Helsinki International Film Festival -- Love and Anarchy

Overview

The Helsinki International Film Festival -- Love and Anarchy is Finland's most important international film festival. Founded in 1988 and held annually in September in Helsinki, the festival presents adventurous international and Finnish cinema with a programming sensibility that embraces the provocative spirit of its Love and Anarchy subtitle.

Helsinki's character as a design-conscious, technologically innovative, and culturally sophisticated Nordic capital creates an ideal audience for a festival that favors formally adventurous and thematically challenging cinema. The Finnish design tradition, the country's extraordinary education system, and its progressive social policies create an audience with high expectations for both aesthetic and intellectual quality.

The Love and Anarchy subtitle reflects the festival's commitment to programming that disturbs comfortable assumptions and explores the full range of human experience.

Key Sections

• International Competition -- films competing for jury prizes
• Finnish Film Program -- new Finnish features
• Documentary Program -- nonfiction features
• Short Film Competition -- competitive short programs
• Retrospectives -- programs dedicated to major filmmakers

What Filmmakers Should Know

HIFF accepts open submissions. For Finnish filmmakers, the festival is the most important Helsinki platform. The Love and Anarchy sensibility makes it specifically receptive to formally adventurous and politically challenging work.

Major Awards

• FIPRESCI Award -- International critics prize
• Best Finnish Film
• Audience Award

Festival History

HIFF was founded in 1988 and has operated for over three decades as Finland's most important international film event.

See Also

For Nordic cinema, see International Film Markets. For Tampere short films, see Tampere Film Festival.