Discoveries from Finland World Cinema

A foolish man leaves his family on the shore and travels through humanity's mistakes on a rickety paddle boat.

In an age of intersecting political, man-made and ecological disasters, ‘Preemptive Listening’ is an ode to the sirens that are and those that could be. Siren compositions from over 20 contemporary musicians form a resonant voice to ask; Does an alarm have to be alarming?

“Picturing a Micropolis: 96100-97690” is a city symphony and short experimental film that depicts Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland.

A documentary about the elementary school children as they start their first year in Merihaka, Helsinki.

Lars is an elderly Swedish man, who has chosen to spend his winters in solitude as a care taker of the few hiking huts next to Sweden's highest mountain Kebnekaise. The film explores the inner and outer world of his stay at the hut and questions wether or not happiness can ensue, when life is not shared with friends and loved ones.

High school girls on the threshold of adulthood decide to defy the state ban on dancing by organizing secret graduation dances in wartime Helsinki in 1944. Before best friends Elvi and Irja take their biggest step yet into adulthood, they must find the courage to say goodbye to each other.

Intrusive thoughts take over the mind of a struggling young man.

Esko, an engineer tired of his cheating wife's nagging, decides to disappear for good.

Are Sergej, allu, Aleksib, Aerial and xseveN the following Finnish CS: GO superstars? What is the everyday life of a player when the computer clicks open six days a week? The documentary follows ENCE's journey to the big arenas.

Russia and the US battle for world domination in this action comedy.

Sandarmohin suru is a documentary film on 12 Finns who lost their relatives in The Great Purge in Soviet Carelia. Each of them found out about the fate of their family members almost 100 years later.

Kasino is a youth comedy based on true stories told by a wide range of people about the time when mobile phones first appeared in the hands of young people. For decades, young people from all over Finland gathered in youth centers like Kasino in Kauhajoki, where music was important, but the most important thing was to see friends. And perhaps to behave irresponsibly.

The story of a bus driver Pentti Hartikainen.

Shot at the Department of Nuclear Physics at the University of Helsinki, the images of The Punched Tape of Life illustrate the beauty of 1960s information technology. These decorative scenes parallel a set of ”summer interludes” which document Kurenniemi’s entourage.

Over a blue screen, a voiceover narrates The Artist’s experience of a sanatorium, where they were supposed to make a piece of art, but did not.

Colonel Timiryazev served in Finland before the independence. His photographs offer a glimpse on his time in the midst of history in the making.

A common advertising painted on a wall in London becomes a message that is sent to me and says not to lose courage in this world. Faced with an unknown large city, my camera allows me to put in order the chaos outside.

The mint produces Finnish markkas.

Documentary film.

Dolastallat – To Have a Campfire is an experimental short film about a Sámi woman going to the mountains in Kola Peninsula, and having a modern campfire with an unexpected creature. The vast landscape bears hints of Arctic mining industry and there is also a reference to the old Sámi myth.

A young business consultant, once a hotshot at a major consulting firm, now finds himself working for a small-town outfit in rural Finland. Hoping to mask his insecurities, the consultant fills the silence with chatter about mundane things while being plagued by a negative inner voice that taunts him and constantly undermines his self-esteem. Feeling somewhat lost he tries to navigate the troubled waters of the first day in his new role.

A young man sets out to challenge the world and himself after a hard partying. Along his manic journey, he encounters his Sancho Panza, the party guests who have come to see him, the royal court and the conclave.

A 1988 Finnish sketch-based absurd comedy film, set in the village of Huttutörönkylä and following the lives of Reinari "Tympee" Huttunen and other villagers.

A taxi driver picks up an artist who wants to get to the shore.

Light Snatcher dives deep into the intriguing architectural world of light and darkness, led by architect and academic Juha Leiviskä. The film takes a stroll into some of Leiviskä’s own creations, as well as Myyrmäki’s church and Vallila’s library, stopping by a few other international inspirations along the way. Through examples, calculations, and sketches, Leiviskä demonstrates the significance of light in architecture with such skill, that soon viewers can’t help but observe light as an ever-present saint who serves as the seamless crossing point between art and nature.

A woman from Lapland falls in love with a Viennese soldier during World War II, becomes pregnant and leaves Finland. She gives birth in Hamburg, but later becomes home-sick and returns to her country. The woman is Mari Soppela’s grandmother, the starting point of Soppela’s film, Family Files. Naturally, it is only the start of the film: in the Soppela family saga, it is merely one link in an endless chain.

