The third edition of the industry event of the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy wrapped up successfully. The three-day Finnish Film Affair (Sept. 23 to 25) is a showcase of Finnish films and a networking platform for attending industry professionals. The country’s main film industry event takes place yearly in a welcoming and laid-back but highly efficient and professional setting.

The event attracted an attendance of almost 300 participants, of which nearly 100 were international and approximately 200 domestic accredited industry professionals.

The international participants included representatives of sales companies (such as Wild Bunch, Fortissimo, Memento Films, Films Transit), distributors (Koch Media, Jupiter Films etc.), tv-buyers (ZDF/Arte), festival programmers (Sundance, Sarajevo) and representatives of the press (The Hollywood Reporter, Screen International, Le film français, Filmecho/Filmwoche).

Wide range of projects presented

This year, the Finnish Film Affair presented nearly 50 Finnish films, either finished or in development, to an audience of almost 70 international industry guests.

The seventeen works in progress received a good response from attending film buyers and were considered highly versatile. Especially The Fencer (Miekkailija) by Klaus Härö, Hobbyhorse Chicks (Kepparit) by Selma Vilhunen, Cross Your Heart (Henkesi edestä) by Petri Kotwica and Mother’s Wish (Äidin toive) by Joonas Berghäll raised interest among international guests.

Among the nineteen finished films, the representatives of the international film industry had a chance to see recent and upcoming releases such as They Have Escaped (He ovat paenneet) by J-P Valkeapää and the Grump (Mielensäpahoittaja) by Dome Karukoski, which both were screened in Toronto.

Development in Focus

The core of the programme for invited buyer guests consisted of a works in progress showcase, screenings of new Finnish films and networking events.

As a part of an aim to offer more tools for the next generation of filmmakers to develop their project for the international market, a new element in the programme, the Project Development Clinic, was launched. Domestic producers, directors and scriptwriters of ten selected projects took part in round table sessions with international industry professionals to receive feedback and advice on developing their fiction feature film projects.

In addition, a group of international experts, led by Simon Perry, discussed different aspects of script development, packaging, marketing, distribution and sales in the panel How to Develop a Film That Travels.

Materials online

The Finnish films in the line up can be screened year round in the online platform of the event at www.finnishfilmaffair.fi. If interested in getting to know the latest Finnish features and docs for acquisitions or programming, log in or fill in the registration form to obtain your personal user credentials.

You can also watch a selection of seven Finnish Film Affair titles online at Festival Scope: https://www.festivalscope.com/festival/helsinki-iff-love-anarchy/2014

To get a feel of the event you can have a look at the photo gallery of the Finnish Film Affair at: http://flic.kr/ps/2zVXBm

The next Finnish Film Affair will take place again in the end of September 2015. If interested in attending, feel free to be in touch by July 2015 through industry@hiff.fi.