Espoo Ciné 2025

100 Litres of Gold + A Mate + Fantasy

100 litraa sahtia + Kaveri + Fantasia


Director(s): Teemu Nikki
Finland, Italy | 2007, 2016, 2024 | 105 min

Sisters’ home-brewed beer-monopoly is threatened and their new batch just happens to be a little too tasty. Screened with two short films by Teemu Nikki.

The 47

El 47


Director(s): Marcel Barrena
Spain | 2024 | 110 min

Bus driver Manolo Vital takes the wheel and fights for his own bus line to a remote and poor neighborhood in this box office hit set in 1970s Barcelona.

Adam's Sake

L'Intérêt d'Adam


Director(s): Laura Wandel
Belgium, France | 2025 | 78 min

Set during an intense night at a hospital, head nurse Lucy does her best to help a single mother Rebecca stay by her son’s side.

All I Had Was Nothingness

Je n’avais que le néant - "Shoah" par Lanzmann


Director(s): Guillaume Ribot
France | 2025 | 94 min

A tribute to Shoah, using the director’s own words from memoirs and unseen excerpts to honor a cinematic masterpiece and its uncompromising vision.

April

აპრილი


Director(s): Dea Kulumbegašvili
Georgia, France, Italy | 2024 | 134 min

An OB-GYN performs secret abortions in the Georgian outback in a bleak tour-de-force of slow cinema.

Ari

Director(s): Léonor Serraille
France, Belgium | 2025 | 88 min

A tender film about a young teacher finding his way through uncertainty and confusion, moving toward friendship, growth, and the continuation of life.

Aurora

Director(s): Rain Tolk, Andres Maimik
Estonia | 2025 | 111 min

Love(s) tear Aurora apart. This Estonian love triangle is fierce, funny, surprising and life-affirming.

Away

Molt Lluny


Director(s): Gerard Oms
Spain, The Netherlands | 2025 | 100 min

Sergio travels to the Netherlands to watch a football match. When it is time to return, he decides to stay, without giving any explanations to anyone.

Beginnings

Begyndelser


Director(s): Jeanette Nordahl
Denmark, Sweden, Belgium | 2025 | 96 min

Danish drama about a separating couple who decide to put their plans on hold after the wife suffers a serious stroke.

The Bibi Files

Director(s): Alexis Bloom
United States | 2024 | 113 min

A shocking exposé documentary about the web of corruption surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

bluish

Director(s): Lilith Kraxner, Milena Czernovsky
Austria | 2024 | 83 min

Two young women in their twenties drift through their lives and the city in this study by fragments of existences in 50 shades of blue.

C'est si bon !

Moi qui t'aimais


Director(s): Diane Kurys
France | 2025 | 120 min

A tangy biopic on the tumultuous marriage of the power couple of the French cinema Simone Signoret and Yves Montand – from her point of view.

Case 137

Dossier 137


Director(s): Dominik Moll
France | 2025 | 116 min

An Internal Affairs officer investigating a violent protest discovers the victim is from her hometown, turning a routine case into something personal.

Chantal Akerman – Paris Spleen

J'ai faim, j'ai froid | Le 15/8


Director(s): Chantal Akerman, Chantal Akerman, Samy Szlingerbaum
France, Belgium | 1984, 1973 | 55 min

Two Akermans: A Finnish student opens up about everyday troubles in Paris in August. Paired with a lively snapshot of friends’ whirlwind visit to the City of Light.

Children's Shorts

Il était une fois à Dragonville | Foxtale | Kanopos ir pačiūžos


Director(s): Marika Herz, Alexandra Allen, Ignas Meilūnas
France, Switzerland, Portugal, Lithuania | 2024, 2024, 2025 | 27 min

Charming short animations suitable for the youngest but fun for all ages!

Conference of the Birds

Director(s): Amin Motallebzadeh
Germany | 2025 | 79 min

The coach of a football team suddenly dies, pushing the team into a state of silent spiritual chaos. An elegiac sports film focuses on loss instead of victory.

Crip Ciné Shorts

Tasoristeyksen valo | Joy | The Blooming | Nyrkkeilijä | Maatuminen


Director(s): Jussi Rinta-Hoiska, Julieta Tetelbaum, Audrey Sangla, Kalevi Helvetti, Satu Tani, Maima Tani
Argentina, France, Finland | 2025, 2023, 2022, 2025, 2025 | 18 min

The short films move from everyday realism toward more fantastical realms, bending toward themes of consumerist critique, joy — and even horror.

