British filmmaker and curator Stanley Schtinter will be a guest at Espoo Ciné and attend a screening of his film Last Movies. In the film, Jeremy Irons’ narration takes audiences on a fascinating journey through film history and the afterlife. Last Movies reveals which film celebrities including Charles Chaplin, Lee Harvey Oswald and Stanley Kubrick watched just before their deaths – or even at the moment of their death. The film, which premiered at CPH:DOX, will be screened at Espoo Ciné on Thursday 27 August at 8.45pm at Kino Tapiola.
A Swedish-French director, Angelika Ruffier will be a guest at Espoo Ciné’s opening weekend with her feature debut La Belle année, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Rotterdam Film Festival. In this essay film, the director and her brother clear out their childhood home in France. An old diary brings back memories of Ruffier’s teenage crush on her history teacher. La Belle année is a tender tribute to the people who help young people grow into themselves.
Angelica Ruffier will attend a screening of her film on Saturday 22 August at 2pm. She will also take part in the panel discussion True Stories, Personal Emotions – Carving Art out of Life after the screening, beginning at 3.45pm on the terrace of Kino Tapiola. The other panellists are documentary filmmaker Karin Pennanen (Days of Wonder) and essayist and journalist Anu Silfverberg. The film will have a second screening on Thursday 27 August at 7pm at Gilda.
German documentary filmmaker Nico Weber will also be a guest at Espoo Ciné. In his essayistic documentary Bauhaus Forever, he explores the significance of the Bauhaus school of thought today through the perspectives of space and materiality. Weber’s film emphasises that Bauhaus was above all an all-encompassing idea – not simply a style. He also considers how, in today’s political climate, the Bauhaus tradition of seeking to transform society through artistic experimentation can be kept alive. Nico Weber will attend a screening on Friday 28 August at 4.45pm at Gilda. The film will also be screened on Saturday 22 August at 2pm at Cinema Sheryl Marsio in Otaniemi.
Soviet-born artist Juja Dobrachkous, who has established himself as a painter and writer and is now based in Venice, will attend a screening of his film Accept Our Sincere Apologies, which premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival, at Kino Tapiola on Tuesday 25 August at 4.30pm, together with Krista Kosonen, who appears in the film. The film is a hypnotic psychological drama set in a luxurious yet oppressive Venetian hotel.
Cinéstesia’s guest artists include filmmaker Ben Rivers and filmmaker and curator Nour Ouayda. Ben Rivers’ latest film, the symbolist Mare’s Nest (2025), will be screened as Cinéstesia’s opening film on Tuesday 25 August at 6pm at Louhisali and on Saturday 29 August at 12.45pm at Cinema Orion. Rivers’ previous feature, Bogancloch (2025), which documents the life of a Scottish hermit, will be screened on Wednesday 26 August at 8.30pm at Cinema Orion and on Sunday 30 August at 8pm at Kino Tapiola. A screening of Rivers’ poetic short films will take place on Thursday 27 August at 7pm at Kino Tapiola.
In screenings featuring Beirut-based filmmaker and curator Nour Ouayda, her own short films enter into dialogue with works by other artists. Cinéstesia’s guest curator Erika Balsom will also be attending throughout the Cinéstesia programme from 25–27 August. The main guests will also speak at the two-day Cinéstesia seminar on 25 August at EMMA and on 26 August at Cinema Orion.
