Film preferences of Finnish youth: REBOOT at the Finnish Society for Cinema Studies seminar

Senior researcher Kaisa Hiltunen from the University of Jyväskylä represented the REBOOT-project in the seminar of the Finnish Society for Cinema Studies in Helsinki on 7 November 2025. The annual seminar brings together leading Finnish film scholars, doctoral students and others interested in film studies to discuss current research. The seminar is known for its encouraging and inspiring atmosphere, and it has been held since the early 2000s.

In her presentation Kaisa Hiltunen discussed the film preferences of the Finnish youth and their hopes for future cinema based on the survey and focus group interviews which were carried out in the REBOOT-project in 2024 and 2025. Her presentation focused on the Finnish data and more specifically on favourite films and genres as well as on the elements that young people consider important in films. She also discussed the hopes that young people have for the future of cinema and their thoughts on European cinema.

The presentation aroused a lot of interest. The findings were considered “a reality check” and “eye-opening”, and it was hoped that the results would be communicated to the Finnish public. Following the presentation, there was a lively discussion about topics such as the short attention spans of youth, the inability of some children to concentrate on watching full-length films and the declining cinema attendance of the Finnish youth.

There are no restrictions on the topics of the presentations at the seminar, but this year it just so happened that seven out of eight presentations were about Finnish cinema or Finnish film industry. Presentation topics included the possibilities for ecologically sustainable film production in a small country’s production ecosystem, depictions of sex and sexual desire between women in Finnish cinema and the art theories of Ricciotto Canudo and Valentine de Saint-Point.