The 36th edition of Espoo Ciné has successfully come to a close. Over ten days, the festival featured 130 films across 11 venues in Espoo, Helsinki, and Vantaa, along with special events ranging from panel discussions to a club night and petting friendly dogs. Our warmest thanks go to the festival audience, partners, and volunteers—without whom the festival wouldn’t be possible.
This year’s audience survey is now open – you can fill it out here. Your feedback helps us continue to develop the festival, and all responses submitted by September 17 will enter a draw to win a six-ticket bundle for Espoo Ciné 2026.
Official attendance figures will be released next week after Junior Ciné wraps up, but we can already say that Espoo Ciné’s selection of fresh European cinema once again resonated with audiences. Among the most popular screenings were the opening film, Leave One Day by Amélie Bonnin, Two Prosecutors by Sergei Loznitsa, and The 47 by Marcel Barrena. The festival also drew significant interest from both audiences and media with its Nordic guests: Danish director Jeanette Nordahl and actor David Dencik (Beginnings), and actor Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen (Love).
The family day collaboration screening with Yle Teema was also a great success: Lauri Maijala’s Prinsessa Pikkiriikki was screened to a full house at Louhisali while it was simultaneously broadcast on Yle Teema and released on Yle Areena.
Other new Finnish films also proved very popular, including Ulla Heikkilä’s Summer Is Crazy, Lauri-Matti Parppei’s A Light That Never Goes Out, Rike Jokela’s Perfect Strangers, and Josefina Rautiainen’s How to Shout—all of which were screened to packed theaters.
Given the strong audience interest in Finnish films, Espoo Ciné is deeply concerned about the recent decision in the government budget negotiations to cut nearly eight million euros from the funding distributed by the Finnish Film Foundation. This would be a devastating blow to Finnish film production and film culture, as well as to the Film Foundation itself, which also supports Espoo Ciné and makes it possible to organize the festival.
Although Espoo Ciné 2025 is now over, we look forward to enjoying films together again in the darker evenings of late summer next year, when the festival returns August 21–30, 2026. Thank you and see you in 2026!