Diamonds

Diamanti


Director(s): Ferzan Özpetek
Italy | 2024 | 135 min

A sparkling and colourful Italian drama about women, love, loss, and sisterhood — set in a prestigious dressmaker’s shop in 1970s Rome.

The Disappearance of Josef Mengele

Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele


Director(s): Kiril Serebrennikov
Germany, France | 2025 | 136 min

The quiet life of the Nazi doctor living in Brazil is disturbed when his son comes for a visit.

Don Quijote de Barcelona

Director(s): Jarmo Lampela
Spain, Finland | 2025 | 114 min

A touching drama about the friendship of two homeless men on the streets of Barcelona and their everyday struggles.

Dragonfly

Director(s): Paul Andrew Williams
United Kingdom | 2025 | 100 min

Two women find solace in each other and form an unusual friendship only for it to be undone by prejudice and judgement which lead to a devastating conclusion.

Dreaming of Lions

Sonhar com Leões


Director(s): Paolo Marinou-Blanco
Portugal, Brazil, Spain | 2024 | 85 min

An absurdist tragicomedy about two strangers who meet through a fake euthanasia group and decide to take control of their own deaths.

Dreams

Drømmer


Director(s): Dag Johan Haugerud
Norway | 2024 | 111 min

A young girl develops a crush on her teacher. Her mother and grandmother soon consider whether her account has any selling potential as queer autofiction.

Enzo

Director(s): Robin Campillo
France, Italy | 2025 | 102 min

A boy from a rich family rebels against his parents by becoming a construction worker, which leads to a new acquaintance with an older Ukrainian refugee.

Fanon

Director(s): Jean-Claude Barny
France, Luxembourg, Canada, Belgium | 2024 | 133 min

A character study of Frantz Fanon, a pioneer of anti-colonial theory, which captivates like a political thriller.

Fresh out of ELO – New Student Films

Muistot liikkuvat kuin kaukaiset saaret | Tuntematon koirani | Veteen piirretty | Astro TV


Director(s): Saarlotta Virri, Alvi Haapamäki, Heta Jokinen, Magdaleena Jakkila
Finland | 2025, 2025, 2025, 2025 | 96 min

In these freshly made student films, we sink into swamps, gaze at star charts, and ponder lifelong partnership.

Germaine Acogny – The Essence of Dance

Director(s): Greta-Marie Becker
Germany, France, Senegal | 2025 | 89 min

Germaine Acogny is not only the "Mother of African Contemporary Dance", but also one of Africa's most important artistic voices and the dancing icon of an entire continent.

The Girl in the Snow

L’engloutie


Director(s): Louise Hémon
France | 2025 | 97 min

In 1899 a French teacher arrives in a small backward Alpine village but ends up in the middle of a tragedy. A snowy and mysteriously erotic debut film.

The Good Sister

Schwesterherz


Director(s): Sarah Miro Fischer
Germany, Spain | 2025 | 96 min

Rose’s view of her perfect brother shatters after a rape accusation. A gripping drama on fragile morals and new angles in the #MeToo conversation.

The Great Arch

L'Inconnu de la grande arche


Director(s): Stéphane Demoustier
France, Denmark | 2025 | 105 min

An exhilaratingly stylish film about an unknown but uncompromising Danish architect and his vision for a perfect monument for 1980s Paris.

Growing Down

Minden Rendben


Director(s): Bálint Dániel Sós
Hungary | 2025 | 85 min

Sándor, a widower, becomes the only witness to a serious accident involving his son. Should he lie to keep his son out of juvie?

Gunvor Nelson – A Woman's Lot

Schmeerguntz | Frame Line | Red Shift


Director(s): Gunvor Nelson, Dorothy Wiley, Gunvor Nelson, Gunvor Nelson
United States, Sweden | 1966, 1984, 1986 | 85 min

Three short films by the frontrunner of the Swedish experimental film include spicy criticism of the feminine ideal but also personal takes on family ties.

Harvest

Director(s): Athina Rachel Tsangari
United Kingdom | 2024 | 131 min

A historical western delves into questions of power and land ownership in 17th-century Scotland, not shying away from black humour and hallucinogens.

Holy Electricity

წმინდა ელექტროენერგია


Director(s): Tato Kotetišvili
Georgia, The Netherlands | 2024 | 95 min

In a tender comedy set in the pulsating city of Tbilisi, two cousins hatch a plan to sell neon crucifixes door to door — all while chasing love.

How to Shout

Huutamisen taito


Director(s): Josefina Rautiainen
Finland | 2025 | 80 min

Must love hurt? A therapist is shocked to discover that her son’s new girlfriend is also her patient — plagued by violent intrusive fantasies.

