The Espoo Ciné programme is out!
The Espoo Ciné Film Festival will be held this year from August 21 – August 30 in Espoo and Helsinki.
This year the opening ceremony will be in Bio Rex Lasipalatsi. The Opening Screening will be Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film Bitter Christmas (Amarga Navidad), which competed for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, which explores a scriptwriter’s difficult choices and the price of creation, will also be screened on opening night at Kino Tapiola. This year’s Espoo Ciné Award and Sinun Ciné Prize will be presented during the Opening Screening at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi.
The Finnish Gala Screening to be screened on Wednesday, August 26, is Alli Haapasalo’s Tell Everyone (Kerro Kaikille), which had its world premiere at Göteborg Film Festival. Based on Katja Kallio’s novel, the film depicts the fates of women who are confined against their will to the island of Seili in the 1800s. During the Finnish Gala Screening the Poster Ciné Award, which celebrates Finnish poster art, will also be presented. This year’s winner will be selected by Carson Chan, the Chief Curator of the Museum of Architecture and Design.
The festival’s Closing Film is Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s summery Just an Illusion (Juste une illusion), which takes viewers on a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s in the suburbs of Paris. The film is based on the directors’ memories of their youth and the pains and joys of growing up.
The Opening Screening, Finnish Gala Screening and Closing Film are part of Espoo Ciné’s Highlight section. As a new feature this year, Espoo Ciné has divided its extensive programme into programme sections. Festival Executive Director Tytti Rantanen and Head of Programme Mickael Suominen comment:
“We wanted to make the cornerstones upon which Espoo Ciné’s diverse programme has long been built even more clearly visible to our audience. Besides the show series, our programme can also be structured, as usual, by country or by various themes that transcend the boundaries of the series, such as queer, history or society.”
The programme is based on the latest selection of the most interesting new films from the international festival circuit, as well as a selection of European box-office hits. Horizons is the broadest of the sections and features, among other films, Sharbanoo Sadat’s romantic black comedy No Good Men (No Good Men: Finding Gold in a Pile of Ka-bulshit), set in Afghanistan, which opened the Berlin Film Festival, as well as Xavier Giannoli’s epic Rays and Shadows (Les rayons des ombres) which sparked lively debate in France which explores the ties between an influential culture family and the Nazi occupiers. Finnish Gems section include the preview screening of Samuli Valkama’s historical black comedy The Kidnapping of a President (Presidentin kyyditys) and Jarmo Lampela’s award-winning and still-relevant The River (Joki), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
The Masters section features new films by renowned directors, such as The Diary of a Chambermaid (Le Journal d’une Femme de Chambre), which opened the Cannes Film Festival and is directed by Radu Jude, Romania’s most talked-about director. Sandra Hüller, one of the leading figures in European cinema, won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for her leading role in Markus Schleinzer’s historical drama Rose, which will be screened on Saturday, August 30, at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi.
In the New Voices section, which showcases promising debuts, you might even come across some seasoned veterans: Ludovica Rampold, who has made a name for herself as a screenwriter (notably for Primavera) makes her directorial debut with A Brief Affair, an intense portrayal of forbidden passion that is full of surprising twists. Palestinian-Syrian Abdallah Al-Khatib’s Chronicles from the Siege won the top prize in the Perspective section for debut films at the Berlin FIlm Festival. This episodic film depicts the everyday struggles of friendship, love and survival in a besieged city.
Thought-provoking documentaries, surprising discoveries that nourish the adventurous spirit and the freshest new films are found in the Intersection section. Sabine Lidl’s Siri Hustvedt – Dance Around the Self, winner of the Lola Award for Best Documentary Film in Germany, is a portrait of the beloved author. Mark Jenkin, a celebrated director of the new generation of British cinema, returns to the rugged coastal villages with his eerily enigmatic time-travel and fishing film Rose of Nevada.
Festival passes are now on sale and can be purchased on the Espoo Ciné website.
Screening ticket sales begin on Tuesday, August 4, at 12:00 p.m. The online store is available at https://espoocine.fi/en/shop/tickets/, and the advance sales counter will be open at Kino Tapiola from August 4–8 and August 12–13. For more information on the advance sales counter’s hours, please visit the online store.
Media accreditation begins on August 3. You can find the accreditation form here.
Accreditation for film industry professionals and students is also underway.
You can find more detailed information here.