Five films, chosen by Helsinki International Film Festival and The National Audiovisual Institute compete for the festival’s annual Audience Award. The winner will be screened as Film of the Month in Orion Cinema in November.

Italian director Nanni Moretti returns with a powerful drama MIA MADRE. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection. MIA MADRE tells the story of a middle-aged film director (Margherita Buy), who’s fighting with an existential crisis while taking care of her seriously ill mother.

British veteran director Terence Davies’ SUNSET SONG is based on the classic novel by Lewis Grawis Gibbons. The period drama takes place in a farm in early 20th century Scotland. A coming-of-age story of young farmer’s daughter torn between love for a man, land and writing is told with breathtakingly beautiful images.

Argentinan drama EL CLAN has been awarded at Venice and Toronto film festivals. The seemingly normal Puccio family kidnapped and murdered several people causing terror in Buenos Aires suburbs. The director Pablo Trapero’s powerful prison story Leonera (Lion’s Den) was part of the L&A programme in 2008.

Bidegain is a man of many talents; writer, actor, producer and even a composer. He has written several films directed by the French master Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone and Dheepan). Now Bidegain debuts as a director with a family drama with a western twist. LES COWBOYS takes place in rural France and tells the story of a father and son who are searching for their lost daughter and sister.

Mikhail Mestetskiy’s RAG UNION presents a group of energetic youngsters determined to start a revolution. How and why they want to start a revolution is another question. The ecstatic film is a mix of realism, dream and fantasy with some dark Slavic shades.

The audience can vote for Orion’s Film of the Month during the festival from the 15 to 25th Sep on the website of the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI): kavi.fi/hiffkilpailu. The winner will be announced on September 25th and screened five times in Orion on November 12th, 15th, 20th, 23rd and 30th. The Film of the Month series introduces new international films that would otherwise get less attention in Finnish cinemas. Previous Audience Award winners include Pawel Pawlikowski’s IDA, which became a hit.