Any Day Now world premieres at Helsinki’s Love & Anarchy

The 33rd Helsinki International Film Festival-Love & Anarchy will be held physically, while abiding to Covid-19 health and safety regulations.

Selected films will also be available online via Festival Scope. 

Making its world premiere at the main Gala Films programme is Any Day Now, the much-anticipated directorial debut of Finnish/Iranian director Hamy Ramezan. The drama inspired by the director’s own experience is a heart-warming story of an Iranian family and their daily life in a reception centre while waiting for a last response from local authorities to obtain a refugee status.

The film produced by Aamu Film Company won Best Project at the 2019 Helsinki Festival’s industry sidebar Finnish Film Affair. The domestic premiere via Nordisk Film is set for October 16. 

Also screening at the Gala Films section is Love & Anarchy’s opening film Never Rarely Sometimes Always by Eliza Hittman, which won a Silver Bear in Berlin. 

Seven films are part of the Nordic Gems: Being a Human Person, About Endlessness, Call Mom!, Psychosia, Run Uje Run and Wildland.

Another seven titles will screen in the section ‘Fuck It-I’m Young! such as Always Amber, Disco, and the 1998 classic Fucking Åmål.

FinnHits comprises some of the best local films of the year: Teemu Nikki’s dramedy Nimby, the documentaries Anerca, Breach of Life by Marku and Johannes Lehnuskallio, Lady Time by Elina Talvensaari, Lost Boys by Joonas Neuvonen and Sadri Cetinkaya, Karpo by Ari Matikainen and a compilation of archive material featuring TV personality Hannu Karpo.

Other Highlights include the Nordic Council Film Prize programme with this year’s entries Beware of Children (Norway), Charter (Sweden), Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (Finland), Echo (Iceland) and Uncle (Denmark).

As signatory of the 5050x2020 Pledge for Gender Parity in the industry, the Helsinki Film Festival is proud to have achieved its goal, with 51% of films directed by a woman or a non-binary person.

Representation in Finnish film and TV drama will also be discussed at the Finnish Film Affair (September 23-25) by leading industry people including Jarmo Lampela (Yle Head of Drama), Jani Toivola, producer Max Malka (Endemol Shine Finland) and Laura Kuulasmaa (Elisa Viihde).

‘Intimacy on screen’ will be debated by intimacy coordinators Pia Rickman (Finland/UK) and Ann C. James (USA) as well as Finnish actors Sannah Sedergård and Tom Rejström, co-stars of the upcoming film Yellow Sulphur Sky.

The popular pitching session of upcoming Finnish films will take place Thursday September 24. The full programme of works in development and in progress will soon be announced.

For the first time, the hybrid Finnish Film Affair will be awarding a €3,000 prize to the Best Documentary Project.

For further details, check: www.hiff.fi