Organised for the sixth time during the Helsinki International Film Festival: Love & Anarchy, the Finnish Film Affair (19-21 September) will present 28 new features, two new TV series and 20 projects in development or production to participating sales agents, distributors, buyers and TV programmers from all over the world. 

“We have been thrilled to observe the growing awareness of the filmmaking talent coming out of Finland, and the increasing emergence of Finnish directors in the international arena,” said the festival’s CEO, Anna Möttölä, who was also excited about the record number of films in the showcase – 22 out of 50 – made by women.

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Finnish directors J-P Passi and Jukka Kärkkäinen’s feature-length documentary The Punk Voyage, about legendary Finnish punk-rock band PKN-Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, will open the industry side of the festival; PKN retired in 2016 after seven years, having played 300 gigs in 16 countries and represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Punk Voyage shared last year’s Best Pitch Award with Finnish director Dome Karukoski’s biopic of Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, aka Tom of Finland [+lire aussi :
critique
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interview : Dome Karukoski
fiche film], which is Finland’s candidate for the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign-language Film. Another project from last year is Finnish director Teemu Nikki’s Euthanizer [+lire aussi :
critique
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interview : Teemu Nikki
fiche film], which has just been screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Both The Punk Voyage and Tom of Finland will screen in the programme alongside Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope [+lire aussi :
critique
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Q&A : Aki Kaurismäki
fiche film], which won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and is about to receive the international critics’ FIPRESCI Grand Prix for Best Film of the Year at the 22 September opening of the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Other highly anticipated titles include Finnish director Timo Vuorensola’s Iron Sky: The Coming Race, the sequel to his 2012 cult hit, and Finnish directors Jakub Wrónsky and Ira Karpelan’s fully animated Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, the latest adventure based on Finnish-Swedish author-artist Tove Jansson’s children’s books. 

Oscar-nominated Finnish director Selma Vilhunen will unspool her latest documentary, Hobbyhorse Revolution [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], as well as presenting her work in progress Stupid Young Heart [+lire aussi :
critique
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fiche film], while Kaisa El Ramly will pitch her upcoming Scenes from a Dying Town.

The Finnish Film Affair is organised in conjunction with Audiovisual Finland, the Finnish Film Foundation, the Finnish Producers Organisation and TEKES – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, among others.