The Wolf’s Bride

in

The Wolf’s Bride is not a conventional biopic of the novelist Aino Kallas (1878-1956) but a poetic horror film, a physical descent into the mind of a writer who turns into a werewolf in order to gain her freedom. 

When a respectable diplomat’s wife and a writer Aino Kallas gets bitten by a mysterious poet, she begins to transform into something she can’t control: a werewolf that violently tries to break free from her patriarchal life. As the transformation progresses Kallas’s real life fuses with her literary alter ego: Aalo, the werewolf-bride of her most famous novella The Wolf’s Bride. Soon, it will be impossible to separate the two. 

Kallas finds herself torn between the real and imaginary, both demanding her completely: her husband and children pulling her into the light, the poet calling her deeper into the darkness. In order to find her freedom, Kallas must descent into the depths of creativity and duality, and take control of her own faith. Even if it may lead to a mortal transformation.

The Wolf’s Bride is a love letter to creative possession, and a haunting journey into the inner world of Aino Kallas — Finnish-Estonian author, myth-maker, and passionate soul. 

When Johan Johanaš disappeared to the mountains

in

Máttáráhkká is a surreal and feminist growth story about Máret, a 38-year-old woman who dreams of leaving for Europe as an actress and escaping her arctic homeland. Predators are always present, blood is everywhere and women’s silence is golden.

When she meets the sexy and popular Johan Johanaš, a passionate relationship awakens her spiritual and sexual power, but also resurfaces old sexual and chauvinistic traumas. As a rebellious woman, she doesn’t obey the rule to stay away from the mountain Máttáráhkká. Nothing happens to Máret as she climbs there. She starts to make a film about it.

The film is invited to an European film festival and she flees – only to find that the dream place, called Europe, is grey and alienating. Máret chooses to return home. There she learns that Johan Johanaš has vanished in an avalanche. She is certain that Máttáráhkká is punishing her for not obeying the rules. But Johan Johanaš is not dead – he simply ghosted her.

Heartbroken, Máret turns fully to storytelling and begins making a film about sexual violence in her community.

If you want to survive in the world of beasts, you have to be a little bit of a beast yourself.

Thundering Smoke

in

In a black and white world where everyone sees only in black and
white, a mysterious hitwoman in her early 50s, Barni, resurfaces
in a Somali village after years of vanishing without a trace to
seek vengeance against the ruthless crime boss, Ardo, who rules
the village with fear.

On a fateful night, a young bus conductor, Abshir, 21, witnesses a
deadly sword fight between members of Ardo’s gang and Barni, the mysterious hitwoman. To his shock, Abshir sees Barni in COLOUR, something no one else in his world has ever experienced.

Driven by an insatiable curiosity, Abshir embarks on a secret
mission to track down Barni in an attempt to uncover her true
identity but what begins as an innocent intrigue quickly spirals
into a dangerous pursuit, pulling him deeper into a perilous
world, where escape is no longer an option

Ragnar’s Escape

in

Set in the final days of WWII, Ragnar’s Escape is a gripping yet heartwarming family adventure about resilience, difference, and belonging. Eleven-year-old Ragnar, a boy with a learning disability, struggles to fit in at home and school. Misunderstood by his strict father but rich in imagination, Ragnar escapes into fantasy to cope with reality.

After his family is forced to evacuate their farm in Porkala, Ragnar struggles to adjust to a cramped, unfamiliar life. Hoping to prove himself, he secretly borrows his grandfather’s glasses—only to be accused of theft by his father. Overwhelmed by shame, Ragnar runs away to their former home, now occupied by Soviet soldiers.

Captured, he reunites with an eccentric German entomologist who once recognized Ragnar’s unique mind. Together, the unlikely pair plot a daring escape through occupied territory, using wits, creativity, and nature itself as their guide.

Ragnar’s Escape blends adventure, emotional depth, and humor, offering international audiences a fresh, character-driven story inspired by true events. With universal themes and a visually rich Nordic setting, the film speaks to families and young audiences alike.

