The Full Programme of Tampere Film Festival Has Been Released

Tampere Film Festival will be celebrated for the 55th time from 5 to 9 March, and the event’s full programme has now been published.

The festival will kick off spectacularly on Wednesday, 5 March, at Finnkino Plevna’s iSense screening room with the Finnish premiere of acclaimed filmmaker Pirjo Honkasalo’s highly anticipated new film Orenda (Finland, 2025). In addition to Honkasalo, both the film’s lead actress and screenwriter Pirkko Saisio as well as Alma Pöysti, also starring in the film, will be in attendance. After the Opening Screening, the festival week will continue with over a hundred film screenings at Finnkino Cine Atlas and Arthouse Cinema Niagara. In addition to the screenings, there will also be a variety of events open to the public, as well as professional gatherings aimed at those in the film industry.

The focus of the programme will be the competition screenings in the prestigious competition categories, including International, National, and the Generation XYZ Competition for genre films. The competitions will culminate in the awarding of the winners at the Award Ceremony on Saturday, 8 March, at Olympia. In addition to the competition screenings, the festival will present a comprehensive thematic programme and several intriguing special screenings.

Themes of 2025 – Mongolia, Lithuania, UG, Radical Care

The 2025 thematic programme will turn the spotlight on Mongolia and Lithuania. The Mongolia screenings will include Mongolian animation and films exploring society, culture, and youth perspectives. The Lithuania programme will focus, for example, on films by Lithuanian female filmmakers and the avant garde. This Lithuania theme also marks the beginning of a broader collaboration planned between Tampere’s cultural events and the Lithuanian Culture Institute for 2025.

In local collaboration with the Tampere University’s Democracy Research Network, a thematic programme titled Radical Care has been created, continuing last year’s Democracy in Danger programme. This theme will also feature an open-to-the-public Care and Democracy Panel Discussion. The local subculture will be highlighted in the UG-themed screening Tampere UG, curated by subculture activist Sami Ylipihlaja. All films in this screening will have their world premieres at Tampere Film Festival. The UG theme will also offer a glimpse into Annette Kennerley’s intimate portrayal of British queer culture in the 80s and 90s with the screening Club des Femmes: Annette Kennerley. Kennerley will also be present at the screening.

A key filmmaker featured at this year’s festival is the renowned director Pirjo Honkasalo, whose work will be showcased in a unique and extensive retrospective in addition to the Opening Screening. Honkasalo will be in Tampere for the festival week and will attend the screenings and events related to the programme. As part of the programme, the film Concrete Night (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, 2013), which won six Jussi Awards, will be shown. The screening will also feature a visit from the film’s lead actor, Johannes Brotherus. In addition, Honkasalo has curated a Carte blanche screening for the festival, including films that are personally significant to her. The public will have the chance to engage in free discussions about Honkasalo’s career and work during open public discussion events.

Rising Stars and Gems from the Archive

Rising talents will be highlighted in student film screenings such as Finnish Film Schools, Kino-TAMK, and ELO: New Student Films. The festival will also showcase films created in the Nordic region’s largest short film challenge, Uneton48, which involves making a film in just 48 hours. Additionally, the latest works from the Euphoria Borealis film organisation will be presented, all of which were shot in only three days during the Kino Kabaret workshops.

Gems from the archives will be featured in the Finnish Film Archive’s (KAVI) screenings. The first screening, Urho Kekkonen 125th Anniversary, celebrates president Urho Kekkonen, offering a journey into his legacy as a passionate sportsman and a phenomenon living in the memories of the people. The second screening, Films about Making Films, presents nostalgic meta-films that turn the camera towards itself.

In the AV-arkki screening Y2K, the audience will dive back to the turn of the millennium with short films made in 1999 and 2000. We will also honor the late legend of Tampere Film Festival, Raimo “Rake” Silius, with his final curatorial work, Rake Special 2025. Silius curated this screening for the 2025 festival before his passing. The screening features humorous depictions of Finnish rural romanticism dating back to the 1940s.

Special Screenings and Activities for Children

As part of the special screenings, the traditional live-accompanied screening will be presented at Tampere Cathedral, featuring Teuvo Puro’s 1927 silent film The Changeling, which tells a story of family secrets. In collaboration with Yle Teema, a screening titled 30 Years of Uusi Kino will showcase significant short films from the history of the programme. The special screening Witness: Arctic Indigenous Voices will highlight films that depict the survival and struggle for a better tomorrow by the indigenous peoples of the Arctic regions. On Saturday evening of the festival week, Mika Taanila’s experimental feature film Failed Emptiness (Finland, 2024) will also be shown.

For the youngest audience members, free screenings Minikino 1 and Minikino 2 will be offered. Minikino 1 will feature dialogue-free animations for children over 3 years old, while Minikino 2 will present animations and fiction films for children over 7 years old. In addition, the screening Käsis will feature short films written and filmed by students from Tampere.

Explore the full programme on our website

Serial Cards and Single Tickets are available for purchase at Lippu.fi Online Shop and Ticket Outlets. The festival’s own Ticket Outlets will open on 3 March. For more information about tickets, please visit the Tickets page on our website.