A solitary man develops a super-computer in this strikingly ambitious British animation.

Sci-fi, drama, thrill. Sad and happy love stories. Resourceful young heroes. These tales take us to rural lowlands and vibrant cities. New African shorts from around the continent.

A tale of secrets and lies with a constrained yet wonderfully expressive performance by the versatile Joanna Scanlan, who offers us a masterclass in the dramatic power of understatement.

An immersive portrait of the legendary choreographer Alvin Ailey is told in his own words and via the creation of a new commission inspired by the life of this enigmatic man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, was determined to build one that would.

In this Sundance-wowing documentary, the biases and dangers involved with surveillance and body cams are investigated.

Alma is serving time for a murder she can’t remember committing. A surprising news revives her and she sets out for revenge in this Icelandic drama-thriller.

Travel between dream and reality and in the lands of fleeting memories. Allow different animation techniques to lead you through the mazes of the human mind. This is the celebration of new European animation!

With the strange and wonderful music composed by the pop duo Sparks, this amazing musical fantasy is like the unexpected love child of La La Land and The Lighthouse. Adam Driver manifests Cannes-awarded Leos Carax's craziest ideas in the flesh.

A rising star of Finnish cinema, Hamy Ramezan's fiction feature debut is a subtle and soft film that you can sink into. Guaranteed to make you teary-eyed.

Light absurdism, Greek-style: people suffering from memory loss build new identities by carrying out prescribed experiences while taking selfies.

Justin Simien (Dear White People, HIFF 2014) tackles racial stereotypes through horror without losing his comical edge. Bad Hair combines 1980’s zeitgeist, witty social commentary and ancient African American mythology. 

One of European cinema’s most unclassifiable auteurs has delivered the bitter pill we deserve; the astonishing Berlinale Golden Bear-winning satire.

The British Short Film and British Short Animation categories at the British Academy Film Awards celebrate innovative and experimental short fiction and non-fiction films and animation. The screening is free of charge and is made possible by the British Council.

Another Iranian gem of a film slowly explores a soul-crushing wrong that no amount of cash, condolences or guilt-riddled compassion can ever make right.

A beautifully shot portrait of Bergman’s beloved island of Fårö, the film is also a self-reflexive jeu d’esprit about gender, desire, creativity and the magic of cinema.

In current day neon-lighted Berlin African illegal immigrant Francis of Bissau meets his love, Mitze, but faith strikes three times and happiness is short.

Actress Zhou Dongyu electrifies Derek Tsang's smash-hit hybrid of hard-hitting bullying drama and swoony, mismatched-couple love story.

A radical political statement by the most renowned African director of the twentieth century, Ousmane Sembène, is one of the greatest and most groundbreaking filmmakers who ever lived. This is one of the essential films of the 1960s.

A heartwarming documentary about Team Zimbabwe's very first trip to the world's most famous wine tasting competition: rather than a story about the world of wine, it's a story about human dignity.

The newest film from Teemu Nikki, the director known for his wild ideas, is a romantic thriller with a side of black humor that takes us into the world of a blind wheelchair user Jaakko.

A story about an unlikely meeting and romance between two sex workers results in a wonderful film; true-to-life and sweet, while also completely intrinsic and utterly beautiful — a real find of a film.

Bodies are tested and scrutinized, limited and loved. These films examine bodily experiences and boundaries society and individuals place on different bodies.

The Nordic drama thriller depicts a midwinter dive of two siblings in a cold mountain lake with a chilling plot.

Oliver Twist meets The Death of Mr. Lazarescu in this sophomore feature. Set in a snowbound boarding school on the eastern edges of Turkey, the film tells the story of a boy desperate to help his sick friend yet choked off at every turn by bullying teachers and corrupt administrators.

Yussuf Chahine’s classic film noir brings together the busy Cairo railway station's lost souls and peculiar characters.

This gorgeous, feminist coming-of-age western set in the American Far West charts the origins of Calamity Jane.

Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele's supernatural slasher is spiked with modern themes of gentrification, art world pretention, the circle of violence created by racial tensions, and police brutality.

Mads Hedegaard's colourful retro game documentary tells the story of one man's quest for an arcade game world record – and that of his supporting team.

Two best friends, teenaged refugees, seek hope and a shot at a better future on the soccer field in journalist Ali El Arabi's stunningly cinematic debut.

A film central to Stanley Kwan's career as one of Hong Kong cinema's key directors, Center Stage (1992) tells the story of a silent film star.

