The festival kicked off with a bang on Thursday, September 18th, at BioRex’s opening gala, which featured an inspiring speech by Executive Director Pauliina Ståhlberg and the long-awaited premiere of Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value (2025).
In her speech, Ståhlberg emphasized the destructive impact of the current government’s austerity policies on culture and called for resistance and resilience. She urged professionals in the cultural sector to avoid sinking into cynicism and to stand up against economic policies.
Sentimental Value, screened to a full house at BioRex, opened with a video greeting from Joachim Trier, in which he praised Finland’s film culture and expressed pride that the film is being distributed in Finland.
The film drew full audiences at both of its screenings, and its profound themes sparked lively discussion well after the showings—continuing into the night at the official afterparty held at Loose.
Sonja Saarikoski and Oskari Onninen discussed public discourse in Live-Kerma
Golden rosettes, relief murals that remind one of ancient Greece. Film theater Maxim is protected by the Finnish Heritage Agency for a reason. The space provided a noble framework for Uusi Juttu’s culture programme Kerma that was held in front of a live audience for the first time. Live-Kerma examined the possibilities of discourse and how everyone could be heard in public discussion. Vaula Helin describes the dynamic of Sonja Saarikoski and Oskari Onninen as that of two fighting capercaillies. This is a safe space for disagreement and contestation.
Fiume o Morte!, a documentary that examines resistance against fascism, functioned as a stepping stone for the conversation. The themes delved into the distinctions between fact and fiction and the current “boom of documentaries”. This was followed by a discussion of the documentary PMMP keikalla: Ei enää ikinä (2025) and the Sanna Marin miljoonat seuraa -audiodrama (2024).
For the last fifteen minutes the discussion centered on the panelists’ experiences and film recommendations. Saarikoski highlighted her favourite filmmaker Chantal Akerman and her first work – also part of HIFF’s 2025 program – Je tu il elle (1974). Helin herself emphasizes the importance of music and ambiguity of both David Lynch and Pedro Almodóvar. Onninen recommends the movie The President Cake (2025), also a part of this year’s HIFF programme.
“Don’t do as Finnish people do, do as I do”, Onninen reminds, making clear that this is the way to stand out from the masses.
Festival audience is united by a curiosity towards cinema and the strange
“If the movie seems somehow weird, it’s usually a good sign”, says Jouni, who came to Bio Rex to see the documentary Fiume o Morte! (2025). The audience, heading to see the first films of the second day, praises the festival program for daring to take viewers out of their comfort zone. Still, films are not chosen completely at random; visitors have various guidelines for navigating through the diverse program. Some are interested in familiar directors, while others are drawn to certain themes or topics.
Many have already planned their festival schedules for the coming days, and the calendars of the most ambitious cinephiles are starting to fill up. The festival also attracts filmaholics from further away, outside the metropolitan area. Sampo Salo lives in Hausjärvi and has had his eyes on the Helsinki Film Festival for several years. This year, he finally made it to the festival and decided to dive right in: he has tickets to 20 films. Salo describes himself as an omnivore. He is drawn to the silver screen by the same force that attracts many other festival-goers: a passionate love for film.
The overall atmosphere is cheerfully calm. People arrive well in advance to queue for the films they have been eagerly waiting for, but there is no crowding. In the end, there are enough seats for everyone, even at the packed screening of The Mastermind (2025). The film ends as night falls, but pictures will be projected onto screens of Helsinki for hours afterwards.
Jani Toivola treated the audience with queer themes and live music
Actor, author and influencer Jani Toivola introduced the Cannes-laureled The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo at the foyer of Bio Rex. In addition, Toivola performed excerpts from his performance Pantteri ja minä (The Panther and I), which introduced the audience to experiences of queer parenthood and intergenerational love.
The atmosphere at Bio Rex was warm and open as Toivola welcomed the audience: “It means so much to me that you are here. The fact that we come together truly matters”, Toivola declared. In his opening words, Toivola encouraged everyone to shed unnecessary obligations and be fully present in the moment.
Toivola’s performance flowed smoothly with Miika Vintturi’s accompaniment. Beautiful depictions of the contradictions related to parenthood and the multilayered nature of love captivated the listeners. “Love is connected to everything in life, yet it is still very difficult,” Toivola noted.
The discussion and performance brought people together in a special way. Toivola’s ability to spark dialogue served as a reminder of how multifaceted parenthood and the emotions attached to it can be.
The event concluded with resounding applause, and the audience went on with their day, perhaps with a slightly lighter step.
The festival creates new ties and friendships through films
The biggest, most immersive, intense, communal, gentle.
These are the words the volunteers used to describe the Helsinki International Film Festival 2025. Most of the ones interviewed at Bio Rex have previous experience of volunteer work at the festival. Their love for films connects them and creates new acquaintances year after year.
