The submission for the 2024 national competition is open from March 15 until May 31.

The submission for the national competition is open for fiction, documentary or animated films that are max. 30 minutes long. The production or co-production country of the film must be Finland. The competition line-up is selected by members of the Love & Anarchy Festival Ministry. An independent jury appointed by the festival will choose the winners. All films selected for the competition will be screened as part of the 2024 Love & Anarchy festival 19.-29.9.2024. 

The main prize is the R&A Short Award which is a monetary award. The Finnish Film Foundation’s Uusi Aalto (in English New Wave) Award will be given to a new talent whose short film represents the bright tomorrow of Finnish film. The best student film is awarded for the fifth time. The award is an accreditation to Love & Anarchy festival and Finnish Film Affair industry event in 2025. In addition, all 2024 competition films will compete for the Audience Award.

The submission for the 2024 national competition is now open until May 31. Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy takes place on 19-29 September 2024.

The national competition, which has been organized since 2018, presents a wide range of the high level of Finnish short films through professional and student works. In 2023, Elisabeth Marjanovic Cronvall’s film Reptilhjärnan won the main prize.

Eligibility

• You can apply with a fiction, documentary or animation film that is maximum 30 min long
• Film has been completed after the 1st of January 2023
• Only completed films are eligible
• Finland must be the production or co-production country (Finnish production company involved or part of the funding from Finland)
• Entry form must include a preview link for the completed film (subtitles not mandatory in this version)
• Premiere status is not required
• The films selected to the competition must deliver the screening copy in DCP format with English subtitles (if not spoken in English)
• Festival does not pay screening fees for competition films
• The film can be submitted only by the rights holder of the film (director, producer, distributor, sales) who by submitting the film gives consent to a possible screening of the film in the competition

Film submission

• There is no submission fee
• Fill out the entry form carefully, information entered into the form will be used in festival publications
• We will confirm that we have received your submission within a week via email
• The submission is open from 15 March until 31 May at 23:59

Selected films

• The competition line-up will be published at the end of August at the festival’s website (hiff.fi)
• The festival will notify the entrants of their selections or non-selections latest in early July
• The films selected for the competition must deliver the screening copy in DCP by 15 August

For more information, please contact:
Veera Kotila / producer
veera@hiff.fi

The festival reserves the right to make changes.

Founded in 1988, the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy has been held annually ever since. The aim of Finland’s biggest film festival is to promote the artistry of filmmaking alongside inventive, controversial and visually stunning new films. The festival also seeks to screen films that would otherwise not be seen in Finnish theatres.

The festival programme consists of new films from well-known filmmakers and fresh talents alike. In its first few years the programme was heavily focused on Japanese and Hong Kong films. Since then, the programme has evolved; Asian films still play a part but films from all other continents feature too. The ideological masters of the festival aren’t too tough to pick out – Lina Wertmüller (Love and Anarchy, 1973), Wong Kar-wai, Spike Lee, Claire Denis, Peter Greenaway, Gaspar Noé, Kelly Reichardt, John Woo, David Cronenberg, Takeshi Kitano, Todd Solondz, Takashi Miike and Hayao Miyazaki are all names that pop up in the festival programme year and decade after another.

During its over 30-year lifespan, the Helsinki International Film Festival has expanded from two theatres to 18 screens and established itself as an 11-day homage to cinema. In 1988 the festival screened 26 films. In 2020, the programme consisted of 140 feature films and 170 short films. In 2018 HIFF launched its R&A Shorts National Competition.

The 2023 festival gathered approximately 50 000 visitors.

Each year HIFF invites important filmmakers to speak about their work and meet both audiences and industry professionals. In past years the festival has had the honour of welcoming guests such as Spike Lee, Danny Boyle, Tilda Swinton, Naoko Ogigami, Jan Kounen, Aleksandr Sokurov, Baz Luhrmann, Philip Ridley, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jacques Audiard, Lucile Hadžihalilović, Terence Davies and Cristian Mungiu.

The festival is organised by the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy association.

The festival is supported by the Finnish Film Foundation, the City of Helsinki and the European Union’s Creative Europe MEDIA programme.

The ticket info will be updated here in summer 2024.

Wheelchair seats are available for purchase online or at the festival box offices to all accessible theatres. Free tickets for personal assistants can be redeemed at our online shop or by visiting the box offices. Please note that if a screening is sold out, seats for personal assistants are not guaranteed.

Content warnings

We use content warnings in our films. They are intended to give the viewer advance warning of potentially disturbing content or imagery. We also mention any strobe lights in the content warnings.

Accessibility to venues

Venue specific information is collected with help of Riesa and can be found here. (The link opens in a new tab.)

Contact person in accessibility to venues

Contact person for more information on the accessibility:
Veera Kotila, veera@hiff.fi, phone 0407423523

With the following principles, we commit to making our spaces and events safer for everyone. Safe space means that everyone has the freedom to fully be themselves and participate in all activities without fear of scorn or discrimination. We understand that it isn’t possible to create a space that is completely safe for everyone, but it is vital for us to strive for that goal in all our actions.

• Everyone is treated equally and with respect. We intervene in any cases of discrimination, harassment or other unsuitable behavior. We do not accept racism, ableism or verbal or physical discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. When needed, the person behaving in an unsuitable manner will be removed from the space.
• We do not presume consent, but ask for it.
• Everyone has a right to self-determination. We do not generalize or make presumptions about anyone’s background, experiences, gender or sexuality.
• We understand that we come from different backgrounds, experiences, circumstances and that we can disagree on things. Still, we strive for respectful interactions.
• We acknowledge that all our spaces are not accessible for everyone. We develop the accessibility of our events.
• Our spaces and events are photographed. We inform the audience about this. If you do not want to be photographed, please let our staff know. If you take pictures in our events, please make sure that you have permission from the people who you are photographing.
• We are not perfect, and sometimes we fail. We encourage everyone to take responsibility for their words, actions and failures. Sometimes, an apology is necessary. 
• We promise to support you. In all our events, we have a dedicated person to whom you can report any harassment, discrimination or other unsuitable behavior. You can also give feedback about our events after the fact and anonymously through this form.
• You can give us feedback and suggestions for changes to these principles for safer space through an anonymous form here.

The call for volunteers opens in June 2024.

Pulpettikino is a film education project which offers kindergarteners, school children and their teachers in Helsinki the opportunity to participate in Finland’s largest film festival for free and learn about film. Up to a thousand children visit the festival every year. Pulpettikino registration opens in August 2024. We will be in contact with schools.

Accreditation

Accreditation for the 37th Love & Anarchy festival opens in June 2024.