Agnieszka Holland's new feature is a captivating biopic of a Czech faith healer put on trial by the communist government.

Prized with the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, Juho Kuosmanen's second feature tells the story of two strangers on a train. Seidi Haarla plays a young archeology student and Yuri Borisov a mine worker whose views on life dramatically change after the two find themselves stuck in a train compartment en route to Mongolia.

Pirjo Honkasalo is a world-class Finnish filmmaker whose pursuit of ecstatic truths and aesthetic revelations transcends nationalities. The acclaimed documentary filmmaker’s praised fiction film became a cultural phenomenon.

Booze & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll – Julien Temple’s latest rockumentary is a gloomy portrait of The Pogues’ lead singer Shane MacGowan’s self-destruction blues.

The world's unicorns, basilisks, and griffins are closed into a secret sanctuary in an animated film that contemplates the relationship between humans and nature.

A joyous blend of song, dance and revival! The film, directed by Spike Lee, captures a live performance of David Byrne's acclaimed Broadway show.

Veteran director Andrei Konchalovsky depicts with subtle and laconic style gruesome events that occurred in a small industrial Soviet town in the 1960s and were later hidden from the public.

Luchino Visconti’s classic film is known for the music of Gustav Mahler and the cinematography of Pasquale de Santis. Who remembers that the story takes place during a pandemic?

In its frank depiction of gay bars, closeted homosexuality, and the suffocating expectations of a straight society, this pioneering work is both a fascinating time capsule and a remarkably modern cinematic plea for tolerance and change.

Documentary about journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder reveals that tyrants use both phones and bone saws to cement their power.

In the hands of Leah Purcell, a classic short story from 1892 reveals what Australia is built on. This is the Promising Young Woman (Season Film Festival 2021) of the Australian outback set in the British colonial times.

Suvi West's documentary reveals the colonial acts and attitudes of the State of Finland towards the Sámi. All the injustices are part of a bigger question about land rights.

Short Eurotrips! Collective and personal views of the future around Europe. Farewells, parties, figs, and life shadowed by everyday racism.

The rise and fall of Tammy Faye Bakker, the 1970’s star of a global religious satellite network who created a televangelist empire, is passionately revived by Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield.

It’s all relative! A myriad of family ties and situationships from birth to death. Unembellished and genuine stories about parenthood, dying and familial connections.

Experimentalism, obsession, extremes – these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little festival darlings. The screening is part of the EFA Shorts short film tour, which brings the best short films to theaters around Europe.

The brightest diamonds of European animation that are big screen must sees! The screening is part of the EFA Shorts short film tour, which brings the best short films to theaters around Europe.

This Israeli documentary takes a satirical form of an ‘occupation manual’ while showing the brutal oppression Palestinians have faced for decades.

A man, who has fled as a child from Afghanistan to Denmark, reveals secrets about his past in this cleverly animated documentary.

Bleakly honest micro-budgeted Hungarian episode film offers seven cryptic miniature chamber pieces that are Cassavetesian by style.

A fiction set and shot around a real event — the demolition of the Cité Gagarine, a 370-apartment house in the outskirts of Paris — is told by a 16-year-old boy living in the suburbs, looking at the stars.@Janina Ketola

This thought-provoking and disturbing experience has a lot to say about humanity's destruction of the environment, about the "tipping point" we have collectively reached in the Anthropocene, but the film says it with creativity, mad flights of imagination, and humor.

Swiss Zürcher brothers layer feelings, domestic interiors and everyday things into a carefully crafted but whimsical art comedy.

Rodney Ascher’s movies dwell on absurd theories until they start to make a weird kind of sense. All we know is we’re still a bunch of meat flaps, virtual or not, and we’ve got a lot of flapping to do.

Finnish-based director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed secures himself a spot as a director to keep an eye on with this tender portrait of an African couple facing a health crisis.

Equal parts folk, prog rock and metal! David Lowery’s liberty-taking interpretation of the King Arthur legend is alluring, enticing, bewitching, seductive, inspiring.

With shades of Agnes Varda’s Vagabond (HIFF 2018), Itonje Soimer Guttormsen’s episodic feature debut stars Birgitte Larsen as a performance artist frustrated by her personal roadblocks.

A remarkable and immense masterpiece about emotions, maternal love and presence, is a film not to be missed.

Four Norwegian teens discover the true beauty of queerness, kindness and self-acceptance, and will pull at your heartstrings while doing so.