Abyss

in

Aamu, a vagabond at heart, meets luminous Melissa and knows her life will never be the same again. She soon learns Melissa has a darkness inside her that she tries to fight off with drugs. Months later Melissa is taking her first steps to sobriety and the two lovers plan a future together in the heat of summer. When Melissa travels to visit her estranged children, Aamu shacks up at a friend’s house in the countryside and waits for her. To get by she does her usual hustle of buying and selling old valuables. That’s when she crosses paths with Sacha, a fierce young woman and a passionate affair blazes between them. Aamu tries to hold on to her and Melissa’s dream. What Aamu fails to see is her own darkness; a desperate craving to be loved that will drive her to the brink of an abyss and beyond. Aino Suni’s second fiction film is a heart-wrenching love story about lust, addiction and survival.

Find Me

in

Ada (24) returns as a social worker to the same youth home where she grew up. In the home’s dark hallways, Ada keeps encountering the visage of a familiar-looking young girl no one else can see — yet she can’t remember who the girl is, or why she keeps pleading with Ada for help. 

Soon, Ada realizes a darkness inside the home is taking the kids, and once they’re gone, no one can remember them. As Ada tries to understand everything she’s forgotten, she finally remembers who the young girl is: she’s Viktoria, Ada’s best friend when they were growing up in the youth home together. Until now, Ada had forgotten her friend’s existence.

Ada wants to save Viktoria and the kids living in the home now but everyone around her believes her traumatic background is causing her to lose her sense of reality. Ada thinks Viktoria can help her but she doesn’t know that the darkness living in the house and devouring the kids is wearing Viktoria’s face to lure Ada into a trap…

Northern Lights

in

Lesya is a struggling performance artist, a Belarusian wannabe Marina Abramović. She unexpectedly finds her voice through politically charged performances amid the brutal anti-dictatorship protests in 2020. During a particularly radical show, riot police raid a gallery. Her gallerist and lover Yan is arrested, and Lesya is forced into exile.

In Finland, Lesya is celebrated, but the fame she always wanted is now tied to the label of “political exile.” Trapped in a role she didn’t choose, Lesya is torn between artistic authenticity and fame built on the exploitation of her trauma. Yearning to belong in the new world, she struggles with survivor’s guilt and jealousy of Yan, who gains recognition by using her legacy back home. 

Lesya’s frustration culminates during the Helsinki Biennale. She tries to reclaim her voice through deception, but the plan backfires. In a desperate attempt to salvage her life in Finland, Lesya joins a remote art residency in Lapland, where she finally reunites with Yan. Their joint performance becomes a transformative experience that leads to a breaking point for Lesya. By facing her deepest fears, she finally earns peace, true connection and a future.

The Offspring

in

Henriikka and Arto, a middle-aged couple working in medicine, live a professionally successful life in Helsinki. Their connection is intellectual and financial and does not mean sharing a bedroom. Henriikka has a lover and Arto has a secret project with a connection to their shared history. Arto’s project suddenly takes them on an adventure to Lapland. Once there, this indulgent and urban couple is faced with new and erratic relatives. A romantic comedy about long marriages and delayed revelations.   

Alone With the Moon

in

One night, lonely Emmi (17) finds a strange, bald teenager on their yard who claims to have lost their memory. Emmi takes them in, saying the guest is her online friend. They quickly develop a tight bond, and there’s no one else in the world for them. Soon, however, Emmi starts to wonder if the guest is actually human. Emmi would rather die than stay on her parents’ farm and romanticizes suicide, while the guest only wishes for one day of normal, average life. 

Alone With the Moon is magical-realist coming-of-age film about finding a life-changing friendship and new hope, mixing boring countryside teenage life with folklore and vampire stories. The film explores being an outcast, teenage isolation and hopelessness – unfortunately timely themes to this day. It’s set in a rural Finnish town in spring 2002, mostly on one farm and will be shot on rough 16mm film. 

Helsinki International Film Festival –
Rakkautta & Anarkiaa ry
Bulevardi 5 A 12
00120 Helsinki, Finland

    Subscribe to HIFF Industry newsletter

    By submitting you agree to our Privacy Statement. You can opt out any time.

    © HIFF Industry | Privacy Statement | Contact us

    Cookie Settings

    Powered by Devaajanne