INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Grand Prix
5 000 € + Statuette “Kiss”
City of Tampere
INHERITED SILENCE
Mariam Khatchvani | Georgia | 2025 | Fiction | 15 min
With simplicity and a sharp narrative, this short film offers a complex look at how domestic violence becomes normalized and the social structures that allow it to continue. For capturing the complicit silence that upholds a patriarchy hidden behind tradition and religion, the Grand Prix goes to Inherited Silence, by Mariam Khatchvani.
Tampere Candidate for the European Short Film – Prix Vimeo Award, 2027
IT LIVES UNDER THE SNOW
Igor Smola | Azerbaijan, Singapore | 2025 | Fiction | 17 min
The haunting local urban legend, combined with carefully crafted cinematography, keeps the audience holding their breath until the very end. This film will leave you contemplating the unresolved mystery.
Best Animation
1 500 € + Statuette “Kiss”
UNANIMATED STRANGERS
Róisín Kelly | Ireland | 2025 | Experimental, animation | 5 min
This film asks the questions we are often afraid to confront about past relationships. With vulnerability and tenderness in its voice and visual language, the film transports us into the memories we wish to forget but cannot escape.
Best Fiction
1 500 € + Statuette “Kiss”
URAGSHAA HARSAN TSONH
Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir | France, Mongolia | 2025 | Fiction | 20 min
By masterfully guiding the audience into the complex inner lives of a married couple in search of happiness, the filmmaker captures their struggles through moments of profound honesty and intimacy. For its poetic, cinematic language and its artistic portrayal of the human condition, the Best Fiction prize goes to Uragshaa Harsan Tsonth (A South Facing Window) by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir.
Best Documentary
1 500 € + Statuette “Kiss”
SON
Leona Cauklija | Sweden | 2025 | Documentary | 13 min
Through its precise and expressive editing, we get to experience a film with remarkable emotional warmth. By using street art as a quiet yet powerful form of dialogue, a mother and son transform the city into a space of connection, longing, and reconciliation.
International Competition, Audience Award
LIVING DESPITE THEM
Antonia Colodro, Alaa Hathleen | Palestine | 2024, 2025 | Documentary | 19 min
NATIONAL COMPETITION
Under 30 minutes
Main Prize
5 000 € + Statuette “Kiss”
TOO BLUE A SKY
Risto-Pekka Blom | Finland | 2026 | Experimental, documentary | 15 min
This skilfully woven historical narrative of the past 150 years is told from the perspective of a freshwater pearl mussel. The film comes with an urgent reminder: the planet doesn’t belong only to us, nor the millionaires and billionaires.
Special Prize
1 500 €
PUOLANKA PUSSY RALLY
Inka Achté, Einari Paakkanen | Finland | 2026 | Documentary | 6 min
The film paints a picture of the structural changes happening in a small Finnish community, using endearing humor to deliver a sharp social commentary.
Prize of the Youth Jury
Accreditation to Tampere Film Festival 2027 + Hotel Weekend
(Original Sokos Hotel Ilves)
IN MY HAND
Marja Helander, Liselotte Wajstedt | Norway, Sweden, Finland | 2025 | Documentary | 24 min
This film was emotionally touching, eye-opening and visually striking. It carries an impactful message that deserves to be heard. Its strong ending also sparked hope in us.
Tampere Nominee for the European Short Film Audience Award
PUOLANKA PUSSY RALLY
Inka Achté, Einari Paakkanen | Finland | 2026 | Documentary | 6 min
Over 30 Minutes
Main Prize
5 000 € + Statuette “Kiss”
(Finnkino Oy)
THE BEAUTY OF ERRORS
Jukka Erkinpoika Ritvanpoika Kärkkäinen | Finland | 2026 | Documentary | 94 min
This film is a masterpiece that looks at its characters with a lot of humor and respect. The filmmakers invite us to the life of a family living in a small Finnish village, filled with hardships but above all, love. The film celebrates everyday life with flaws alongside its beauty of errors.
Special Prize
1 500 €
(The Union of Film and Media Employees Finland SET)
DAYS OF WONDER
Karin Annika Pennanen | Finland, Denmark, Norway | 2025 | Documentary | 88 min
This film successfully takes us on a journey through time and the hidden world of an unknown artist. In her search for a connection to her uncle, the filmmaker creates a heartfelt portrait of a unique mind.
