Finnish Film Affair Awards 2025 Announced!

This year, our Showcase Day featured 44 projects in total, with five fiction films in progress and nine in development, nine documentary projects, six series as well as 10 unique F-Weird projects across genres and formats. Our Nordic Selection showcased five projects from all Nordic countries.

BEST FICTION PROJECT

Tell Everyone (Alli Haapasalo) was awarded the Best Fiction Project and received €3000 by the Finnish Film Foundation. The winning pitch in the Fiction in Progress category impressed the jury with its sense of purpose, sensitivity, and a clear sense of the film’s potential as both an artistic achievement and as a project with international appeal.

“A bold historical drama that promises to explore themes of institutionalized misogyny, bodily autonomy and the demands society continues to place on women, this is a project and pitch that feels more timely than ever,” the jury sums up.

BEST NORDIC PROJECT

The Best Nordic Project went to Pigtown (Pekka Ollula) and was awarded €3000 by Konstsamfundet.

“Thank you Finnish Film Affair for a fantastic and diverse smorgasbord of Nordic quality films. You haven’t made it easy for us. One pitch, however, stood out because of the sheer fun, passion, and energy this team brought to the room. The global potential for this European coproduction is obvious, and they even managed to make it personal and authentic by touching on the importance of community and family, which isn’t easy when your story happens to be a horror zombie comedy,” jury praises.

The jury for Nordic and Fiction Projects included Aleksandra Zakharchenko (Marché du Film), Jim Kolmar (SXSW), and Marike Muselaers (Nordisk Film Production).

BEST DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

The Best Documentary Project went to Sense and Sensibility (Hanna Nordenswan), receiving €3000 from the City of Helsinki.

“The project stood out for its deeply human yet extraordinary theme. With a clear vision, the director presents a mother–daughter story that is highly relatable and could resonate across borders. The project promises to portray death as a natural part of life, leveraging a comedic tone at parts and strong stylistic choices from the director. We are eager to see it reach audiences on international screens,” describes the jury.

The documentary jury consisted of Katre Kajamäe-Gupta (Eurimages), Jason Ryle, (Toronto International Film Festival), and Natalie Campbell-Reid(Together Films).

All of the three cash prizes are for international marketing and promotion of the film.

BEST F-WEIRD PROJECT

Best F-Weird Project was awarded to Boobs (Milla Puolakanaho, Juha Ilmari Laine), receiving €2500 worth of colour grading services that will go towards the project’s international marketing, as well as €2500 worth of production services, sponsored by Post Control Helsinki & Angel Films.

“A body part that has been so often objectified in films is finally given the real role it occupies throughout the life of a woman. The jury was impressed how this personal story is brought to the screen with beautiful and poetic animation. We are convinced this film will go very far and will touch audiences all around the world. And we are convinced that the services provided through this award will help finalise the film,” praises the jury.

F-Weird jury included Javier Puerto Garcia (PÖFF Rebels With a Cause), Maria Sol (Moving People & Images resident 2024), and Mathias Noschis (Alphapanda). Noschis replaced Claire Willats who was unfortunately unable to attend the event.

THREE BRAND NEW AWARDS

FFA also branched out to include three new awards this year.

The winners of the MIDPOINT Consulting Award are writer-director Aino Suni and producer Emilia Haukka. The MIDPOINT Consulting Award provides an in-depth online script consultancy with one of the MIDPOINT Institute’s experts for Suni’s and Haukka’s project Abyss. The award was chosen from the Fiction in Development projects, and it is sponsored by MIDPOINT Institute.

“We believe in the film’s strong potential and are proud to support the team on its journey and in its powerful story of love, addiction, and survival,” tells Barbora Struss, the CEO of MIDPOINT Institute.

The winner of Connecting Cottbus Producers Exchange is Julia Elomäki. Connecting Cottbus (coco) handpicked Elomäki to take part in cocoLAB at their East West co-production market and networking platform dedicated to Eastern European cinema.

“For our East-West Emerging Producers Exchange, we approach producers from countries who don’t traditionally look towards the wider Eastern Europe to engage in co-productions. While at a career stage one could call “emerging” or “up-and-coming”, the producers we invite have international experience and can build new, unconventional networks at our event. Our new partnership with Finnish Film Affair enabled us to find this year‘s exciting candidate from Finland, and that is Julia Elomäki from Tekele Productions, whose professional energy (and excellent taste in music) we got to admire during today’s pitch,” tells Katharina Stumm, the Programme Manager at coco.

The third new award at FFA is presented in collaboration with the Göteborg Film Festival. The award grants two full market badges to Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market and TV Drama Vision 2026. The winner of the award is Khadar Ahmed with the project Thundering Smoke.

“With this recognition, we wish to spotlight a captivating pitch that radiates the true joy of storytelling – a cinematic fantasy with powerful social themes and strong international potential. We are delighted to welcome the producer and creator behind Thundering Smoke to Göteborg,” tells Josef Kullengård, the Heady of Industry at Göteborg Film Festival.

FFA congratulates all the awarded projects!

Finnish Film Affair is the beloved industry event of Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy, and the biggest event for film industry professionals in Finland. For over a decade, FFA has been a must visit September market for film professionals worldwide.