In My Parents’ House

Im Haus meiner Eltern


Director(s): Tim Ellrich
Germany | 2025 | 96 min

In this powerful debut film, a spiritual healer must balance the demands of her work with those of her ageing parents and older brother.

Islands

Director(s): Jan-Ole Gerster
Germany | 2025 | 123 min

A one-time tennis pro trapped in a sunny holiday resort tries to escape his meaningless existence with the help of a tourist family. Then tragedy strikes.

Itty Bitty Princess

Prinsessa Pikkiriikki


Director(s): Lauri Maijala
Finland | 2024 | 75 min

Itty Bitty Princess is living her dream of being the only child in a family until her parents tell her she will be a big sister soon. An adventure awaits.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

Jane Austen a gâché ma vie


Director(s): Laura Piani
France | 2024 | 94 min

A sharp romantic comedy for bookworms: An aspiring but awkward writer from Paris meets a reserved Englishman in Jane Austen estate’s writer residency.

A Journey to Eden

Matka Edeniin


Director(s): Rax Rinnekangas
Finland, Spain | 2011 | 99 min

The chilly winds of Northern Spain accompany two artist friends in their quest for forgiveness in Rax Rinnekangas’ melancholic but modern film.

Jukebox

Director(s): Rax Rinnekangas
Spain, Finland | 2025 | 89 min

In a quiet village in northern Spain, French writer Jacob bids farewell to his wife and embarks on a quest to find Jukebox, a mysterious musical machine.

Kevlar Soul

Kevlarsjäl


Director(s): Maria Eriksson-Hecht
Sweden, Norway, Finland | 2025 | 101 min

The protective symbiosis between teenage brothers Alex and Robin is under threat when Alex falls in love. Can or should he still take care of Robin, too?

Kronos Kairos

Director(s): Herra Ylppö
Finland | 2025 | 70 min

Shot in striking black and white, Herra Ylppö’s directorial debut is a Finnish man’s surrealistic quest in a deserted landscape of divorce.

Last Breath

Le dernier souffle


Director(s): Costa-Gavras
France | 2024 | 100 min

A writer teams up with a palliative doctor to find the secret of a decent death in this philosophical episode film by a 90-year-old Greek master.

Leave One Day

Partir un jour


Director(s): Amélie Bonnin
France | 2025 | 94 min

The French pop queen Juliette Armanet charms on the silver screen in a bittersweet musical as a top chef who makes a reluctant comeback to her hometown.

Leonora in the Morning Light

Leonora im Morgenlicht


Director(s): Thor Klein, Lena Vurma
Germany, Mexico, Romania, United Kingdom | 2025 | 103 min

In 1930s Paris, creativity marks for surrealist painter Leonora Carrington a path to becoming a significant artist – but it also brings an inner struggle.

Letters from Wolf Street

Listy z Wilczej


Director(s): Arjun Talwar
Poland, Germany | 2025 | 98 min

A witty love letter to contemporary Poland, pictured through the eyes of an Indian immigrant who finds humour and humanity on one sleepy Warsaw street.

Life After

Director(s): Reid Davenport
United States | 2025 | 99 min

Who gets to decide what is ”life worth living”? Documentarist Reid Davenport explores the complex relationship between disability and euthanasia.

Light from the Chocolate Factory

Lyset fra sjokoladefabrikken


Director(s): Dag Johan Haugerud
Norway | 2020 | 66 min

Guilt weighs on Ingrid, who is trying to write a song as a wedding gift for a friend. A Norwegian film exploring morality and music with a humorous touch.

A Light That Never Goes Out

Jossain on valo joka ei sammu


Director(s): Lauri-Matti Parppei
Finland, Norway | 2025 | 108 min

A fresh and heartfelt debut feature is a love song to creativity, music, and friendship — unafraid to explore new sounds with an open mind.

Little Trouble Girls

Kaj ti je deklica


Director(s): Urška Djukić
Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia | 2025 | 90 min

A sensual and picturesque drama about 16-year-old Lucia going on a choir trip, disturbed by the pressure of awakening desires, new friends and religion.

Live a Little

Leva lite


Director(s): Fanny Ovesen
Sweden, Norway, Denmark | 2024 | 98 min

The aftermath of a drunken night casts a shadow over two friends’ couchsurfing adventure across sunny Europe. Where are the boundaries of consent?

Love

Kjærlighet


Director(s): Dag Johan Haugerud
Norway | 2024 | 120 min

Big questions like love, desire, care, and freedom cruise along the final part of the Oslo Trilogy as smoothly as a ferry gliding through the archipelago.