Both Series
Risto Jarva Prize
10 000 €
(Suomen elokuvasäätiö)
THE BEAUTY OF ERRORS
Jukka Erkinpoika Ritvanpoika Kärkkäinen | Finland | 2026 | Documentary | 94 min
THE BEAUTY OF AUTOMOBILES
Jukka Kärkkäinen | Finland | 2026 | Documentary| 6 min
We would like to thank all the filmmakers included in the 2026 National Competition. We were delighted by the high quality of the films, as this shows us that Finnish film is fine and well and its future is bright. Nature and different kinds of familial relations were recurring themes in the programme.
The Risto Jarva Prize can be awarded to two different films and two different filmmakers. This year we felt it necessary to reward films that impressed us with their originality. One of these films is short, one of them is feature-length. These works crystallize these two different but equally important ways of filmmaking.
The short film we awarded is the exact right length and form. The piece encapsulates the beauty of an everyday moment in all its shades. The director invites the viewer – and themselves – in a world of their own with its main characters. In this film, deep affection is communicated by small gestures and acts. This is exactly what the best short films can achieve.
The feature-length film we chose also displays an excellent understanding of form. Humour and comedy are utilized to highlight the serious message of the film. The filmmaker has built an exceptional relationship with their subjects, which allows the audience to participate in private moments and situations, where you rarely see the camera. The director has very perceptively chosen scenes from everyday life to create a controlled and contained whole.
The Church Media Foundation Prize
1 500 €
(Kirkon mediasäätiö)
A GATE TO PARADISE
Selma Vilhunen | Finland | 2025 | Documentary | 10 min
In the film Portti paratiisiin (A Gate to Paradise), actor Ville Virtanen reflects on forest conservation and the importance of nature to humanity together with his aunt, textile artist Ulla Perho-Nummikoski. This conversation gives rise to a powerful statement in defense of nature.
The documentary is skillfully constructed and perfectly paced. The precision with which its message reaches the viewer is masterful. At the same time, the documentary is also a small portrait of Ulla Perho-Nummikoski, who already in the late 1970s protected her beloved forest.
Sustainability Award Verso
1 000 €
(City of Tampere, Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI, Tampere Film Festival)
LESSONS IN FIRE
John Webster | Finland | 2025 | Documentary | 103 min
The Sustainability Award Verso is being presented today for the 5 th time. It is Finland’s first, and still the only, award focused on sustainability in filmmaking, more specifically ecological sustainability. The award is not based on the film’s story or script, but on the ecology of the production. All participants in the national competition have had the opportunity to describe how environmental perspectives were considered in the making of their films. Verso is granted based on applications, and the jury has not seen the nominated films.
The applications included productions of various scales, ranging from a one-person team to international feature films. Although comparing these is not straightforward, the jury’s decision was unanimous. In a small language area, international co-productions can be vital, but larger productions often come with a substantial carbon footprint, not least due to air travel. The awarded film recognized this and took action to minimize its impacts.
The film demonstrated awareness, made use of tools developed for ecological sustainability, and obtained concrete, measurable data about its own operations. When guesswork becomes knowledge, a production has the opportunity to take informed action. The application conveyed a sense of planning and a genuine commitment to ecological sustainability – a commitment that required investment, but undoubtedly rewarded its makers and promoted more sustainable practices in the film industry. The production operated in a way that one would hope becomes an established industry standard and serves as an example to others. Today’s awarded production method also aligned with the themes of the film itself.
Golden Shade Equipment Rental Prize for Cinematographer
10 000 €
(Valofirma – The Light House, Kamerafirma – The Camera House)
MEMORIES MOVE LIKE DISTANT ISLANDS
Annika Miettinen (cinematographer) | Finland | 2025 | Documentary | 29 min
Using several techniques, the cinematography masterfully carries us through the dreamlike world of mires and memories.
Tampere Film Festival Student Award 1 500 €
MEMORIES MOVE LIKE DISTANT ISLANDS
Saarlotta Virri | Finland | 2025 | Documentary | 29 min
National Competition, Special Mentions
THE LIGHTNING ROD
Helmi Donner | Finland | 2025 | Fiction | 21 min
A beautifully crafted film that explores abusive relationships and intergenerational trauma in a creative and non-exploitative way.