A man without arms wants an apple up in a tree. A man without legs wants to ride a bike. Can they help each other?

An ethnographic film about clearing land for cultivation with the slash-and-burn agriculture method.

A documentary focusing on the career of the academic and researcher Kustaa Vilkuna.

The short documentary tells the story of a culture and arts space in Tampere. Between 2018 and 2023 the culture association Romu & Random operated at Satamakatu 3. The documentary preserves its cultural history, which technically began in 2014, and it looks, feels, smells and tastes just like the space in Satamakatu 3 did.

A short film about the work and private life of the Prime Minister, made in honor of J. K. Paasikivi's 75th birthday.

Travel via Turku and Parainen to Airisto and spend your summer vacation at the Airisto Tourist Center.

Shows people in activity, playing and doing their every day activity.

Tax evader Antii Mäkelä is unexpectedly pardoned and released from prison, only to be mistaken for a legendary hitman with the exact same name. Caught between a blind gangster, a desperate president and ruthless government agents, Antii accepts multiple lucrative offers without an actual plan to survive them. When the real assassin is finally released, Antii must run for his life, dodging killers, gangsters and the state itself.

An animation of the ocean’s bones, the joints of the waves, humankind and dark waters.

A documentary about birds and marine life in the Bothnian Sea

The clip is from Lahyn-Film's 11-minute sound film, which was inspected on 31 October 1929. In this little sensation in film history, the legendary Rafael "Rafu" Ramstedt sings the sailor's song Mun kehtoni on keinuellut, which he composed and wrote. The sound of the film was produced using playback technology, resulting in a 100% image and sound recording.

What does the darkness of the night hide in its embrace? Fragmental Studies of a Night introduces seven scientists from different fields and follows them working at nighttime. Research in the darkness requires sharpening of all the senses and patience to observe. Through glimpses illuminated by headlights and the moon, the nocturnal life appears rich and mysterious.

Three robot companions descend an abandoned mine, working together in search of the valuable fuel that keeps their kind alive.

Monologue of a succesfull person set to abstract imagery.

A successful doctor moves back to her home village and notices severe flaws in its health services.

This documentary revolves around the work of the priests of the Kallio parish in Helsinki.

Leevi Pienihäkkinen’s tight experimental short documentary Peace and Silence dives into the Helsinki night, exploring the darkened city with fresh eyes. The familiar spots of the city centre flash in the images, but something is different. The everyday becomes weird, details vanish, lights shine taking over everything around them. Humans remain anonymous and faceless, silhouettes against the backdrop of the dark city.

Somewhere deep in the woods, in the house of her youth, she is thinking of ending things. All that matters is that she saved herself, and that nothing in her remains of them. The IFFR debut by Finnish conceptual artist Mox Mäkelä is an intuitive stream of thoughts, pictures and feelings expressing the protagonist's deep pain at the mistreatment of our planet. Fascinating, unnerving, funny and unlike anything you've seen before.

Reworked footage from Miami Vice (2006).

Relations among a group of friends spending time at a vacation cottage are strained by new internal dynamics: Elias, who used to date Roosa, is now dating Mariaana. In the course of their time at the cottage Elias goes missing, Mariaana begins to exhibit odd behavior, dreams and reality blur, and Ida and Roosa stumble into a fable-like nightmare.

Albert the Caterpillar and his girlfriend Albertina visit Filbert, the inventor. During a walk in the woods, Albertina disappears, kidnapped by Olfert the Crook. Filbert and Albert find Olfert’s hiding place and rescue Albertina.

What's it like to live without running water? In Peru's sprawling capital, Lima, this is the everyday reality for 1.5 million children and adults, forced to pay up to a week's salary for just one day's water.

Kristina Norman works with the physical and emotional dimension of the concept of imprisonment. She draws a parallel between the contemporary experiences of political imprisonment and the conditions in the concentration camp set up on Suomenlinna island in Helsinki in the aftermath of the Finnish Civil War (1918–1919).

The magnificent Santa Cruz waterlily in Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden blooms annually for only two consecutive nights. The plant descends from a strain of seeds received over a hundred years ago. The past and present come together, as gardeners of older and younger generations handle the plant with confident tenderness and pass on their knowledge. In the midst of practical work, the images of greenness and glimmering water combined with soft pitter-patter makes the movie practically radiate peacefulness.

A super 8 mm home movie print of The Inivisible Man treated with domestic bleach.