The supervisors Karita and Oskari note that the festival community has been helpful in finding new friends and opportunities in a new city. The supervisor’s job includes assisting in screenings and guiding customers. The best part of the position includes being able to watch films during the shift and to welcome eager visitors.
The festival provides free film and food tickets for the volunteers as well as other benefits. The volunteers can rest and meet each other in the volunteer lounge. Ella, a volunteer in charge of the lounge, describes that it is possible to meet people of different ages and backgrounds during the festival, something that is not so common in her studies. The volunteer position allows you to see how the festival functions and tap into the general atmosphere.
According to the photographer Juho the festival’s team is top notch, the organization succeeds in many things and has a homely atmosphere. Shooting some behind the scenes material for PMMP was the most memorable task for Juho. Looking back on the past years, he has noticed that the films shown at the festival include some you wouldn’t be able to see elsewhere. The festival is in touch with current events and themes as it presents the newest cinema has to offer.
Filmmaking would be drastically different without comic books, artists claim
People flock to the balcony of Merikaapelihalli and search for a place to sit in the packed venue. Just by looking at the audience, you can already tell this is a joint event between two inherently visual festivals. Sketchbooks are abundant, with people drawing while listening to the panel discussion.
Three distinguished comic artists are seated in front of this visually oriented audience: Maria Björklund, Anssi Rauhala, and Kivi Larmola. In addition to comics, they all have experience in filmmaking. Both art forms require similar visual conceptualization in the early stages of work – storyboards. This is the topic of this afternoon’s panel discussion.
When thinking about filmmaking, many of us immediately picture actors, props, cameras, and large production teams. However, Kivi Larmola points out that filmmaking would be very expensive if everything had to be visualized this way right from the outset. It is much easier to start with simply a pen and paper.
“Someone has to draw how the whole thing might look like,” Larmola sums up.
The panelists describe how the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock was a skilled drawer and drew his own scenes before filming them.
Storyboards can serve many purposes in filmmaking. Some drawings are just tools for the production team, but sometimes storyboards are used to market an idea for a film. Apparently even Hitchcock had to present detailed storyboards of the shower scene in Psycho (1960) to convince the production company that the scene would not go too far.
Director Tarik Saleh says Helsinki almost became Cairo for him
On Sunday evening in BioRex Lasipalatsi people got a look behind the scenes of the final film of the Cairo trilogy, Eagles of the Republic (2025).
After the screening the Swedish-Egyptian director Tarik Saleh was interviewed by journalist Marta Balaga from Variety. The audience got to ask questions as well, the following conversation balancing between serious political themes and funny anecdotes about the filmmaking process.
During the interview, Saleh recounted that the idea for the film Eagles of the Republic, which follows a film star who gets entangled in the politics of Egypt against his will, began as a satire and a joke. While writing the film, he realized that the joke wasn’t funny anymore.
“I had to create my own Cairo’’, he declared.
Cairo, the main setting of the film, has a special place in Saleh’s heart. He has an ambivalent relationship with the city that has not allowed him to return for ten years. While making the trilogy he looked for characteristics of Cairo in different cities he visited. Laughing, he tells the audience he even thought about filming some Cairo-based scenes in Helsinki.
In Saleh’s opinion, his immigrant background has helped his work as a director. Because of cultural duality, he is able to look at things from inside and outside the box.
Film Quiz at Hanahuone Juova attracted film enthusiasts of all skill levels
The new problem solving game provides an adventure through the Love and Anarchy Festival. The game challenges users to look for clues in the theaters and the programme. The puzzle can be completed on the spot in movie theaters of Kinopalatsi, Bio Rex and Cinema Orion – completed, each of the puzzle pieces contains a clue, which can be used to solve the game’s last question.
The first film quiz of the HIFF – Love & Anarchy festival summoned various friends and allies of the moving pictures to Hanahuone Juova. This playful but competitive quiz attracted a large audience to Juova’s warm atmosphere. The host and facilitator Joonas Talvila was glad to see the size of the crowd, even without extensive event marketing.
The quiz was an initiative conceived by the festival social media and website editor Martta Tuppurainen. The current quiz is an amalgamation of past experience with various different film and pub quizzes.
Asked how to succeed in the quiz, Talvila recounted: ‘’Simply watching films doesn’t turn the tide. Wikipedia research or a history attending quizzes is a better indicator for success.’’
The difficulty level of this week’s quiz was moderate, which reflected in the presence of various film enthusiasts of different levels of fanaticism. The best team turned out to be Rakkautta ja Triviaa which held first place with 35 points. The winners were rewarded with film tickets.
The next Love & Anarchy film quiz will be on Saturday 29th of September. The difficulty level will be hard, so there are challenges ahead for those who want to test their knowledge to the extreme.
Kivi Larmola, Maria Björklund and Anssi Rauhala. Helsinki Comic Book Festival.
Atmosphere at the HIFF – Love & Anarchy pub quiz.