Director Juho Kuosmanen ('Olli Mäki') and reps from NCFP nominees to attend.

Kuosmanen will take part in a seminar dedicated to the prestigious Nordic Council Film Prize on September 19 at Helsinki’s Cultural Point, together with producers Juho Kuosmanen (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki), Sweden’s Madeleine Ekman (The Here After), Iceland’s Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir (Sparrows), and Denmark’s Mikael Rieks (Land of Mine).

The five nominated Nordic films are some of 180 films screening in Helsinki, and two of them -The Here After and Sparrows will take part in a new regional tour that will kick start after the festival. The regional tour with 25 films is a new attempt from the festival to reach out to film buffs outside the Finnish capital.

Festival programmer Pekka Lanerva said: “In some parts of Finland, especially in the north, people have rare opportunities to experience culture activities. Therefore, local film distributors, regional cinemas and film clubs have responded very positively to our decision to expand outside of Helsinki.”

Another novelty at the festival’s 29th edition is the addition of Selma Vilhunen’s Little Wing as Highlight Spot on the festival’s opening night this Thursday. “We have an exceptionally strong year in Finnish fiction,” noted Lanerva “and this is also reflected in the variety of titles on show, from the Finnish Oscar entry The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki to Antti J. Jokinen’s contemporary youth drama Flowers of Evil, and the TV series Bordertown of which two episodes will screen at the festival.”

Women in film are also honoured at Love & Anarchy, such as Isabelle Huppert (star of the opening film Elle, Louder than Bombs and closing film Things to Come), French director Emilie Deleuze (Miss Impossible) and Swedish rising talent Ninja Thyberg who will take part in a discussion about sex and youth.
Other highlights include a masterclass with renowned British director Terence Davies, a Sibelius fan. 

For full details about Love & Anarchy, check: www.hiff.fi