The 38th annual Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy has released this year’s programme. Finland’s biggest and most anticipated film event will treat audiences to a stunning selection of 131 feature-length films and 121 short films from 18 to 28 September. To make the ins and outs of this cinematic cornucopia easier to grasp, the programme of over 400 screenings has been divided into themed categories.
The crowning jewels of the programme, the Gala films, include four of the most eagerly anticipated releases straight from the podiums of Cannes film festival. Spotlight Selection includes the latest, handpicked films from the masters of modern cinema. The series will present films such as Richard Linklater’s ode to cinematic joy, Nouvelle Vague, which delves into the incredible twists and turns of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Exit 8, a film based on the hit game by Genki Kawamura, follows a man trying to make his way out of the subway – and instantly claims its place in the murky canon of mindfuck-movies. This year’s Queer Palm winner The Little Sister is a sensitive coming-of-age tale where young Fatima tries to balance her burgeoning queer identity with the traditions of Islam.
Building on Queer themes, the festival will see a special screening of Cannes-winner The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, organized in collaboration with Jani Toivola and the TOIVOLA-festival. Before the screening, Toivola will perform selected scenes from his popular performance Pantteri ja minä, which delves into themes of queer parenthood and love that transcends generations. The event is free of charge, tickets for the film screening are available to purchase on the website.
Love & Anarchy stands with Palestine, and the Free Palestine -series shines a light on things that can no longer go unseen. The selection includes the heartbreaking documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, about Fatma Hassona, a young photographer who was killed in Gaza right before the film’s Cannes premiere. Yalla Parkour is a powerful documentary that introduces the world to the parkour scene flourishing in the ruins of Gaza, a culture that Israeli oppression has been unable to subdue.
Returning to the festival, the Fight the Power -series showcases films of rebellion, such as the brand-new Finnish documentary on the Extinction Rebellion, Saku Soukka’s Kapina elämän puolesta, and the agonizingly tense Safe House, about critical moments in the Central African Republic. The Eat the Rich -selection, which takes a critical eye on the lives of the uberwealthy, includes Joshua Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic anti-musical The End, starring Tilda Swinton.
An antidote to the current plight of the Finnish culture sector comes in the form of the Feel the Beat and Literally -selections, which champion themes of music and literature. Pavements is an ode to the Californian cult band, while Crime and Punishment takes inspiration from Dostojevski’s classic in its narrative set in the grey urban landscape of Swedish-speaking Helsinki, with echoes of Pirjo Honkasalo’s Concrete Night.
Love & Anarchy’s beloved free outdoor screenings return, as the brand-new documentary PMMP keikalla: Ei enää ikinä is screened at Kansalaistori. The world premiere of the film will be celebrated on Saturday September 6 at 20:30, with the whole band in attendance.
An enduring favourite of Love & Anarchy audiences, this year’s Asian Cuts selection will include perhaps the most unhinged gem of the year. Seasoned with both love and anarchy, the Thai film A Useful Ghost swallows one genre after another and coughs up a hilarious hybrid of vengeful horror comedy and horny haunted romance. Continuing the madness, the Midnight Mayhem series includes Korean action thriller The Old Woman with the Knife, in which an aging contract killer – 62-year-old Lee Hye-yeong – joins forces with a young and reckless rookie.
The R&A Shorts programme is once again bursting at the seams with the best films of shorter form. Showcasing fresh European short film talent, the themed selections delve into themes of community (R&A Shorts: Social Animals), tough moral questions (R&A Shorts: Do the Right Thing) and aesthetic experiences (R&A Shorts: Eye Candy). The diverse nominees of this year’s National Competition represent the highlights of new Finnish short film talent.
Rewriting History series stirs up the past. Magellan, which premiered at Cannes, is the latest from master of slow cinema Lav Diaz. It tells a visually dazzling story of a Portuguese explorer’s (Gael García Bernal) travels to the ends of the Earth. Irish actor Cillian Murphy delivers a heartbreaking performance in Small Things Like These, an Irish drama based on true events. An audience favourite, the Live, Laugh, Love & Anarchy- section focuses on living, laughing and loving with a Love & Anarchy attitude. Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck, who charmed Finnish audiences with The Truffle Hunters, are back with Gaucho Gaucho, a fabulously beautiful cowboy-documentary set on the Argentinian pampas.
A new wave of filmmakers create feminist narratives with a horror twist in the Dark Feminine -selection. The series includes two arresting dramas from Georgian rising star Dea Kulumbegashvil; her brand new Venice award-winner April and her debut feature Beginning. The Soul Sisters -selection also offers tales of women and girls told with a tough attitude. Promised Sky is a touching and humane drama about women who have migrated from the Ivory Coast to Tunisia, whose lives are turned upside down by a girl orphaned at sea. The stunning debut fictional feature Manas dissects a cycle of exploitation on an island in the Amazon, seen through the eyes of a child.
The classic Animated Dreams -series includes visual treats from the likes of Sylvain Chomet, director of The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville, whose poetic hand-drawn animation A Magnificent Life tells the story of writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnoli.
Nordic Gems series includes Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains. The film, arriving in Helsinki from Cannes, offers an honest but gentle look at the complex intersections of love, family, and shared memories. Ira Sachs’s latest mood piece Peter Hujar’s Day, starring Ben Whishaw, delights in the United States of Indie -selection.
The 38th Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy will be held in Helsinki 18.–28.9.2025. The full festival lineup is now up on the festival website: hiff.fi. Tickets for individual screenings will go on sale on Thursday, September 4 at 12:00, the online ticket queue will open at 11:45.