How Cinema Creates Magic at Itäkeskus Library, Helsinki

How Cinema Creates Magic is a Micro Cinema installation at Itäkeskus Library in Helsinki, running from 26 October to 8 November 2026. A real MyceLinks Micro Cinema is set up in the youth area, with a rotating programme of short animation, Early Cinema and visual storytelling for children, young people and families. The programme includes special selections for 1st–6th grades and 7th–9th grades, as well as works for all age groups.

All films are either dialogue-free or shown with Finnish and English subtitles. The daily screening programme is updated throughout the installation. On 31 October, as part of Kauhua kakaroille, the Micro Cinema features a special programme of Mexican animations from 68 Voces, 68 Corazones, a project by Hola Combo in collaboration with Canal Once, INALI and CDI, together with a Día de los Muertos installation by the Embassy of Mexico in Finland.

On 7 November the programme continues with the Early Cinema Tricks Lab at the Stoa Club Room, with sessions at 11:00 to 12:00 for 1st–6th grades and 12:00 to 13:00 for 7th–9th grades. The sessions introduce young audiences to visual tricks of early cinema and explore how they can be used today for creative play, visual storytelling and simple stop-motion experiments. The event closes the first cycle of a distributed festival that has brought the Micro Cinema to Ciao Ciao Festival, Teurastamo and now Stoa, and the tour will continue with new locations and programmes.