Espoo Ciné International Film Festival was first arranged in August
1990 in the Cultural Centre of Espoo. In the first year, altogether 66
films from 18 countries were categorized into seven programmes and
screened during the five festival days. Screenings were held in the
halls Louhi and Tapiola in the Cultural Centre and in the cinema Kino
Tapiola which were later established as the usual venues of the annual
Festival. The first Espoo Ciné entertained altogether 8,500 festival
visitors.
The main section of the very first Festival was a
selection from the Baltic Sea region including films from Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, Poland and the former Soviet Union which still existed
in those days. The international jury awarded Estonian Jüri Sillart the
honorary prize, named after the Finnish director Nyrki Tapiovaara, due
to his film Äratus (The Awakening). To celebrate the
100th anniversary of Charles Chaplin’s birth, an extensive Chaplin
exhibition was organized and several Chaplin’s films were featured at
the Festival.
The Festival climaxed with a classic from the silent era, The Witch (Häxan 1922) by Danish Benjamin Christensen, accompanied by Edward Vesala’s composition and his band.
