Satan on Screen: One-Day Festival at Cinema Niagara to Tackle Devil in Film

Aamulehti reports that Cinema Niagara will host a one-day festival called "Satan Comes to the Screen" on 10 October, screening three Satan-themed horror films and hosting a panel featuring theologian-priest Niilo Rantala.

The festival is organised by Miro Seppänen, a director and event producer at the Pirkanmaa Film Centre, and Rantala. They curated three horror classics spanning decades: Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising (1972), Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon (1957) and Renato Polselli's Black Magic Rites (1973). The programme opens at 17:30 with a panel titled "Satan Comes to the Screen", followed by Night of the Demon at 19:00, Black Magic Rites at 21:00 and late-night events thereafter. Rantala, who helped select the lineup, sees these films as a way to open discussion about evil and the possibility of personal evil.

Seppänen traces his interest in devil-themed cinema back to his teenage years, and he says the figure of Satan offers rich material for drama, comedy and social critique. The chosen titles were their top picks, and the organisers hinted future editions could include Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby and contemporary occult indies such as A Dark Song (2016).