The Espoo Ciné festival concluded this year’s cinema season with steady popularity. Together with the children’s and youth program Junior Ciné, total attendance was 18,728 viewers, a decrease compared to last year. The drop is mainly due to funding constraints that limited the scale of Junior Ciné, despite strong demand, and the fact that there was one fewer outdoor screening than last year.
Festival Director Tytti Rantanen commented: "The overall attendance fell short of last year’s figures primarily because cuts to cultural funding have affected Junior Ciné, which presents children’s and youth films to school audiences. We had to reduce the number of screenings even though demand was higher. On the other hand, with support from the Ministry of Education and Culture, we were able to implement a ‘Kummiluokka‘ project, where two school classes from Espoo explored the behind-the-scenes of the film festival and participated in Junior Ciné by presenting films and welcoming young audiences to screenings."
The 36th Espoo Ciné festival featured 130 films across 11 venues in Espoo, Helsinki, and Vantaa, along with a diverse side program ranging from panel discussions and therapy dogs to club-style events. Warm thanks to our festival audience, partners, and volunteers!
The main funders and partners of Espoo Ciné 2025 are City of Espoo / KulttuuriEspoo, Finnish Film Foundation, Ministry of Education and Culture, YLE, and AVEK. This year, the festival is also supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Foundation, Finnish-Danish Cultural Foundation, Goethe-Institut Finnland, and the Embassy of Spain. Festival partners also include Valofirma, Finnish Film Affair, Škoda Brand Store Espoo, Original Sokos Hotel Tapiola Garden, Norex, Olarin Panimo, The Good Guys Kombucha, Raikastamo, Little Bouquet Factory, and LinQ Media Group.
Next year, Espoo Ciné will take place from August 21–30, 2026.
Photo: Juho Liukkonen