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FESTIVALS Finland

Love & Anarchy rules in Helsinki

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Over 120 films from 43 countries are screening at the 22nd Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy, which opened last Thursday with Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant and closes on September 27 with Jane Campion’s Bright Star [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

As always, the programme put together by festival director Pekka Lanerva offers plenty of food for thought with themes such as Immigration on Film, Changing Europe and Anti-Hollywood. French, Russian and UK cinema have special sidebars, as per usual, and several Finnish films are screening for the first time, starting with Saara Saarela’s Twisted Roots [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, playing this Thursday as the Finnish Film Gala, ahead of its official domestic release on October 9.

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One of the highlights of the festival is the competition programme of eight films that vie for the Finnkino Prize, a distribution contract in Finland. This year’s titles are About Elly (Iran), Ajami (Israel), All Around Us (Japan), Amreeka (Kuwait), Borderline (Canada), The Maid (Chile), North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rune Denstad Langlo
film profile
]
(Norway) and A Year Ago in Winter [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Germany).

International guests expected this week include Spanish filmmaker Gabe Ibánez, who will introduce his thriller Hierro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gabe Ibáñez
film profile
]
in the Semi-official Selection; and Estonian filmmakers Jaak Kilmi and Kiur Aarma, who will present Disco and Atomic War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
in the (Estonian) Tere eesti! sidebar. Swedish filmmaker Henrik Helström and producer Erika Wasserman, who teamed up on the contemplative Burrowing [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, will be on hand to present their film in the Northern Stars section.

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