Riotously funny at times and quietly devastating at others, this phenomenal feature debut moves Panah Panahi beyond his father’s, Jafar Panahi's, oeuvre to discover a distinct new voice.

Based on real events, this Sundance-winner powerfully depicts female struggles and societal changes in Kosovo.

Like Scheherazade, young French-Algerian Selma must negotiate permission to be all that she is and wants to be, again and again.

The paradise is burning and humans have failed as gardeners. These films turn the attention to homo sapiens and ask: is there room for anything else than us?

Berlinale Crystal Bear winner and Finland's Oscar entry 2019 is a dazzling suburban story of teenage love and the rise of the far-right.

In this dramatic comedy by Maria Schrader, Dan Stevens is a humanoid robot tailored to be a perfect romantic partner.

A brave documentary by Ville Suhonen on the world-famous pacifist Arndt Pekurinen (1905–41), who was advocated by the likes of Albert Einstein.

Korea’s most hardworking auteur’s newest is a cinematic gem unfolding over cigarettes and glasses of soju. It tackles generational divides and young people's uncertainties.

This sadly timely documentary follows ordinary people in New Delhi, India, where pollution, flooding and the climate crisis's effects are hitting the poorest inhabitants the hardest.

This affecting animation traces the life of Josep Bartolí, who fought in the Spanish civil war, befriended Rothko and Pollock – and became Frida Kahlo’s lover.

Led by astonishing performances by the brilliant young duo Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield, this thriller is a powerful depiction of the Black Panther Party in the key moments of the 1960's civil rights movement, with deep resonance to modern day America.

”A One-man band work of deranged brilliance! Monumental will and imagination at work." - Guillermo del Toro

Miranda July’s take on a con movie, a kind of "Ocean’s Three" in bad clothing. A funny, original, sad and singular film.

Dumpster diving, passionate filmmaking and music scene shake up with three docs from Estonia.

A lyrical, visually dazzling depiction of the painful relationship between a young male student and a rich businessman.

A melancholic documentary about The House of Migrants, located at the edge of the Sahara Desert, where people stop and contemplate the direction of their life and start planning to cross the desert.

Andrea Riseborough unearths love among the ruins in a Before Sunset-esque tale. Riseborough delivers a stunning performance as a wartime doctor adrift in Egypt in this nostalgia trip by Zienna Durra.

Accomplished debut from Maltese-American filmmaker Alex Camilleri profiles little-represented lives through one fisherman with intelligence and integrity.

How much can a director fuck the actor's mind for the sake of art? Being an experimental theatre performer, Josephine Decker wants to ask this profound question with Madeline's Madeline.

A film about Maija Isola, the designer of Finland's most beloved fabrics: her bold designs, including classics like Unikko, Kivet, Kaivo and Melooni, were essential in creating Marimekko's lifestyle universe.

This art-world satire tackling the refugee crisis, capitalism, political repression, and First World hypocrisy is a wild and thought-provoking modern-day fable.

Jack London’s classic novel gets an ambitious cinematic adaptation, Europop music plays and tensions rise due to love and politics.

A victim of the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo metro faces the current leader of the perpetrating cult. What use, if any, could be of empathy?

Cannes Jury Prize winner 2021 is yet another phenomenal creation by master Weerasethakul combining humanity, mystery and memoria.

Sam Pollard's thrilling documentary unravels the FBI’s secret campaign of bugging, harassment and defamation against Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s.

A family drama channels the ebbs and flows of physical movement and emotional trauma, even eschewing a traditional score to let her two leads truly carry the weight of the story.

This new documentary tells the crushing story of Björn Andrésen, the star of Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice, the film that made him a teenage sex symbol – and destroyed him in many ways.

Margaret Qualley plays eager assistant to Sigourney Weaver’s domineering literature agent in this charming coming-of-ager, which takes a leaf out of The Devil Wears Prada’s book.

Two artistic siblings are torn between their modern lifestyle and the religious, conservative values of Tunisian society.

The lyrical approach of Nastja Säde Rönkkö invites the viewer to co-imagine apocalyptic love stories and recreate memories waiting for us yet on the horizon. The videos in this screening curated by AV-arkki bring forth the poetic quality of Rönkkö’s art, both textual and visual. The subject matter of the videos emerges from the context of the climate crisis and mass extinction.

Zhenia is a massage therapist who heals rich people's poor and restless souls in a suburban area. A hauntingly beautiful story about the longing and search for something real.

