Love & Anarchy
17.–27.9.2026

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 2024 festival gathered approximately 55 000 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, Cristian Mungiu and Timothy Spall.

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 application form for volunteer positions for the 2026 Love & Anarchy festival and industry event Finnish Film Affair is now closed. Thank you to all applicants, we will be in touch with everyone before the end of July.

We are still looking for photo- and videographers. Please contact Staff Producer Riikka Haapanen riikka@hiff.fi and include your portfolio or some examples of your work to the message.

Early Bird serial cards 2026 on sale until 31 August 

Regular priced serial cards will be on sale on 31 August.
Early Bird prices:

• HURMIO (6 tickets)  73 € (regular 1.9. -> 78 €)
• PARATIISI (12 tickets) 134 € (regular 1.9. -> 144 €)
• EUFORIA (20 tickets) 200 € (regular 1.9. -> 220 €)

All prices include VAT. Tickets for the gala screenings can be redeemed with a serial card by paying an additional fee of €3. For students, people over 70 and unemployed jobseekers, the festival offers all serial cards at reduced prices, which are the same as the Early Bird prices.

Discount group tickets will be on sale in the festival’s online shop from 1 September. Be prepared to prove your eligibility for the discount at the ticket control in the cinema.

Early Bird serial cards can be purchased at https://hiff.fi/en/serial-cards/ 

Individual screening tickets

Love & Anarchy individual ticket prices 2026:

• REGULAR TICKET 14 €
• REGULAR TICKET FOR DISCOUNT GROUPS 13€ (students/unemployed job seekers/over 70s)
• GALA TICKET 17 €

Love & Anarchy ticket sales 2026 

More information on ticket sales will be published simultaneously with the start of the sale of regular-price serial cards on Monday, 31st of August. The entire festival programme will be released on Tuesday, 1st of September. Individual screening tickets for gala screenings will go on sale on Wednesday 2nd September and individual screening tickets for other screenings will go on sale on Friday 4th of September. All tickets are available in our online store and at ticket sales points.The locations and opening hours of the ticket sales points will be announced later in August. 

Payment Methods

Online

ePassi
Online banking (Nordea, Osuuspankki, Danske Bank, Aktia, Säästöpankki, POP Pankki, S-pankki, Handelsbanken and Ålandsbanken)
Visa and Mastercard
Smartum

The festival staff and their contact information can be found on the Contact page.

The submission for the 2026 competition is open from March 2 until May 15.

The submission for the R&A Shorts 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 of professionals appointed by the festival will choose the winners. The competition is organised by the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy association. All films selected for the competition will be screened as part of the 39th Love & Anarchy festival 17.–27.9.2026. 

The main prize is the R&A Shorts Award which is a monetary award. The Finnish Film Foundation’s New Wave Award will be given to a new talent whose short film represents the bright tomorrow of Finnish film. The purpose of the award is to support the professional career of a promising new filmmaker working with the short film format. Established in 2021 in collaboration with AMPI, the Moving People and Images Award is sponsored by the Finnish Film Foundation. It is given to a filmmaker whose work emphasises inclusion and diversity.

The Best Student Film Award is an accreditation to the Love & Anarchy festival and Finnish Film Affair industry event in 2027. Student films also compete for all the other prizes. In addition, all 2026 competition films will compete for the Audience Award, which is a product prize given to the director.

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 2025, Sherwan Haji’s film My Name is Hope won the main prize.

Eligibility

• You can apply with a fiction, documentary or animation film that is maximum 30 min long. Music films are not eligible.
• The film was completed after the 1st of January 2025.
• Only completed films are eligible.
• Premiere status is not required.
• Finland must be the production or co-production country (Finnish production company/school 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).
• The films selected to the competition must deliver the screening copy in DCP format with English subtitles (if not spoken in English).
• The festival does not pay screening fees for competition films.
• The film can be submitted only by the rights holder of the film who by submitting the film gives consent to a possible screening of the film in the competition. The selections are final and there is no short-list system in place.

Film submission

• There is no submission fee.
• Fill out the entry form carefully, information (credits, synopsis, film stills) entered into the form will be directly used in festival communications.
• A confirmation message for successfully submitting the form is automatically sent to the contact person’s email address.
• The submission form is open from 2 March until 15 May 2026 at 23:59.

Selected films

• The festival will notify all the entrants of their selection or non-selection by 26 June 2026. If selected, an email is sent to the addresses of the contact person and director/s. If not selected an email is sent to the address of the contact person.
• The films selected for the competition must deliver the screening copy in DCP by 14 August 2026.
• The competition line-up will be published in August at the festival’s website.

Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy Association reserves the right to make changes.

Apply here!

For more information, please contact:
Annu Suvanto, Film Programmer (R&A Shorts)
annu@hiff.fi
+358 50 364 3683

Online store

• Online banking credentials (Nordea, Osuuspankki, Danske Bank, Aktia, Säästöpankki, POP Pankki, S-pankki, Handelsbanken and Ålandsbanken)
• Visa- ja Mastercard-cards
• Smartum*
• ePassi*

R&A ticket sales points

• Visa- ja Mastercard-cards
• ApplePay-application
• SmartumPay-application
• Edenred Virike -card*
• ePassi*
• Smartum-, Edenred- and Tyky-cultural benefits.*

We do not accept cash or the Edenred application.

*Serial cards and tickets purchased with a culture benefit are personal.

When paying with the culture benefit, please be prepared to provide proof of identity (driving licence, passport, photo ID).

