Granted, the terms love and anarchy don’t usually go together. In fact, we tend to think of them as polar opposites (unless you love anarchy, in which case, sorry for the assumption). But when there’s a festival that screens such a wide variety of films as the Helsinki International Film Festival does, those polarized terms actually best cover the festival’s vast spectrum of themes. For twenty-five years, the Helsinki International Film Festival “Rakkautta & Anarkiaa”, or “Love & Anarchy”, has screened movies from aspiring and noteworthy talents across the globe, and will be doing so again come fall 2012.
The Helsinki International Film Festival, HIFF, promotes “the artistry of filmmaking” by showcasing innovative, inspiring, and visually intriguing films many with multiple themes. With categories such as ‘Animated Dreams’, ‘Watch Me, I’m Irish’, ‘Bollywood and Beyond’, ‘Indie Jewels’, and one group simply entitled ‘Surprising’, the films are sure to be just as interesting. There are over 100 films screened during the festival, so having a surplus of popcorn is a must- as well as abstaining from any expensive manicures. If last year’s opening film is indicative of the type of films to be shown this year, where Antonio Banderas played a mildly psychopathic plastic surgeon, some are sure to be real nail-biters.
The film festival is deemed noncompetitive, so it is truly an uninhibited exhibition of the film industry’s freshest and most gifted rising stars. Since 1987, when the festival had only 26 featured films, the HIFF has exploded with almost 200 full feature and short films and utilizes twelve theaters. Over 30 countries are represented at the festival, not to mention some famous names and faces; the prominent Japanese director of “Spirited Away” Hayao Miyazaki screened one of his films last year, and Ryan Gosling graced Finland’s silver screen in Nicholas Winding Refn’s chase triller “Drive”.
So, despite the wide discrepancy between a romantic and an insurgent, “Love & Anarchy” will have enough variety to appease both of them. And if they can find a film to their liking, you will surely find one that’s up your alley too. Tickets will be available online this fall, and the screening schedule will be available September 7. So keep an eye out for this year’s HIFF, which is September 20-30, 2012. That gives you just enough time to muster up a sufficient surplus of popcorn.