Hanna Bergholm’s second feature, Nightborn, will have its Finnish premiere at Love & Anarchy. The spine-tingling psychological drama will be given a prime slot as the festival’s National Gala -screening. R&A Shorts: National Competition will add to the first-rate representation of Finnish talent at the festival, transporting viewers to sensory deprivation tanks, family summer cottages and a possible apocalypse.
Nightborn had its world premiere in February in the Berlinale Competition, one of the most prestigious competition sections in the film world that is rarely reached by Finnish films. This year it was the only competitor from the Nordic countries. At Love & Anarchy, the film will play in a likewise sought-after slot as one of the gala screenings. This year’s National Gala is organised in collaboration with industry-event Finnish Film Affair, for which the screening will also act as an opening ceremony. Finnish Film Affair is also celebrating its 15th anniversary.
Directed by Hanna Bergholm, who also co-wrote the film with Ilja Rautsi, Nightborn carries audiences from scenes of celebration into the darkness of the forest. The art house drama is a spiritual successor to the duo’s previous film Hatching (2022). Seidi Haarla (Compartment Number 6) and Rupert Grint (The Harry Potter -films) play a couple who move deep into a coniferous forest with hopes of building an idyllic family life. Their wish for a child is granted and family bliss should follow, but the mother begins to sense something monstrous in her child. The oppressive atmosphere of the psychological drama is heightened with the help of its score by Eicca Toppinen, known also for his work in Apocalyptica, a metal band with classically trained musicians.
The prestigious trade magazine Variety praised Nightborn as “a grisly yet sensitive take on the old maxim that every baby is different”, while Hollywood Reporter described it as “stomach-churning and thought-provoking”.
Nightborn is produced by Komeetta Filmi and it will be screened on 23 September at Bio Rex. Ticket sales for Gala films start on 2 September, ticket sales for all other films on 4 September. SF Studios will release the film in wider distribution on 6 November.
AN ABUNDANCE OF SHORT FILMS
More bodily and intellectual turmoil is on offer in the festival’s longstanding R&A Shorts: National Competition. The competing short films ask whether a human sacrifice can aid a potato crop, where all the women in Puolanka are, and what a cab driver might do when discovering human ashes in his backseat.
The National Competition has been held since 2018 and its popularity has grown year by year: this year, a record number of 211 works were submitted. Thirty-five films were chosen, and the jury and audience will choose their favourites among them. This year’s jury is made up of producer Emilia Haukka, cinematographer Christopher Wessels and Eliška Decká, Head of International Promotion for Short Films at the Czech Audiovisual Fund. The prizes are sponsored by Teme, the Trade Union for Theatre and Media in Finland, Finnish Film Foundation, Le Court – Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Ministére de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères, Institut français de Finlande – The French Institute of Finland, Academy of Moving People and Images, Kinos Rentals and Audio Network.
The National Competition short films will be presented on 18–22 September over six separate screenings. The winners will be screened again on Saturday 26 September.
TWILIGHT ZONE
Eye Swap (dir. Jenni Koljonen)
The Catastrophe (dir. Nooa Ruth)
Strive (dir. Jussi Rautaniemi)
Superstar (dir. Jan Forsström)
Timo – The Lord of Potato (dir. Antti Tuominen)
Yaris, Crow (dir. Matti Harju)
Overtime (dir. Siiri Halko)
ACROSS GENERATIONS
Forever With Me (dir. Noa Korhonen and Myrsky Virmavirta)
In Memoriam / Islanders (dir. Matleena Jänis)
The Beauty of Automobiles (dir. Jukka Kärkkäinen)
Famileech (dir. Vilja Autiokyrö)
TJ28 (dir. Yasmin Najjar)
TIME TRAVELS
Equal Dust (dir. Jani Peltonen)
Am I Calling You at a Bad Time (dir. Martta Tuomaala)
Kai (dir. Erika Weiste and Aki Viikilä)
Major Bag Alert (dir. Viljami Penttilä)
Beyond the Bed of Reeds (dir. Ksenia Onoprienko)
Rosa (dir. Sasha Huber)
Photographs Not Taken (dir. Hanneriina Moisseinen)
JUST BETWEEN US
Interspace (dir. Jesse Lähilehto)
Kohtaaminen (dir. Farhia Omar and Nadiifo Omer)
Killing Me Softly (dir. Viena Kytöjoki)
Puolanka Pussy Rally (dir. Inka Achté and Einari Paakkanen)
Mixed Sauna (dir. Juuso Timonen)
The One Who Floats (dir. Jasmin Gummerus)
WHAT REMAINS
Aeternus Florere (dir. Milja Härkönen)
After Ego (dir. Mari Mantela)
The Forest You Live In (dir. Topi Raulo)
All the Love in my Body (dir. Carmen Baltzar)
things that i was gathering (dir. Ekaterina Zhuzhleva)
HUMAN FACTOR
Too Blue a Sky (dir. Risto-Pekka Blom)
Good Night Monster (dir. Emilia Hernesniemi)
Feeling Defensive (Part 1) (dir. Pilvi Takala)
surr naks klik (dir. Roosa Vuokkola)
A Part Unwritten (dir. Arman Zafari)
The 39th Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy will take place in Helsinki on 17–27 September. Early Bird -priced tickets are now on sale: HURMIO (6 tickets 73 €) PARATIISI (12 tickets 134 €) and EUFORIA (20 tickets 200 €). Early Bird -passes are on sale until 31 August. The full festival programme will be revealed on 1 September. Read more and buy festival passes here.