Known from the field of arts and culture, Kaisa Näreranta will take over April 1st.

Kaisa Näreranta previously worked as a project manager at the Helsinki Music Centre Foundation, with a diverse career in music and arts. She has also produced the documentary film The Echoes of the Universe – The Music of Kaija Saariaho, which premiered last year.

The non-competitive Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy is Finland’s biggest film festival, with more than 50 000 tickets sold yearly. The 37th edition will take place on the 19th to 29th of September.

The role as Executive Director includes the associated industry event Finnish Film Affair, as well as smaller events throughout the year hosted by the organization, such as the Love & Anarchy Spring Break festival.

Näreranta will take over the position from Anna Möttölä, who has been leading the organization since 2017. Möttölä will still handle the second edition of the Spring Break festival taking place in March. Since the pandemic, the festival has faced economic challenges and last fall arranged support events, the success of which showed the festival’s importance for its visitors.

In the press release Näreranta comments: “Love and Anarchy, Spring Break, and FFA are all very high-quality artistic multicultural festival concepts, which all bring together the audience, the media, as well as the professionals in the field. These festivals have a crucial role in supporting the Finnish film industry internationally. I think that there’s great potential in cultivating and further developing this aspect of HIFF”.

Read the full press release: CLICK HERE