The Finnish talent will perform live and give a masterclass during the Helsinki International Film Festival-Love & Anarchy running September 17-27, 2020.

Heikki Kossi is Finland’s most internationally acclaimed and prolific foley artist. His name is associated to nearly 350 films, documentaries, TV dramas, both in the Nordics and internationally, such as James Gray’s Ad Astra, Feras Fayyad’s The Cave, Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled and Juho Kuosmanen’s The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki.

Commenting on his award, Kossi said: “I am flattered and thankful for the distinction that I have received. HIFF [Helsinki International Film Festival] is a festival to reckon with, and the award speaks of deep understanding for the various levels of film. Most of all, I am glad about the attention paid to film sound. Sound is an emotion, part of the narration, and understanding this opens up wonderful possibilities.”

Kossi will give a masterclass and live performance on the closing day of the industry event Finnish Film Affair (September 23-25).

Previous recipients of the Nordic Flair Award include actors Pilou Asbæk, Laura Birn and director Lone Scherfig.

The Nordic Flair event supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond will widen its scope to Nordic emerging professionals, by offering for the first time a training course in Helsinki (September 22-25) to 6-10 emerging sales agents or distributors from the Nordic region. The goal of this initiative is to boost Nordic film professional’s careers. Deadline for applications is Wednesday August 19, 2020 (midnight, GMT+3).

This year’s Nordic-centric HIFF will screen several Nordic films that have garnered A Festivals’ attention, such as Roy Andersson’s About Endlessness (to be released by Cinema Mondo in Finland October 9), Jeanette Nordahl’s Wildland (Denmark), Grímur Hákonarson’s The County (Iceland) and Dag Johan Haugerud’s Beware of Children (Norway).

The 33rd HIFF will also screen the five films nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize, to be announced at Haugesund’s Norwegian International Film Festival August 18.

Helsinki Film Festival's full programme will be announced August 27.