National Competition, Audience Award
8000: AN ART ODYSSEY
Sami Sänpäkkilä | Finland | 2025 | Documentary | 74 min
Generation XYZ
Best Genre Film
2 000 €
DIEU EST TIMIDE
Jocelyn Charles | France | 2025 | Animation | 15 min
The winning film captures the true essence of existential horror. It doesn’t take the usual route of the genre, but something very unexpected: something that stays with you and makes you want to dive into your own fears. An original idea turns into a unique story that creates a slow sinking feeling of horror in an everyday situation. As the film ends, you are left in the abyss and you never want to reach the surface.
Generation XYZ, Special Mention
SAMMI, WHO CAN DETACH HIS OWN BODY PARTS
Rein Maychaelson | Indonesia | 2025 | Fiction | 19 min
Our job as the jury was to pick one winner, but in addition to that, we want to give a Special Mention to a film that literally stole our hearts. A film that underlines the horror of parenthood where you eventually have to give your children to the world, even though the world might rip their kind and tender souls into pieces. Special Mention goes to a film that was poetic, beautiful and created horror without a single drop of blood.
Generation XYZ, Audience Award
TMWYH
Helen Esther Aschauer | Austria | 2025 | Fiction | 17 min
SYLVI PRIZES
Sylvi Prize for the Best TV Series Script
KURJEN KIROUS
Niklas Lindgren | Finland | 2025 | Fiction | 8 x 25 min
One screenplay stood out due to its innovative form, its biting, absurd black humor, and its agonizingly topical, self-centered protagonist. Man – or perhaps just the male actor – never seems to change; he is unable to learn from his mistakes, unable to see the damage caused by his selfishness, and, above all, unable to be a balanced, present father. Throughout the series, the protagonist seeks scapegoats for his ‘failed’ life in everyone but himself, and even when confronted with the truth, he remains unable to perceive it.
The protagonist’s total inability to take responsibility for his choices and actions serves as an insightful irony of our individualistic, success-driven era. Simultaneously, it satirizes the relentlessly ambitious man and father who is used to getting everything he wants, but who no longer commands the same attention and success as he ages. The dialogue is contemporary, piercingly funny, and precise, pushing absurd situations to the absolute limits of shame, self-pity, and despair.
The series is built upon well-justified shifts between different timelines, which heightens the tension and keeps the reader gripped until the very end. In addition to the utterly uncompromising protagonist, Aki, the series features a host of brilliantly written supporting characters, all of whom, one by one, are trampled by Aki’s selfishness. While the series could perhaps be described as an ‘inside joke’ – as it mirrors the film and TV industry through the lens of acting – I believe it uses the tools of tragicomedy to address much broader human themes, such as the ability to face one’s own fears and flaws.
Self-irony is no easy feat, but this series succeeds masterfully! The ‘curse’ turns out to be closer than the reader could have guessed, and despite all the cynicism and the characters’ base motives, the writer ultimately seems to offer a very human life lesson that is well worth striving for.
Sylvi Prize for the Best Film Script
JOSSAIN ON VALO JOKA EI SAMMU
Lauri-Matti Parppei | Finland | 2025 | Fiction | 110 min
This script is not merely a piece of writing or a manuscript; it is, emphatically, a screenplay. It utilizes the full potential of cinematic storytelling, carrying within the text itself such vivid imagery, sound, light, rhythm, and pacing that a powerful, cohesive, and singular world is constructed in the reader’s mind.
While that world is initially bleak and even cold, it is warmed by an authentic human tenderness. The protagonist’s struggle with mental health feels profoundly real; depression is neither romanticized nor exploited for drama. The work manages to be simultaneously realistic and hopeful – a true magic trick in our current times and global climate.
The screenplay portrays its variously flawed characters with such precision and affection that one can not only see and hear them, but almost smell them. The relationships between people are neither simple nor monochromatic; they are evolving processes, constantly seeking their form.
Unlikely friendships, the human desire to support one another, and the healing power of creation and collaboration form the light that never goes out after the script has been read.
