Even if this is your first time in Helsinki and you think you don’t know anything about Finland, you actually do. You’ve certainly seen The Man Without a Past, Drifting Clouds, The Match Factory Girl, Leningrad Cowboys go America or any other legendary film by Aki Kaurismäki and if you haven’t here’s the chance to get to know the world they talk about.

The history of Eerikinkatu 11 sounds surprisingly like a story from one of Kaurismäki’s films... At the beginning of the 20th century a Russian merchant sold home-made candies here and the basement was used for selling firewood. The building was renovated in 1966 and became a cinema. Now one of the movie theatres was reconstructed into Dubrovnik Lounge & Lobby named after a neon light from the film Drifting Clouds. It is here that we will meet and get to know each other more personally. In the upstairs Corona Bar you can get snacks and sandwiches till late into the night, as well as play a round of Billiards. The real aficionados, however, shouldn’t miss KAФE MOCKBA, right next to the Corona Bar, which you will also recognise from some of Kauriskmäki’s films. It is the Brezhnevian era’s last monument where time stands still...

In order to make sure we meet as many new faces as possible in the short time we have together, there’s also a speed dating session at the beginning of the night. Come as you are and meet as many people as you can in a series of 5 minute dates!