Helsinki Twilight 1984

Petri Hakkarainen:
Helsinki Twilight 1984 (Finland, 2010)
75 min. - Finnish, English - English subtitles
K-15

Timanttikoirien vuosi 1984 (The Year of Diamond Dogs 1984) is depiction of the 80's Helsinki subculture that concentrated on the individual as an artwork. Sinful rock clubs Einstein Á Go-Go and Bela Lugosi were the mechas of this phenomenom - here the people oh this subculture gathered to show up and stand out. In this documentary, the director Petri Hakkarainen (Pete Europa) sheds some light into the time when Helsinki, and with it the rest of Finland, transformed into a free and multiform reality with very decorative women and men wearing make-up. In the time of the emphasised radical independence, new street-level phenomena started taking place: independendent, small magazines, radio work, black lips, independent fashion and nocturnal creatures praising the androgynous beauty all emphasised the extreme individualism of the time.

For a while Helsinki was like Berlin between wars: filled with ideas, encounters of different groups of people, energy and parties that went on until sunrise, while the Cold War and Orwellian fear wafted on the background. Grim, deep shades, dangerous music, vampires and nocturnal creatures represented the world of the new human being: new romanticism, new vision. From this movement springs Gothicism, which still is a visible phenomenon today. Timanttikoirien vuosi 1984 reveals an important part of the history of Finnish subcultures which has not been presented in a documentary before.

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Timanttikoirien vuosi 1984 / Helsinki Twilight

Thu 18th Nov at 7:30pm at Tapio 4
Fri 19th Nov at 4:45pm at Tapio 3