region:FI, display=title Cinemas in Finland Buildings and structures in Espoo Tapiola