Seen it all? Dive to the deep end of the new and bewildering Finnish short form. This matrimony of art and film does not let its viewer off easy. 

Inspired by his own childhood, Philippe Lacôte’s hallucinogenic fable plays out inside a notorious Ivory Coast jail run by its own inmates.

Night Visions International Film Festival is the biggest film festival in Scandinavia focusing on - but not limited to - fantasy, horror, science fiction and action cinema. The festival is arranged twice a year in Helsinki, with the next edition taking place in November 2021.

The crazy and chaotic life of Rakel takes a turn when she discovers she is six months pregnant.

Madsen Minax addresses mental health, addiction, grief, and domestic violence, all of which have directly impacted his family. Simultaneously, at the heart of this extraordinary film, there is a rarely seen, rich and layered portrait of trans identity.

Carrie Brownstein wanted to make a tour documentary about her friend Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent. But what started as a satiric mockumentary of a rock documentary turned into metafiction.

How does a cloud die? Not with a bang but with hushed discussions on ethical dilemmas regarding weather tampering. The documentary follows a scientific project that aims to control the clouds – but who has the right to make it rain?

Stories about trauma, victims, and surviving told both in factual and in fictive form. There are many ways to atonement, but some have dead ends.

Kurdish all-women forces are fighting against Isis in Northeast Syria. Hala, 19, joins the troops with one goal in her mind: she wants to save her younger sisters from their conservative parents.

Intimate letters sent between a group of drag queens from the 1950s are found in 2014. They reveal a never-before-seen look at New York’s queer history.

A powerful and provocative drama from the Palestinian-born director Hany Abu-Assad has the nerve and skill to turn daily headlines about suicide bombers and terrorism into a heart-stopping story whose urgency is startling.

BDSM sessions are rituals in Maja Borg’s documentary film that focuses on exploring one’s own limits and the contrast between submission and domination. Spirituality overlaps with sexuality and desire.

Four neighbors become both the instigators and victims of an emotional tsunami, brought on by an unusual proposal made during an evening of excess and catharsis.

In her newest feature Maïwenn returns to her roots by transferring the abundant energy which flows through her films into an intimate, accurate and moving work about grief, family and the transmission of Algerian heritage.

The year 1981 in Finland: a withering president and finlandization at its peak. Pesänlikaajat is a dandy documentary about a sensational book that revealed it all.

Nicolas Cage isn’t just a gifted, fearless actor; he’s a state of mind. The Oscar winner delivers his best performance in years as a chef-turned-recluse, who briefly reenters society after his beloved truffle pig is violently taken from him.

This is the cathartic film experience – written in 2017! – we would have never guessed we would need. A poisonous pink cloud forces people to remain in total lockdown, and turns a lighthearted one-night stand between two strangers into a long-term relationship.

19-year-old Bella leaves Sweden for Los Angeles to become the world's next big porn star in Ninja Thyberg’s tour de force debut feature.

The X-Ray Spex singer Poly Styrene is revealed as a mystic, rebellious working-class woman of colour in this valuable film that tells a story rarely recognized in the history of rock 'n roll.

Young queer love on the beach, on the train and at clubs, at pre-games and afterparties. The main characters in these shorts navigate through their own desires, societal expectations and lingering gazes.

Seen through the eyes of a UN interpreter, this slowly unfolding drama is perfectly pitched to both engage and horrify.

The screening features the winning short films and audience favourites of the R&A Shorts - Cut to the Chase National Competition 2021.

This spine-tingling, heartbreaking tale of a woman with Alzheimer’s, who gets lost in the labyrinthine corridors of both her mind and her home, has a universal power that will resonate with anyone, regardless of personal experience.

Aretha Franklin needs no introduction. These are songs that light you up – with feelings, memories – when you hear them. You sing along with them in your head and, after the credits roll, you keep on singing (and murdering) them.

A bittersweet, delightfully outspoken satire laced with remarkable performances delivers a potent critique of the complacency to patriarchy that girdles contemporary Moroccan society.

Guitar icon Ronnie Wood jams and shares stories of his career. Rod Stewart and members of The Rolling Stones are also featured in Oscar-winner Mike Figgis’ laid-back documentary.

1930s doomed lovers are contrasted with a modern couple in a stylish ghost story.

Award-winning Spanish hit tells a coming-of-age story of the sexual awakening of teenage girls in a Catholic school in a country torn between modernity and older customs and beliefs.