Love Letters

Des preuves d'amour


Director(s): Alice Douard
France | 2025 | 97 min

Céline is expecting her first child. But she isn’t pregnant, her wife is. Facing the normativity of society and law, she fights for her parenthood.

Love Me Tender

Director(s): Anna Cazenave Cambet
France | 2025 | 133 min

Vicky Krieps plays a mother who begins a relationship with another woman but becomes entangled in a painful custody battle with her ex-husband.

Mirrors No. 3

Miroirs No. 3


Director(s): Christian Petzold
Germany | 2025 | 86 min

A family living in the German countryside takes in a woman who has survived a car crash, but soon the family’s intentions become questioned.

Moon

Mond


Director(s): Kurdwin Ayub
Austria | 2024 | 93 min

A former martial artist accepts a coaching job in Jordan – but what was the real reason she was invited to coach the daughters of a wealthy family?

Morlaix

Director(s): Jaime Rosales
France, Spain | 2025 | 124 min

A plain yet poetic depiction of fleeting teenage love in Brittany. A new boy from Paris unsettles Gwen, who is grieving the death of her mother.

Mother's Baby

Director(s): Johanna Moder
Austria, Switzerland, Germany | 2025 | 108 min

A new mother grows worried as her baby acts strangely. Are the doctor and her loved ones hiding something in this blend of drama and sci-fi thriller?

The Musicians

Les musiciens


Director(s): Grégory Magne
France | 2025 | 102 min

In this French dramedy a dream concert is about to crash down as the players cannot get along. Better call in the composer to sort out the situation!

The New Year That Never Came

Anul Nou care n-a fost


Director(s): Bogdan Mureșanu
Romania | 2024 | 138 min

On the brink of counter-revolution in 1989 Romania, six lives intersect amidst personal struggles and protests leading to the explosive fall of Ceaușescu.

No Dogs Allowed

Director(s): Steve Bache
Germany | 2024 | 106 min

A bold movie of a seemingly ordinary teenage boy who harbors a dark secret. In his search for peer support, he finds himself in dangerous waters.

No Way Back

Aux jours qui viennent


Director(s): Nathalie Najem
France | 2025 | 100 min

Laura is recovering from a toxic relationship with her child's father. When his ex shows up at her door, the two women unite in the face of a shared threat.

Odd Fish

Ljósvíkingar


Director(s): Snævar Sölvason
Iceland, Finland, Czech Republic | 2024 | 104 min

A feel-good story of two Icelandic friends who run a fish restaurant together. What happens to their friendship of many years when one of them comes out as a transgender woman?

On Falling

Director(s): Laura Carreira
United Kingdom, Portugal | 2024 | 104 min

A social realist portrait of Aurora, a picker in a warehouse, who is alienated from herself and others around her by modern worklife and technology.

Outsider Art Festival x Espoo Ciné – Welcome Unwelcomes

Paula's House | I Need to Tell You Something | Enpä liene lempivieras | Suomen kova löylymies | Silvanus, Psydopia | Litterator


Director(s): Doreen Mwirigi, Samra Šabanović, Tommi Kainulainen, Jari Nordström, Haus & Nipsu, Hannes Renvall, Niklas Röholm
Kenya, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Finland | 2024, 2022, 2025, 2025, 2024, 2024, 2024 | 59 min

The short film screening offers a diverse slice of outsider cinema: animation, performance, and finally, black-and-white dark comedy.

Perfect Strangers

Täydelliset vieraat


Director(s): Rike Jokela
Finland | 2025 | 90 min

Do you really know your loved ones — or yourself? A group of friends put their phones and with them, their secrets on display at a dinner party.

Perla

Director(s): Alexandra Makarová
Austria, Slovakia | 2025 | 100 min

In this visually striking film set in 1980s Vienna, Perla, a dissident artist and single mother, makes a dangerous journey back to communist Czechoslovakia.

Poison

Director(s): Désirée Nosbusch
Luxembourg, The Netherlands, United Kingdom | 2024 | 88 min

In this actor-driven film an old ex-couple meets again at the graveyard where their son was buried ten years ago. A strong debut contemplates on grief.

The Portuguese House

Una quinta portuguesa


Director(s): Avelina Prat
Spain, Portugal | 2025 | 114 min

A teacher’s world collapses when his wife disappears. He poses as a gardener in rural Portugal. Over the years, a web of new identities deepens.

