22.1.2026, 17–19:30

Welcome to a film screening and discussion on The Night of Science, 22 January 2026, at Cinema Orion (Eerikinkatu 15, Helsinki).

We will be showing Swedish artist Henrik Håkansson’s IHME Project 2018, THE BEETLE, and discuss it with Professor Jyrki Muona.

Schedule
17:00 Cinema Orion doors open
17:30–17:50 Welcoming words and discussion: Professor Jyrki Muona and Executive Director Paula Toppila
17:55–19:15 THE BEETLE, Henrik Håkansson (2018), 80 min
19:15–19:30 Q&A: Professor Jyrki Muona and Executive Director Paula Toppila

The main character in THE BEETLE is an endangered species, the only one of its kind in the world – the halavasepikkä beetle (Hylochares cruentatus), which lives in the Mätäoja former riverbed in Vantaa, Finland. The species is native to the area, meaning it has lived in the geographical region of what is now Finland for around 5000 years. Entomologist and Professor Jyrki Muona was the film’s expert in 2018. To start the evening, he will give us an update on the status of the halavasepikkä beetle in discussion with Paula Toppila, Executive Director and Curator of IHME Helsinki.

IHME Project 2018, THE BEETLE, is a meditative, dream-like journey from the green willow jungle to visually powerful close-ups of these endangered insects, whose otherness and inaccessibility are very real. – Paula Toppila.

The film was last shown in cinema in 2018 and on the YLE Areena television channel until May 2019. We are now showing THE BEETLE again after a long break, because art is not just for single use. Its themes are still relevant today, and also take on new meanings. The experimental electronic music is a recording of a concert by Mika Vainio in 2015.

Mika Vainio (1963–2017) is known as an electronic-music pioneer and as half of the Pan Sonic duo.

Vainio’s music not only speaks for itself, it generates another language. This film includes excerpts from a live performance at Sonár Festival 2015, and uses a range of frequencies and beats to create an extremely subtle vibration, a voice of its own that might be the language of the insect portrayed: THE BEETLE. – Henrik Håkansson

The film is in English with Finnish subtitles. The discussion will be in Finnish or English, depending on the audience’s preference. Questions can be asked in either language.