Jirina Alanko
Klaus Härö
English
Finest in Helsinki: proximity of the sea and the light.
Film director Klaus Härö’s favourite places in Helsinki are strongly linked to cinema: he has filmed in most of the locations that he mentions being meaningful to him.
“I often check out locations from the perspective of filming and look for complete milieus. What I mean is I don’t focus so much a single cool building, for example, but rather on the kind of environment in which the building is located.”
Härö lived in Helsinki while studying in the 1990s, and the places that are important to him are also connected to his memories from those times – what the young Klaus got to experience in Helsinki when he was most open to influences.
“Seeing the Sound of Music at Bio Bristol and E.T. at Maxim really changed my life. It’s sad that Bio Bristol no longer exists.”
The sea too is a very important part of Helsinki for Härö.
“I now live in nearby Porvoo, which has a river but no sea.”
The sea and relatively low buildings give Helsinki a very special light, in Härö's opinion. He compares Helsinki to the big cities in neighbouring countries.
“Stockholm is regal, very ornamental, while St. Petersburg is massive and handsome. But Helsinki is a maritime city located in the outer archipelago.”
The sea plays a major role also in Härö’s new film My Sailor, My Love (2022).
“When I brought our Irish actors to Helsinki, they were taken especially by the light here.”
Nowadays, Härö regularly visits Helsinki for work and one could well imagine living again in the city.
“It would be nice to hang out again around Kruununhaka, Ullanlinna or Bulevardi.”
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This cinema is small and intimate but at the same time architecturally imposing, majestic. I like cinemas like this: you go there to watch movies, not to do anything else. I have noticed to my delight that more intimate one- or two-screen cinemas with a new kind of concept have started popping up again in Helsinki.
The Riviera combines all the best things about going out to the movies: the cinema is beautiful and spacious, the seats are especially comfortable, and super good movie treats can be conveniently ordered in advance. What’s also nice about the Riviera is that you can go there alone or with friends, and it’s also a great place for a date. You can even go there just for drinks – I value good drinks more than many other things in life!
Situated on the side of a busy street, the national gallery is a rewarding place to go and quiet down, to look at the work of artists bigger than yourself and to just stop and think. Old works of art are like movie scenes: they often depict an encounter between people and tell a story. Consciously or unconsciously, I go to the Ateneum to get inspiration for my own films, often with colleagues.
Please note: Ateneum is currently closed to the public due to renovation. The museum will reopen in early 2023.
Mustikkamaa is a small island close to the city centre where you can do everything possible. There is a climbing park, a forest, you can cross the pedestrian bridge to Helsinki Zoo, you can sit on the beach in the morning and have fun at an underground party in the evening. I also like to go to Mustikkamaa just for a walk. Especially during the pandemic, Mustikkamaa became so familiar to me that I now remember every bend along its paths. It feels familiar and safe and offers easy access to nature close to the city centre!
I often observe milieus from the point of view of whether they are holistically complete. The milieu should continue and provide a 360-degree experience. The hall of the National Archives is like that. I love books and old surroundings, and there are a trillion old books there. And I’m not speaking now as a researcher, because I’m not one, but specifically about the atmosphere. I have also been able to shoot a film at the National Archives, which was a great pleasure.
One of the best things about Helsinki is that you can get out of there quickly. I don’t mean this ironically, but in the way that you can go from the heart of the city centre into nature in an instant: first you are in an urban environment and five minutes later you are on a cliff looking out to sea. I like Harakka island, for example, because I shot a student film there more than 20 years ago.
Here I'm actually not talking about Ekberg again, but rather something that's close by. The most Helsinki sound I know is the sound of a tram. The sound of the rails and when the tram stops, the pling sound when you press the stop button, and that feeling in your stomach when the tram moves. The bus and subway serve their purpose, but they don’t have the same Helsinki-ness as the tram. My favourite stop is the on Bulevardi, next to Ekberg. From there you can continue to Fredrikinkatu or towards the city centre.