{"id":59696,"date":"2026-01-30T12:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T10:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/?p=59696"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:56:52","slug":"the-2026-competition-selections-of-tampere-film-festival-have-been-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/the-2026-competition-selections-of-tampere-film-festival-have-been-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 Competition Selections of Tampere Film Festival Have Been Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

The films selected for the 2026 Tampere Film Festival\u2019s National Competition, International Competition, and the Generation XYZ Competition dedicated to genre films have been confirmed. A record-breaking total of 8127 films were submitted across the competition categories, from which 121 films from 49 countries were selected.<\/span><\/p>\n

The competition categories feature short films under 30 minutes in length. In addition, the National Competition includes a separate category for films over 30 minutes. All selected films will be screened at the festival from 4\u20138 March and will also be available online on the Filmchief platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

National Competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This year, a total of 340 films were submitted to the National Competition, of which 41 were selected. Six of the selected films are documentaries over 30 minutes in length, and 35 are short films under 30 minutes. The competition features works by both new filmmakers and directors who have previously enjoyed success at the festival. According to the selection committee, the overall lineup is highly diverse:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 This year we received a wide variety of films, and notably a commendable number of longer works. The final selection represents a pleasing range of genres, and the gender balance of the filmmakers is close to 50\/50, says<\/span> Kati-Anne Leino<\/b> of the National Competition selection committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

The over-30-minute category includes, for example, the recent Jussi Award nominee (Best Cinematography, <\/span>Jarkko T. Laine<\/b>) <\/span>Lessons in Fire <\/span><\/i>(<\/span>Palava maa<\/span><\/i>, Finland, 2025), directed by <\/span>John Webster<\/b>, winner of the Risto Jarva Award in 1999. Competing in both the long and short film categories with their documentary premieres <\/span>The Beauty of Errors<\/span><\/i> (Finland, 2026) and <\/span>The Beauty of Automobiles<\/span><\/i> (Finland, 2026) is <\/span>Jukka K\u00e4rkk\u00e4inen<\/b>, winner of the Main Prize in the over-30-minute category in 2018 (shared with <\/span>J-P Passi<\/b>).<\/span><\/p>\n

The under-30-minute category includes, among others, the latest documentary by <\/span>Selma Vilhunen<\/b>, <\/span>A Gate to Paradise<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>Portti Paratiisiin<\/span><\/i>, Finland, 2025). Vilhunen has previously won the Main Prize in the over-30-minute category in 2008 and 2017, the Risto Jarva Award in 2017, and the Main Prize in the under-30-minute category in 2003. The competition also features, for example, renowned director <\/span>Risto-Pekka Blom\u2019s<\/b> experimental documentary <\/span>Too Blue Sky<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>Liian sininen taivas<\/span><\/i>, Finland, 2026), as well as the fiction short <\/span>Ikaros<\/span><\/i> (Finland, 2025) by <\/span>Anna Eriksson<\/b>, known for her feature-length films.<\/span><\/p>\n

International Competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A total of 7125 films were submitted to the festival\u2019s largest competition category, the International Competition. From these, 60 films from 44 countries were selected for screening. The competition is highly regarded internationally, and films awarded in the series are also eligible for <\/span>Oscar\u00ae<\/span><\/a> and BAFTA consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 With more films submitted than ever before, it became even more important for us to seek out stories that stand out and stay with the viewer. The polarised global political situation and the growing gap between the privileged and the underprivileged are certainly reflected in the films, but it was equally important for us to include works that offer joy, light, and hope, comments <\/span>Liina H\u00e4rk\u00f6nen<\/b> of the International Competition selection committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s International Competition includes, among others, <\/span>L\u2019mina<\/span><\/i> (France, Italy, Morocco, Qatar, 2025) by <\/span>Randa Maroufi<\/b>, winner of the Grand Prix in 2020, and <\/span>Air Horse One<\/span><\/i> (Switzerland, Belgium, 2025) by <\/span>Lasse Linder<\/b>, who won the Best Documentary award in the same year. Finnish films selected for the International Competition include <\/span>The Beauty of Automobiles<\/span><\/i> (Finland, 2026) by Jukka K\u00e4rkk\u00e4inen, also featured in the National Competition, as well as <\/span>In My Hand<\/span><\/i> (Norway, Sweden, Finland, 2025) by <\/span>Marja Helander<\/b> and <\/span>Liselotte Wajstedt<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Generation XYZ Competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An impressive 662 films were submitted to the Generation XYZ Competition, from which 20 films from 16 countries were selected. Established in 2021, the Generation XYZ Competition focuses on thriller, sci-fi, horror, action, and fantasy films.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 It\u2019s wonderful to see the number of submissions to the genre competition grow year by year. It feels like people are only now beginning to discover that such a competition exists at the festival. We\u2019re very pleased with the wide geographical spread of the selected films and the diversity of the lineup \u2013 after all, genre cinema doesn\u2019t only mean horror, gore, and guts. Unfortunately, there were still too few sci-fi and fantasy films among the submissions, and we would very much like to see more of those in the future, says <\/span>Iida Sahlman<\/b> of the Generation XYZ selection committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Awards Ceremony Returns to the Comedy Theatre Palace<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The awards for the best films in the competition categories, as well as the Audience Award winners, will once again be presented on Saturday, 7 March, at the atmospheric Comedy Theatre Palace in central Tampere. The event will also include the Verso Sustainability Award, which promotes a more sustainable film industry and responsible practices, as well as the Sylvi Scriptwriting Awards presented by the Finnish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 56th Tampere Film Festival will take place from 4\u20138 March, 2026. The full festival programme will be published and single tickets will go on sale on 10 February. Serial Cards are already available in <\/span>the festival\u2019s online shop<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All Selected Films, Juries, and Awards:<\/b><\/h3>\n

Competitions 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The films selected for the 2026 Tampere Film Festival\u2019s National Competition, International Competition, and the Generation XYZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":59717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,37,26,24],"tags":[53,165,164,162,163],"class_list":["post-59696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-competitions","category-kilpailut-en","category-press-release","category-tiedote-en","tag-competition","tag-competition-selections","tag-generation-xyz-competition","tag-international-competition","tag-national-competition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59696"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59742,"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59696\/revisions\/59742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}