The administration of university affairs sometimes involve quite a lot of arm-twisting. I have been most fortunate in having dear colleagues and other collaborative partners, who have fully supported me and my academic subject. The beginnings and consolidation of the Film and Television Studies programme would have got nowhere had the Art Studies Department not lent its full support. I am extremely thankful for an unbroken line of supportive heads of department and for the admirably vigorous and loyal office workers.

But the new discipline would never have got off the ground without the students, who worked so hard to have Film and Television Studies included in the University of Helsinki’s academic offering. The mover and shaker was the student union Film Group, which is still active to this day. The determined and dynamic board had great groups supporting it: during the first lectures the large lecture halls were packed out. The Film Group had drawn attention to an anomaly: for all its multidisciplinarity the University of Helsinki did not offer an opportunity to study the twentieth century’s most influential media.

The recognition of the discipline was made possible then thanks to the cultural and social acumen of various interest groups, along with a sense of academic accountability and solidarity. The Academy at its best.