The festival’s second week kicked off with a bang, featuring the latest German masterpiece, apocalyptic techno parties, discussions exploring boys’ friendships, and the world premiere of a Japanese thriller. With a diverse program and sold-out Q&A screenings, the audience was ensured a role not only as viewers but also as active participants in the cinematic conversation.
Sound of Falling took the audience into German women’s hidden history
Sound of Falling (2025), one of the most spoken about films at Cannes had its Finnish premiere on Monday. The screening was a total success: Bio Rex was sold out and the audience was buzzing with excitement. It was a one-of-a-kind opportunity as this was the only screening of the film during the festival.
The programme manager of the festival Outi Rehn and communication manager Inari Ylinen were fascinated by the film at the Cannes Film Festival and knew immediately that it must be included in this years programme. The film was also chosen as Germany’s nominee in the Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards.
Rehn and Ylinen also spoke about how showing films by underrepresented groups has always been an important element of the Love and Anarchy film festival. The very first festival in 1988 included retrospectives of films by a woman and an openly homosexual man, which was very progressive at the time. Nowadays the festival strives to have at least half of the films directed by people other than cis-men. This year the number is 48%.
Kuti Kuti exhibition brings together Finnish comic artists
An exhibition of comics from the Kuti Kuti collectives anthologies Roihu and Tihku (Blaze and Drizzle) is now open at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi (second floor lobby). On display are selections from the 24 artists featured in the Roihu and Tihku anthologies.
Authorship is blurred in the anthology of the artists in the collective. The color scheme in the anthologies also happens to be the exact same one as in the 2025 Love & Anarchy poster. This is the first year that Kuti Kuti is a part of the festival.
Sirât invited the audience to an evening of techno and apocalypse
The Annual Love & Anarchy Gala kick-started with a screening of Sirât (2025) directed by Óliver Laxe. Techno and face paint given out by the volunteers of the festival guided the audience into the sold out screening.
“It wowed us, shocked us and excited us,” said presenters Pekka Lanerva and Inari Ylinen, who suggested recommending the film to a friend – Sirât will be screened in November in movie theaters across the country. The premiere was made possible thanks to distributor Cinema Mondo.
The presenters hinted that there are still tickets available for the Finnish Surprise Gala. Clues to the film director’s identity are on the festival’s Instagram account. Get your tickets quick!
R&A x Jäbät & Tunteet sparked dialogue on boys’ friendships
The event R&A X JÄBÄT & TUNTEET: ON FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN BOYS, held at Korjaamo, offered an opportunity to watch films from a new perspective that expands on different understandings of masculinity and friendship.
The screening compromised of four thought provoking short films. The most emotional film was Sujipin (2005) that revealed the painful background of director Gintare Parulyte. The dialogue between a crisis hotline volunteer and a caller is paralleled against Parulyte’s speculation on what might have happened if her teenage friend who took his own life had someone to talk to about their problems.
The evening concluded with an intimate conversation, where participants divided into smaller groups and shared their thoughts on the characteristics of male friendship as well as how they felt in the moment.
Hilke Rönnfeldt’s short film production traced the arc of an artistic career
Following a screening of her entire body of work, director Hilke Rönnfeldt participated in an audience Q&A. “I thought I would be ashamed, but it was nice to see how the everything worked together”, Rönnfeldt laughed.
Travel and attending film festivals opened Rönnfeldt’s eyes to different types of films, and she began to experiment with form. Rönnfeldt didn’t start from the background of a formal film education–she was, in fact, a sailor and maritime officer, but she was drawn to the artist life. She realized that: “film culture is for everyone, and it is made by humans. Which means that I can do it as well!”
Rönnfeldt emphasizes that filmmakers must have something they want to talk about. For her the subjects are class struggles and especially the working class and work itself.
When asked about the possibility of working on features Rönnfeldt says she doesn’t see short films as a stepping stone: “I love short film as a form–it gives freedom, and the way I work with narrative, long form can be limiting.”
Anna Eriksson’s trilogy finale dazzles and disturbs
Flashbulbs popped, bouquet wrappings rustled, and applause broke out even before the screening of E (2025), the long awaited third film of Anna Eriksson, began. When the atmosphere is this charged before the film starts, the director must be someone exceptional. Judging by the buzz she inspires, Anna Eriksson has already established herself as a serious filmmaker.
Drawing inspiration from Carl Jung’s thought, Eriksson described how we now live in a “schizophrenic time that rejects the human soul. It leaves people alone.” Her answer to this hyper-reality is a desert of reality where the film’s characters stumble in turn. As a setting, it is calm – a place “where beginning and end have migrated to.”
Although Eriksson’s trilogy is now complete, new plans are already in motion. According to her, cuts to cultural funding will ensure that even successful filmmakers must live with uncertainty.
Japanese thriller premiere brought cultures together
On Wednesday, the world premiere of the Japanese thriller Suzuki=Bakudan (2025) took place at the R&A festival, with lead actors Yuki Yamada and Jiro Saro as well as the film’s producer in attendance. For Yamada, Love & Anarchy is his first film festival. Saro said he learned about Finnish sisu long ago and was looking forward to tasting salmon soup after the film.
After loud applause, the theater filled with both suspense and laughter. Directed by Nagai Akira, the film is based on Katsuhiro Go’s 2022 novel Bakudan and follows a man named Suzuki who can predict bomb attacks around Tokyo.
The audience admired the actors’ performances, to which Saro commented that because of Suzuki’s unpleasant character, he wouldn’t wish the role on anyone else. Yamada praised Saro’s impressive work, saying: “He made me feel like the character was real.”
Yamada was also surprised to learn that Finns eat reindeer, the animal that pulls Santa’s sleigh. “We tasted reindeer meat and liked it. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look reindeer or Santa in the eyes again.”