Riefenstahl

Director(s): Andres Veiel
Germany | 2024 | 116 min

Exploring Leni Riefenstahl’s legacy: iconic images of power and beauty shadowed by denial, ideology, and a haunting vision of order.

Rita

Director(s): Paz Vega
Spain | 2024 | 94 min

Summer 1984, Seville: 7-year-old Rita wants the beach, her dad wants to watch football. Slowly, she begins to see that home may not be a safe place.

A Second Life

Director(s): Laurent Slama
France | 2025 | 77 min

Élisabeth, a hard-of-hearing woman, struggles with her underpaid job during the Olympic Games in Paris. Elijah, a carefree Californian, disrupts her balance.

Sex

Director(s): Dag Johan Haugerud
Norway | 2024 | 125 min

During one lunch pause, a chimney sweeper opens up about his recent, unexpected sexual encounter. His wife is not as curious and thrilled to hear it.

Skönärit (Seafarers)

Skönärit


Director(s): Milja Viita
Finland | 2025 | 63 min

A young seaman writes letters home about the wonders of the seven seas in this poetic collage film composed of actual footage by Finnish seafarers.

Snow White

سنو وايت


Director(s): Taghrid Abouelhassan
Egypt | 2024 | 105 min

A warm Egyptian drama about two sisters, their search for love – and the frustrating purchase of a first-class refrigerator.

Summer Beats

Ma frère


Director(s): Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret
France | 2025 | 112 min

In a youthful drama, two friends from the Parisian suburbs, Shaï and Djeneba, lead summer camp activities while grappling with growing up and growing apart.

Summer is Crazy

Elämä on juhla


Director(s): Ulla Heikkilä
Finland | 2025 | 105 min

A dreamy midsummer night in archipelago reveals its dark nuances, when inevitable disappointments mingle with possibilities for new beginnings, even love.

That Summer in Paris

Le rendez-vous de l'été


Director(s): Valentine Cadic
France | 2025 | 75 min

Blandine’s trip to the bustle of Paris during the Summer Olympics does not go as planned but allows her to reconnect with her half-sister.

They Will Be Dust

Polvo serán


Director(s): Carlos Marqués-Marcet
Spain, Italy, Switzerland | 2024 | 115 min

In this musical tragicomedy, Claudia, diagnosed with an incurable illness, decides to end her days at a Swiss clinic. How will her decision affect her family?

The Thing with Feathers

Director(s): Dylan Southern
United Kingdom | 2025 | 104 min

A comic book artist and his two sons grapple with loss and healing, as their grief takes the haunting form of a large, ever-present crow.

Traffic

Reostat


Director(s): Teodora Ana Mihai
Romania, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden | 2024 | 119 min

Stealing priceless art is not just a crime—it is a hilariously grim way for Romanian migrants to thumb their noses at Europe’s harsh realities.

Trains

Pociągi


Director(s): Maciej Drygas
Poland, Lithuania | 2024 | 80 min

In this haunting archive documentary by a Polish master, trains carry not just cargo, but the hopes, fears, and fates of 20th-century Europeans.

Two Prosecutors

Director(s): Sergei Loznitsa
France, Germany, The Netherlands, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania | 2025 | 118 min

A prosecutor seeks justice inside the bureaucratic maze of Stalin’s Great Purge in this political drama by a Ukrainian director specialised in turning points of history.

U Are the Universe

Ти – космос


Director(s): Pavlo Ostrikov
Ukraine, Belgium | 2024 | 101 min

A Ukrainian sci-fi comedy about an astronaut left in solitude after Earth explodes — until a spark of hope appears at his darkest hour.

Viktor

Director(s): Olivier Sarbil
Denmark, Ukraine, France, United States | 2024 | 91 min

A deaf Ukrainian man Viktor is fascinated with samurai warriors. This connection is challenged by the raw reality of war when his hometown is being bombed.

We Believe You

On vous croit


Director(s): Charlotte Devillers, Arnaud Dufeys
Belgium | 2025 | 78 min

In this intimate drama, Alice’s right to custody is under threat. There is no room for error, so she must confront her ex husband and speak up for her children.

When Fall Is Coming

Quand vient l'automne


Director(s): François Ozon
France | 2024 | 102 min

A deadly mushroom mishap shatters Marie-Claude’s dreams of a summer with her grandson in this sharp, darkly funny tale of secrets and second chances.

The Young Girls of Rochefort

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort


Director(s): Jacques Demy
France | 1967 | 127 min

Twin sisters Solange and Delphine dream of Paris, but the summer carnival brings both new and old loves to the candy-colored streets of Rochefort.