This year's festival opens with Leave One Day, a musical by French director Amélie Bonnin, which also served as the opening film of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Pop star Juliette Armanet makes her feature film debut in the leading role as a top chef who is forced to return to her hometown. The musical’s soundtrack ranges from timeless classics by the likes of Dalida to 21st-century French-language hits such as Stromae’s Alors on danse.
In true Espoo Ciné fashion, the programme features a selection of the finest new European films, including Mirrors No. 3 by Christian Petzold, Last Breath by master director Costa-Gavras, the Ukrainian sci-fi gem U Are the Universe, and Sergei Loznitsa’s Two Prosecutors, which was praised at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
The festival’s closing film is The Thing with Feathers, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Based on the novel by Max Porter, the film follows a comic book artist father and his two sons as they face a great loss, and grief escapes from the artist’s desk into the real world in the form of a giant crow.
This year we are delighted to welcome several festival guests, including Jeanette Nordahl, director of the deeply moving Beginnings, and lead actor David Dencik, as well as Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen, who stars in Dag Johan Haugerud’s film Love. We also warmly welcome a host of Finnish filmmakers and their latest works, including Jarmo Lampela, Herra Ylppö, and Lauri-Matti Parppei.
Espoo Ciné runs from Friday August 22, through Sunday August 31. Individual screening tickets go on sale on August 5.
Welcome to the movies!