2024 competition selections published

The films of the Tampere Film Festival’s National, International and Generation XYZ Competition for 2024 have been selected. Again, a large number of films submitted for the competition series – there were 7434 applicants in total, and 125 films were selected for the competitions. See all selected films here: Competitions

Short films under 30 minutes are shown in the competition series, and in addition, the National Competition has its own series for documentaries over 30 minutes. The films selected for the competitions will be shown at the screenings of the festival 6–10 March and online on the Festhome TV platform.

According to Jukka-Pekka Laakso, festival director of the Tampere Film Festival and a member of the selection board, the selection process for competition films is getting more challenging every year:

– Difficulty arises above all from abundance; a lot of films are made, all over the world and from very different starting points and with varying resources. However, the increase in the technical skills of filmmakers as well as the cheaper technology and the increase in opportunities lead to the fact that there are more and more good films, Laakso states.

The National Competition includes familiar directors

This year, a total of 345 films applied for the National Competition, of which 37 made it to the competition. Seven of the films are documentaries over 30 minutes and 30 short films under 30 minutes. According to the selection board, the difficulty of selection for the National Competition was not due to the fact that no interesting films were made in Finland, but the opposite: the problem is the limited time, which is defined by the number and duration of screenings.

This time, the National Competition includes, among other things, the new productions of several film directors who have been awarded at the festival in previous years. In the competition we will see, for example, Täällä haisee hiiri (2023) by Iiti Yli-Harja, who won the Risto Jarva Prize last year, Risto-Pekka Blom’s Lasse kaatuu, voi ei! (2023), Elina Talvensaari’s How to Please (2023) and a feature documentary Máhccan – Kotiinpaluu (2023) by Suvi West and Anssi Kömi.

A total of 6546 films applied for the International Competition, of which 64 films were selected for the competition. From the large offer, the selection board has made choices according to its own criteria:

– In the International Competition, films are brought from all over the world, not just from the European cultural circle. The films present different filmmaking possibilities and talk about topics that are important and sometimes forgotten, says Laakso about the selections of the International Competition.

Among Finnish films, Elli Vuorinen’s Flower Show (2023), Heta Jäälinoja’s Nun or Never! (2023) and Anna Kekkonen’s Rajapinta (2023) made it to the International Competition as well as the National Competition.

There were 543 applicants for the Generation XYZ Competition for genre films, and 24 films were selected. An impressive collection of films from 14 different countries was selected for the series – among them are experiential and thought-provoking works that both comprehensively renew genre cinema and respect its traditions. Among Finnish films, Suonsilmä (2023) by Topi Raulo will be shown in the competition.

The best are awarded at Tuulensuu Palace

The festival week of the Tampere Film Festival culminates on Saturday, 9 March, with the awarding of the year’s best competition films at Tuulensuu Palace. At the Award Ceremony, the best films of the competition series and the winners of the public vote will be awarded. In addition, the Sustainability Award Verso, which promotes a sustainable film industry and better practices, and the Sylvi Scriptwriting Prize by Writers Guild of Finland will be awarded at the event.

Tuulensuu Palace has already become a legendary event venue, whose premises have been used for several festival events over the years since the 1970s. After a long break, the Award Ceremony will now be held for the second year in a row in the atmospheric Tuulensuu Palace.

The 54th Tampere Film Festival will take place on 6–10 March, 2024. The full programme of the festival will be published and individual tickets will go on sale on 14 February.

Read more about selected films, Juries and other Competition on our Competitions page.