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Thursday 8.3.2001
Kino-Palatsi - a Movie Theater with Glamor
There are more than 600 seats in the movie theater Kino-Palatsi, in the orchestra and in the circle. The stage is edged with reliefs. The architecture of the harmonious theater pleases the eye. Kino-Palatsi is one of the few remaining movie theaters where it is still possible to screen old films recorded on nitrate film.
The Gem of Movie Theaters
The number of moviegoers has risen all over Finland, and new theaters are being constructed. Why isn't Kino-Palatsi, the gem of movie theaters, reopened for film screenings and other cultural activities?
Kino-Palatsi is located at the end of Hämeenkatu in a building designed by Bertel Strömmer. The construction work of the building was completed in 1929. A Finnish film company Suomi-Filmi opened a movie theater downstairs. It was named Tuulensuu after the building. There were 730 seats.
Kino-Palatsi lives under fear of demolition
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Owners change
During the Second World War, the theater was renamed Kino-Palatsi. In the mid-1970s, the theater was renovated, and the number of seats diminished to 636. In the 1980s, the owner of the theater changed many times. Suomi-Filmi sold it to another Finnish film distribution company Adams-Filmi which sold it to Finnkino. As the number of moviegoers was dropping Finnkino sold the theater to Kelajo which later merged to Kerros-Haka that now owns Kino-Palatsi.
Kino-Palatsi was open on a regular basis during 1929-1991, except the year 1987. In 1969, Tampere Short Film Festival Days, predecessor of Tampere Film Festival, was organized in the theater. In 1970 and 1981-1991, Tampere Film Festival was held mainly in Kino-Palatsi. In 1995, Kerros-Haka rented Kino-Palatsi to a religious association that now rents the theater for screenings of Tampere Film Festival.
Preservation Plans and Sex Business
The provincial administrative board issued a preservation order for Kino-Palatsi in 1991. The next year, however, it was overruled by the Ministry of Environment and the Supreme Administrative Court. Nevertheless, the town plan concerning the building site was validated in the Ministry of Environment in 1991. According to the plan, the architectural and esthetic values of the theater should not be harmed, and the theater and its' foyer should not be fundamentally changed.
In the mid-1990s, Kino-Haka negotiated selling the theater to a group of business men from St. Petersburg, who were planning on turning Kino-Palatsi into "a full-service sex restaurant". According to newspapers, the buyer candidates' financial situation was, however, called into question.
In 1994, a group of members of Tampere City Council led by Tellervo Tuominen of the Green Party suggested that Kino-Palatsi be bought by the City of Tampere. The motion was discussed in the Council in 1999, but there was not enough support to it.
References
Tammerkoski 1/1996
Festival News 1992
Minutes of Tampere City Council
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