"All interested parties are hereby invited to discuss the possibility of founding a jazz or a film club on campus..."

An add in the student union newspaper Aviisi proved to be fruitful: on 13 February 1968, a group of people met in the Tampere University Student Union (TAMY) meeting room. They founded a film club, which they called Monroe.

Films  with an Edge

The heyday of film clubs in Finland lasted from the late 1970's to the mid-80's. At the turn of the decade the activities of the Monroe film club were more wide-ranging than of any other film club in Finland. At its best, Monroe had about 1,300 members, and it showed 50 to 60 films annually.

In the 1970's, Monroe showed two sets of about ten films, one in the fall and one in the spring. About half of Monroe's films were from socialist countries and half from Western countries. Martti Vilenius, one of Monroe's long-time driving forces, thinks that the basic idea was to offer the audience films that were a little different from the usual.

- People wanted to see films that were not otherwise shown in Tampere, and many of the films from the socialist countries were among the films not shown here. In general, they were not distributed to commercial movie theaters at all in Finland.

Monroe's selection of films was also influenced by the fact that small rentals would not give the club any films that had even the slightest commercial value. American movies were especially hard to get. Thus, Monroe's selection differed from the mainstream. The commercial lifespan of a movie was also much longer than today.

- Value and ratings of films did not drop very fast back then, as movies were not available on videotape, and television had very little to offer as well. Film re-runs could go on for years in movie theaters, and it took a long time for movies to reach the film clubs, Vilenius explains.

"The house was full also when Monroe was celebrating its fifth anniversary with a special screening in the Ilves movie theater in the spring of 1973" (A drawing by Veli-Pekka Alare, newspaper Aamulehti on the 25th of February 1973)

The Fall of  the Film Clubs

In mid-80's, Monroe and other film clubs suffered a decline in the number of members, and it was not possible to produce a normal set of movies for the club anymore. The business dwindled, and one reason for this was that the small movie rentals disappeared from the market.

- Variety in commercial films was reduced, when the small rentals could not compete with big importers anymore. The number of European films decreased especially, and it was hard to come up with a good set of films for the club, says Vilenius. The decrease in variety and arrival of videotapes speeded up the film clubs as they went downhill. Unlike other film clubs in Tampere, Monroe survived the ride and kept on going. The olden biannual film series have disappeared, but they have been replaced with other theme presentations, like Night Visions, a horror and fantasy festival, and Finnish Cinematheque, an event which introduces Finnish films with English subtitles.

The Only  Film Club in Town

Monroe's big anniversary was celebrated last month on the same premises where it all began 35 years ago. And they had good reason to celebrate, as Monroe is the only film club in Tampere at the moment. Vilenius credits Monroe's tenacious supporters with the club's success.

- Monroe has always managed to gain loyal supporters. We have had a big enough audience, as well as people running the club.

What's in store for the future of Monroe?

- Well, our operation at present is not what it used to be, but I think the club will be up and running also in the future. For example, Finnish films subtitled in English are really working out well.

The film club resides in the oldest movie theater still in use in Tampere, Niagara, in the Kehräsaari district. Monroe, together with Pirkanmaa Film Center, has been situated there since 1992.