Finnish Film Affair’s 2026 Panel Programme is Here!
This year’s Finnish Film Affair brings together an especially packed panel programme, running across two full days on Wednesday, 23.9 and Friday, 25.9. Beyond the pitches and the Showcase Day, this is where the industry conversation really happens, with sessions built around the questions producers, financiers and filmmakers are actually asking right now: how a shrinking budget can sharpen rather than limit a film, how co-productions turn into lasting franchises, whether the Nordic financing model still holds up as public funding and streaming deals keep shifting, and what it actually takes to get a film noticed by festivals and audiences alike.
The programme brings together voices from across the international industry, with festival programmers from IDFA and Tribeca, financiers and private equity investors representing IPR.VC and Night Train Media, acclaimed directors and producers such as Margreth Olin, and the teams behind Nordic-to-Hollywood crossovers from the minds of Danny Cannon and Claire Willats. All this alongside a full side programme of labs, workshops and closed sessions running throughout the industry days. Here’s a closer look at what’s on.
Wednesday’s programme puts money and craft under the microscope. Developing advisor Mette Damgaard-Sørensen opens the sessions, arguing that a tighter budget can make for a bolder film, whilst CSI and Gotham creator Danny Cannon joins for a fireside chat on turning original stories into global franchises. The day will also highlight questions on financing, where private equity investors and NFI’s Kjetil Omberg ask whether Nordic financing model can survive and evolve in an ever-changing funding landscape. A variety of talent will also be highlighted on stage, with sessions covering the Kehittämö Development Lab, successes of the Midpoint Institute, as well as a dive into the recently launched production model, the Nordic Ecological Standard.
In between, Thursday belongs to Showcase Day, where this year’s 38 projects take the stage — see the full lineup here.
On Friday, the focus shifts to festivals and distribution. IDFA’s Isabel Arrate Fernandez and Tribeca’s Jason Gutierrez pull back the curtain on programming and what creative decisions go into shaping a festival, meanwhile Claire Willats, Todd Brown, Roar Uthaug and Hanna Bergholm map out the questions of positioning and question where the money for a Nordic genre film actually comes from. Taking the stage is also the team behind Over Your Dead Body, the Hollywood remake of Norway’s The Trip, shot in Tampere, where those behind the camera talk through what changes, and what doesn’t, when a Nordic story goes global. Friday will also see the future of Agora EU’s funding questioned, the revolving strategies around film distribution, especially in the documentary sphere, as well as a recent study from Aalto University addressing the effects of creative leadership under a producer’s helm.
Alongside the talks, FFA’s side programme runs throughout the two days featuring a series of familiar faces including the comeback of the Nordic Film Lab, the new Nordic Genre Lab under the guidance of FFA alumni Laura Laaksonen and Claire Willats, casting workshops revolving around the world of actors with Filmmakers Europe and Actors in Helsinki’s sessions. Documentary themes will also be present in this year’s programme with a dedicated accreditation covering access to documentary pitches, panels and a series of workshops under the expertise of industry experts Margreth Olin and Gitte Hansen. And last but certainly not least, FFA’s very own Nordic Flair training programme returns stronger than ever with a programme aimed at supporting up-and-coming producers working on their first feature films.
See the full talks and side programme at https://hiffindustry.fi/ffa-programme/.