From the ’50s to the present day, the recent history of Hong Kong is illuminated through seven episodes by veteran local directors.

Josephine Decker’s Sundance winner takes you inside the enigmatic world of horror author Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale).

The love story and aspirations of a Swiss woman and a Lebanese man in Beirut are overshadowed by civil war in this visually enchanting French debut.

Short films from and about Sámi. These films have been screened at Indigenous Peoples’ Film Festival Skábmagovat.

The French director's debut feature is a quietly chilling depiction of a teenager trying to advance in her skiing career – while getting tangled up in the web of her charismatic trainer.

As a metaphor, sleepwalking — aka moving blindly into disaster — is pretty well-worn, but Paula Hernández ekes something new from it in her deliciously observed, tightly focused drama about a family falling apart over a New Year's vacation.

Photojournalist and activist Boniface has decided to make Kenya a better place to live. But how to win an election with an anti-corruption campaign when voters are expecting bribes?

Endless sunny days of bellydancing, dating and drug use set the mood in this documentary (produced by Darren Aronofsky!) about America's largest retirement community.

Peru in the 1980s. A woman is deprived of her newborn baby and a journalist battling with his identity takes on the case. Melinda León’s film tells a dreamlike story about otherness and poverty, which reminds of Alfonso Cuarón's Roma with its portrayal of quiet empathy.

In North Cairo, a vibrant young woman is trapped between conflicting modes of comportment, with religion on one side and social media on the other.

Suzanne Lindon wrote the screenplay for her impressive directorial debut when she was just 15, and her authentic perspective shines through this tale of teenage romantic obsession.

Questlove’s magnificent documentary of the forgotten 1969 Harlem Cultural festival gives moving context to long-hidden footage of Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone et al. in their prime.

Underneath an adorably artificial 1980s aesthetic broils a violent trauma that haunts twin sisters trying to revive their lost bond.

This uplifting comedy is based on an incredible true story of a group of prisoners staging Samuel Beckett’s famous play Waiting for Godot – and turning it into a big hit.

Udo Kier, a trouper willing to take on any role no matter how dark it might be (remember Dragged Across Concrete?), surprises with a sweet tale of reconciliation.

Tailor Nikos’ business is running poorly, so he is forced to use all his creativity to find new customers and, possibly, a new way of living.

A power couple within the Danish gourmet scene runs the popular restaurant Malus in Copenhagen. They are willing to sacrifice everything to achieve their dream — getting the coveted Michelin star.

A full load of teenage mindscapes! Aching and longing from the time in life where the future is really in the future. Includes Sundance winner The Criminals.

A rivetting look at the price of sporting fame from Sweden’s Ronnie Sandahl.

Would you stand on the sidelines or rise to rebellion? These short films tell fictive and factual stories of injustice. The screening ends with the Oscar-nominated documentary Do Not Split.

A girls' basketball team aims to break down cultural barriers. The team achieves remarkable results, and the girls are becoming strong, independent and ready to change the world. But is the world ready?

Weerasethakul's Cannes Palm d'Or winner is barely a film; it's more a floating world. To watch it is to feel many things – balmed, seduced, amused, mystified...

A heartbreaking – yet surprisingly humorous – tale of an ex-con whose soul is crushed by systemic discrimination when reentering Japanese society.

Star-crossed lovers get a dose of the evil eye in this uncanny, Georgian fairy tale of soccer, movies, falling in love – and dogs.

An award-winning anthology film highlights the joys and sorrows of love from three angles, supported by strong actors.

Poor drug addict Fehmi dreams of becoming a rapper when he meets Devin, an upper-class DJ. Nisan Dağs' film presents solid acting and the rarely seen hoods of Istanbul.

Irish folklore comes to life in a lushly animated tale of a conflict rising between newly built cities and mythical wolves.

The patriarchy casts a heavy shadow over the romance between two women in this magnetic Venice-winner, set in the rural America of the 1850s.

Filippo Meneghetti has directed a beautiful and captivating love story starring Barbara Sukowa, known from Hannah Arendt and Fassbinder's Lola, and marvelous Martine Chevallier.

A mesmerizing portrait of one of popular music’s most original minds.

“Y'all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out?” 147 tweets later, a stripping gig gone South has become the stuff of legends – and now a must-see movie.

The stunning seascapes of the Hiroshima-area island help establish a contemplative mood for Naomi Kawase's new film – only a mountain couldn’t be moved by this.