Battle for the City at the DocPoint festival Jan. 28th

The film tells the story of two Turkus, the one from the past and the modern one. What was Turku like before the old city was torn down and modernisation completely changed the cityscape? How are today’s young people attempting to take control over city property by occupying buildings?

Battle for the City is at the same time a film that awakens the sentimental spirit of the old Turku, a historical documentary about the phenomenon aptly named the ‘Turku disease’ (referring to the desire to tear down the old and replace it with the modern), and a topical social/political standpoint.

Jouko Aaltonen is a Finnish documentary director, producer and scriptwriter. Aaltonen has directed more than 20 documentaries. His nationally and internationally award-winning movies include Kusum (2000), Kenen joukoissa seisot (2006) and Punk – tauti joka ei tapa (2008).

Aaltonen, Rauno Lahtinen and Olli Vesala are the authors of the manuscript.

The documentary was produced by Illume Oy and it's premiere was at the Finnish Film Festival in Turku in April 2011.

The film raised a high-spirited discussion about the city landscape and to whom it belongs to. Battle for the City has had screenings also in Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Pori and Lahti. It has also been seen on television.

Battle for the City will be in Special Screenings category at the DocPoint festival on Saturday January 28th.