CINEMA LAIKA w/ Filmmaker Veljko Vidak at The Nightlight

Name: CINEMA LAIKA w/ Filmmaker Veljko Vidak at The Nightlight
Start: 2024-10-13T16:30:00-04:00
Location: 30 N High St, Akron, OH, United States, Ohio 44308

Schedule

Sun Oct 13 2024 at 04:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

30 N High St, Akron, OH, United States, Ohio 44308 | Akron, OH

In a small village in Finland, which has relied solely on metallurgical activities for the past two centuries, Aki Kaurismäki and his friend, the poet and writer Mika Lätti, are constructing their own cinema within an old foundry. Employing recycled wood, metal, and pre-owned furniture, Kaurismäki and the residents of Karkkila collaboratively craft Kino Laika. The venue is surrounded by Cadillacs, motorcycles, rock bars, and the awe-inspiring beauty of nature, encapsulating the very essence of cinema’s enchantment – a place where the magic resides in its profound capacity to instigate change.
In chronicling the creation of Kino Laika, Croatian-French filmmaker Veljko Vidak has created a modest yet finely-crafted film that is simultaneously a documentary about a particular cultural project, a more wide-ranging filmic meditation on the nature of cinema, and a portrait of a small-town community. Transcending the usual documentary trappings, CINEMA LAIKA radiates a deadpan charm and bemused curiosity about humanity that calls to mind nothing so much as the work of Kaurismäki himself.
“When I learned that Aki Kaurismäki was building the first movie theater in the town of Karkkila, Finland, I set out to follow this ambitious initiative at a time when the trend was leaning towards the closure of theaters. On my way to Karkkila, I reflected upon André Bazin’s question, ‘What is Cinema?’, transforming it into ‘What is a movie theater, and what can it offer people?’ […] Imbued by Aki Kaurismäki’s films, the characters we encountered in Finland bore the imprint of his movies. We felt as if they were emerging from fiction as we entered it. And so, by living for almost a year in this small town, we also became characters in this fiction, and the film CINEMA LAIKA has become a fiction of reality.” –Veljko Vidak