The 38th Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy welcomes filmmaker guests from the Nordics and Europe, as well as all the way from Japan, the United States and Australia.
Swedish-Egyptian Tarik Saleh will delight festival audiences with his Cairo-trilogy. All parts of the trilogy will be screened at the festival, culminating in the final film, Eagles of the Republic, which has just been selected for the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature. Saleh will hold a masterclass for actors and directors ahead of the festival’s industry event Finnish Film Affair, at Söderlångvik from 18 to 21 September. Saleh will also be visiting a screening Eagles of the Republic and discussing the film with Variety reporter Marta Balaga.
Tarek Saleh in Helsinki 18.-21.9. Eagles of the Republic Bio Rex Sun 21.9. at 6pm.
Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck, who charmed Finnish audiences with The Truffle Hunters, are back with their highly-anticipated Gaucho Gaucho, a visually and aurally stunning documentary about the last cowboys in Argentina.
Gregory Kershaw in Helsinki Sat 20.9. Gaucho Gaucho Kesäkino Engel at 9:30pm
The Last Dive is a diving documentary that features astonishing underwater nature photography. Terry, an ex-marine, ex-Hell’s Angel and ex-model, is no animal or climate activist, but everything changes when he takes a scuba diving trip to Baja California. There, Terry encounters a giant manta ray called Willy Wow. Terry’s friendship with Willy leads him to the barricades in defense of a hounded species. This documentary dives deep into the importance of nature conservation work.
The producer of the film, Christopher Gebhardt, in Helsinki 19.-21.9. The Last Dive screenings Maxim 2 Sat 20.9. at 8:15pm and Bio Rex Sun 21.9. at 11am.
Japan unleashed! Suzuki=Bakudan is a tight action-thriller that will get its world premiere at Love & Anarchy. A drunken man gets into a fight with a vending machine and, during a police interrogation, predicts bombing attacks in Tokyo – soon, his prediction comes true.
Actors Yuki Yamada and Jiro Sato, producer Shota Okada and other crew in Helsinki 24.-26.9. The filmmakers will be in attendance at the world premiere at Bio Rex Wed 24.9. at 6pm.
Fréwaka is an Irish language folk-horror tale where a nurse tending to an old woman gets dragged into a nightmare-world of paranoia, superstition and rituals.
Irish writer-director Aislinn Clarke in Helsinki 19.-22.9., at screenings: Cinema Orion Sat 20.9. at 6:15pm and Maxim 1 Sun 21.9. at 6pm.
Safe House is a thriller based on true events about aid workers who try to protect a Muslim man from a Christian militia without placing their colleagues in danger. The chillingly topical film is based on the real-life experiences of Lindis Hurum.
Director Eirik Svensson and Lindis Hurum in Helsinki 25.-28.9. and at screenings: Cinema Orion Thur 25.9. at 6:30pm, Korjaamo Kino Fri 26.9. at 6:30pm and Cinema Orion Sat 27.9. at 1:30pm
Director Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo’s powerful Lioness spins a dark and vulnerable thriller out of a mother’s love. A mother and her teenage daughter’s strained relationship gets even more fractious with the arrival of the daughter’s new friends.
Director Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo in Helsinki 26.-28.9., at screenings: Kinopalatsi 5 Fri 26.9. at 6pm and Cinema Orion Sat 27.9. at 3:45pm
The nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize are once again included in the Love & Anarchy programme. Out of the seven nominated films, three will be enjoyed in Helsinki with filmmaker guests. The co-director of Greenland’s WALLS- Akinni Inuk, Sofie Rørdam, will visit Helsinki during the last weekend of the festival 25.-28.9. The director of the Faroe Islands’ nominee The Last Paradise on Earth, Sakaris Stórá will be in Helsinki from 19.-22.9. Finland’s nominee The Helsinki Effect will be introduced by director Arthur Franck.
Sakaris Stórá in Helsinki 19.–22.9. and at screenings: Maxim 2 Fri 19.9. at 8.15pm and Korjaamo Kino Sat 20.9. at 2.30pm.
Sofie Rørdam in Helsinki 25.–28.9. and at screenings: Cinema Orion Fri 26.9. at 6.15pm and Korjaamo Kino Sat 27.9. at 4.15pm.
Arthur Franck at screenings: Kino Engel 1 Wed 24.9. at 9pm and Kino Engel 2 Sat 27.9. at 3.30pm.
The Writer Who Hated the Swedish Language is a documentary about Swedish-Finnish writer Antti Jalava (1949-2021). The film depicts the experience of losing touch with your native language and becoming detached from your own country as a child.
Karin Tötterman and Lina Puranen in Helsinki 24.–26.9. and at a screening: Maxim 2 Thur 25.9. at 6.30pm.
The delightfully anarchist queer musical Lesbian Space Princess is an imaginative tale of a lesbian princess who goes on a quest to save her ex from the hands of straight, white man-aliens.
Australian directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghess in Helsinki 19.-20.9. and at screenings: Kinopalatsi 5 Fri 19.9. at 6pm and Maxim 2 Sat 20.9. at 2:45pm.
The protagonist of the Estonian drama Aurora has grown up in a religious community and prepares to celebrate her wedding day. The wedding preparations are shadowed by her affair with an artistic drifter. Co-writers and directors Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk have visited Love & Anarchy before.
Maimik and Tolk in Helsinki 19.-21.9. snd at screenings: Korjaamo Kino Fri 19.9. at 6:15 and Kino Engel 1 Sat 20.9. at 1:45pm.
The R&A Shorts: Filmmaker in Focus – Hilke Rönnfeldt -screening brings together the short films of frequent Love & Anarchy visitor and award-winning director Hilke Rönnfeldt, whose work is recognizable for the curious and unflinching gaze it casts on all things human.
Rönnfeldt in Helsinki and at screenings of her films 22.–26.9.