The Coronavirus pandemic causes changes at the Love & Anarchy Festival. The purpose of the changes is to make the festival safe and comfortable for everyone. The new practices affect participation in the festival and ticket sales, as well as movie theatre occupancy rates. The instructions and recommendations of the authorities are followed in the organization of the event. The up-to-date information can be found on the festival’s website at hiff.fi/en/festival/covid-19.

In the wake of the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, the HIFF is paying special attention to visitor safety. The festival’s biggest priority is the well-being of its visitors, volunteers and staff. The festival follows the recommendations and guidance of the authorities and will update the practices as needed.

– Films are best experienced in a cinema. They can comfort, shake and inspire, which is needed now more than ever. We want to take part in developing safe ways to carry out events in these times and, together with the cinemas, will do our best to make the HIFF safe and pleasant, says Anna Möttölä, Executive Director of the HIFF.

In cinemas, the new arrangements are most visible in the fact that no more than a third of a cinema’s capacity is sold for screenings. Every third seat is left empty, which leaves space around the visitor in every direction. The number of available seats as well as the amount of tickets that have been sold to a screening can be checked on each film’s page on the festival website hiff.fi.

The number of screenings per movie has been increased to allow the audience to see the movies they want despite the limited number of seats. There is also more time left between screenings to allow the audience to enter the screening as early as possible without crowding. HIFF works together with its theatre partners to ensure the cleanliness and hygiene of the theatres. The cleaning of the venues has been increased, and the festival staff is on-site to advise the audience. All cinemas are equipped with hand sanitizer. The audience is asked to take care of hand hygiene and only come to the festival healthy. For those belonging to high-risk groups, screenings are provided in selected theatres in the afternoons of the festival days.

We recommend that tickets are purchased online (hiff.fi/films). Cash is not accepted at physical ticket points. With a card, contactless payment is preferred. A purchased ticket can be cancelled in the event of illness before the start of the screening. This year’s festival passes are also valid for next year’s Season Film Festival and the 34th HIFF.

Due to the coronavirus situation, there are new, additional ways to watch HIFF films. Part of the programme can be viewed digitally from Festival Scope. After the festival, some HIFF films are also screened in selected cinemas.

The hygiene and safety practices of the festival will be updated if the situation changes. The latest information can be found at hiff.fi/en/festival/covid-19.