Finland’s first skyscraper, Hotel Torni, was completed in 1931, the same year as New York’s Empire State Building. Torni’s architects envisioned the manhattanist hotel as a beacon for international guests that would arrive by airships and moor their Zeppelins to its spire. Torni (which means "Tower") established itself metropolitan hub of hedonism, where the international fashion and culinary trends first appeared, where cocktail-drinks were introduced to Helsinki, and where the nation’s intelligenzia and cultural avant-garde gathered to meet and vision the optimistic future. Its silhouette gained a an ominous new dimension, as the hotel was converted to headquarters for the post-war soviet surveillance commission and espionage. during this brief period, the manhattanist landmark took on the role of a Moscow skyscraper, as a belvedere for Stalin's eyes to overlook the capital.
This film presents a parallel history, and creates new images and myths to add to the story of a unique building, Torni.
Written, directed and produced by Nene Tsuboi and Tuomas Toivonen
Direction of photography, stills, CGI by Niklas Kullström
Music by Tuomas Toivonen