Discussing young people as film audiences at the Espoo Cine Film Festival

University of Jyväskylä

Espoo Ciné (espoocine.fi/en/) is one of the largest film festivals in Finland. It focuses on new European films from renowned filmmakers and up-and-coming talent. The 36th edition of the festival took place in August and featured special screenings and events. Through the Junior Ciné festival, the festival offered a special programme for children and young people, screening animations, children's films, and youth films in theaters and online. The festival also organised workshops for school students.

Junior Ciné opened with a guest screening of  Fleak  , an international co-production animation from Finland, France, Malaysia, and Poland. The film was introduced by its director, Antti Haikala. The screening was followed by a panel discussion entitled "Young people enjoy movies, but how?" Kaisa Kukkola, Executive Director of the Kokkola Film Festival, chaired the panel, which included Associate Professor Tuuli Lähdesmäki (University of Jyväskylä, REBOOT project), University Researcher Kaisa Hiltunen (University of Jyväskylä, REBOOT project), Deputy Director Marjo Kovanen (National Audiovisual Institute KAVI), and Elina Pohjola (Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle, Drama Productions). Additionally, Petri Peltonen, a Statistics and Research Specialist, and Ilmari Arnkil, an Exhibition and Distribution Specialist, both from the Finnish Film Foundation, participated in the panel as discussants. The audience consisted of professionals and students who work with young people and film. These professionals included representatives from the national film education association, Koulukino, and the national expert organisation for media education, Mediametka.

The panel discussion presented research results and experiences related to children's and youth films. It also discussed young people's film preferences, tastes, and viewing habits. Themes of discussion ranged from whether watching films is a social event for children and young people, to gendered film preferences and the notions of cinema developed during the teenage years. Other themes included young people’s contradictory views on US films, which are both criticised and considered favorite films, and the production of children’s and youth films in Finland and their impact on young people’s positive views of Finnish films and film watching in general. Tuuli Lähdesmäki and Kaisa Hiltunen presented research results from the REBOOT survey, which was conducted among 12-24-year-olds studying at secondary school and university in nine countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. The survey included responses from 4,453 people. During the discussion, the views of the 571 Finnish respondents were compared to those from the other countries.

The panel emphasised the importance of film education in schools and the need for film educators and teachers to address various narrative and gender stereotypes and gender-based expectations regarding young people's preferences for genres and film characters. Additionally, the panel welcomed the shift in perception of young people as an important audience segment and of youth films as an ambitious genre, rather than a feminised, less important field for women. The panel also requested more diversity in children's and youth films and expressed concern about the increasing imitation of US productions, which decreases the diversity of films. They wished that young people could be introduced to a wider variety of films, including those from other European countries and beyond.