The 38th Love & Anarchy festival gala screenings will see Finnish premieres of the hottest, most discussed and award-winning festival films. Cannes-dazzler Sentimental Value will open the most anticipated film festival of the fall, and the 11-day hedonistic trip will conclude with Palme D’or winner It Was Just an Accident.
Four years ago, Joachim Trier, Renate Reinsve and Trier’s collaborator, writer Eskil Vogt, created a sensation with The Worst Person in the World. Now, the team reunite to spoil audiences with one of the undeniable cinematic high-points of the year, the Cannes-winner Sentimental Value. The spirit of Ingmar Bergman is present in this brutally beautiful tale that avoids unnecessary sentimentality as it delves into themes of love, grace, art and sisterhood.
The Opening Gala, Bio Rex Lasipalatsi, Thu 18 Sept, at 4pm and 6:45pm.
This year’s Love & Anarchy Groundbreaker Gala selection is Marcha Schilinski’s Cannes-awarded, finely tuned drama Sound of Falling, which catapulted its director straight to the forefront of European filmmaking talent. This masterful arthouse gem ties together the fates of four generations of women and girls living on a German farm.
Groundbreaker Gala, Bio Rex Lasipalatsi, Mon, Sept. 22, at 6pm.
Putting the “anarchy” in Love & Anarchy, this year’s Love & Anarchy Gala comes in the form of the delirious fever dream Sirât. In actor-director Oliver Laxe’s mind-bending film, a father searches for his daughter at a desert rave and, accompanied by his son, gets pulled into a dangerous and apocalyptic adventure.
Love & Anarchy Gala, Bio Rex Lasipalatsi, Tue, Sept. 23, at 6:15pm and Kesäkino Engel Fri, Sept. 26, at 9:30pm
The festival’s closing film is this year’s Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, from Jafar Panahi, the indomitable Iranian filmmaker and dissident who has been imprisoned twice in his home country. Panahi’s observant new film turns a chastising eye towards Iranian rulers in its telling of the story of a group of people who, by chance, get the opportunity to enact revenge on their torturer – but could it be that the group has in their hands an entirely the wrong person?
The Closing Gala, Bio Rex Lasipalatsi, Sun, Sept. 28, at 6:15pm
All the gala films will get a Finnish theatrical release after the festival.
The full festival lineup will be announced on Tuesday, September 2 at 12pm on the festival website. Tickets for individual screenings will go on sale on Thursday, September 4 at 12pm. The 38th Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy will be held in Helsinki 18.–28.9.2025.