General terms

Please check your ticket order before payment. The screening tickets and serial cards are non-refundable and non-exchangeable as are also the donations made to John Nurminen Foundation.

By buying a ticket or serial card to the festival you adhere to the festivals safer space guidelines. Read more: Safer Space

Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy reserves the right to make changes to the programme. Any updates will be announced on the festival website.

Screening tickets

• Paid and redeemed screening tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.
• If a screening gets cancelled, screening tickets on serial cards and individual screening tickets will be primarily refunded with a corresponding ticket product.

Serial cards

• IHASTUS, HURMIO, PARATIISI and EUFORIA Serial cards are valid only for the 2026 Love & Anarchy festival.
• Purchased serial cards are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.
• Serial cards cannot be used to redeem tickets for screenings with free admittance, special priced (tickets for gala screenings can be redeemed with an additional cost) or sold-out screenings.
• Any remaining balance on the serial card will not be refunded and cannot be transferred to other events of HIFF – Rakkautta & Anarkiaa ry.
• The serial card can be used by more than one person (Exception: serial cards paid with cultural benefits are personal and may not be shared.)
• The serial card does not directly entitle the holder admission to films; tickets for the desired screening must be redeemed before the start of the screening in the online store or ticket sales points.
• It is not necessary to redeem all tickets on the serial card at once.

Discounted Serial Cards

Discounted serial cards will go on sale on August 31, when the Early Bird serial card sale ends. The general and serial card terms apply also to discount serial cards. In addition, the following terms apply specifically to discount serial cards:

• The serial cards IHASTUS, HURMIO, PARATIISI, and EUFORIA are available at a discounted price for students, job seekers and people aged 70 and over.
• Discounted serial cards can be shared among multiple people, provided that everyone using the tickets belongs to the same discount group (e.g. a group of students). (Exception: discounted serial cards paid with cultural benefits are personal and may not be shared.)
• Misuse of a discount serial card will result in the cancellation of all remaining tickets on the card.
• Proof of eligibility for the discount will be checked when entering the screening.

Accepted proofs of eligibility:

• Students: a valid digital or physical student card, or a printed certificate of student status
• 70+: Photo identification (driver’s license, passport or photo ID card)
• Job Seeker: The Job search situation view from the Job Market Finland (Työmarkkinatori) website.

Culture benefits

A list of the culture benefit payment methods we accept can be found in the Payment methods section.

• Tickets and serial cards purchased with a culture benefit are personal and can only be used by the person who purchased the products. 
• Misuse of a ticket or a serial card purchased with a culture benefit will result in the ticket or serial card being cancelled. In the event of misuse, the cultural benefit will not be refunded and the misuse will be reported to the culture benefit provider, who may, in accordance to the providers rules, withdraw the benefit in its entirety.
• In the event of cancellation of screening, serial cards or tickets purchased with the culture benefit will not be refunded in cash. 
• The culture benefits cannot be used to purchase festival merchandise or to make a donation to the John Nurminen Foundation.

Marketing

We will send targeted marketing messages to ticket buyers. You can opt out of this marketing at any time. Every marketing message we send you will include instructions on how to easily opt-out. You can read more about this in our Privacy and Data Protection Policy.

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.

Pulpettikino is the festival’s film education project that offers kindergarteners, pupils and their teachers in Helsinki the opportunity to learn about film by participating in Finland’s largest film festival for free. We offer a festival visit for thousands of children each year.

Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy is an invitation-based festival, and we do not have an official submission process. We are a non-competitive festival outside of our National Competition for Finnish shorts. The festival films are selected by the programming team.

You are welcome to submit your film for the festival by filling out the form linked below. We cannot guarantee watching films submitted through the form. You can send us films of any length, but please note that we have a separate submission form for the National Competition for Finnish short films (link to the form can be found under National Competition on this page).

We will only contact you if your film is selected to the festival. If you do not hear from us by August 1, your film has not been selected to the programme this year.

The 39th Love & Anarchy Festival will take place 17–27 September 2026. The submission form is open until June 30.

You can submit your film by filling out the form through this link.

R&A films coming to cinemas after the festival

Premiere 24.9.
Eagles of the Republic (dir. Tarik Saleh)

Premiere 26.9.
E (ohj. Anna Eriksson)
Chuckin ihmeellinen elämä (dir. Mike Flanagan)

Premiere 3.10.
Gaucho, Gaucho (dir. Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw)

Premiere 17.10.
Sentimental Value (dir. Joachim Trier)
Rebellion for Future (dir. Saku Soukka)

Premiere 24.10.
Exit 8 (dir. Genki Kawamura)
What Does That Nature Say to You (dir. Hong Sang-soo)

Premiere 31.10.
Sorry, Baby (dir. Eva Victor)

Premiere 21.11.
Small Things Like These (dir. Tim Mielants)

Coming to cinemas, premiere to be announced:
Sirât (dir. Oliver Laxe)
Nouvelle Vague (dir. Richard Linklater)
It Was Just An Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi)
Sound of Falling (dir. Mascha Schilinski)
Romería (dir. Carla Simón)
The Little Sister (dir. Hafsia Herzi)

The following films from the 2025 Love & Anarchy programme can be seen after the festival on our partner Yle’s channels and Yle Areena! Find up-to-date information about the films’ availability on Yle Areena.

The Black Hole
Boy from Heaven
E
Eagles of the Republic
The End
Safe House
PMMP keikalla: Ei enää ikinä
Quiet Life