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Tampere Film Festival, the largest short film festival in the Nordic countries, took place for the 55th time from 5–9 March.
The festival’s ticket sales were more active compared to the previous year, with a total of 20 film screenings selling out. The festival programme, both on-site and online, attracted approximately 20,000 visitors in total. Around 18,000 people attended film screenings, as well as professional and public events, such as panels, throughout the week. Films available online have gathered about 2,000 views so far. A total of 849 guests were accredited to the festival.
The smaller overall attendance compared to the previous year can be explained by the refinement of the visitor tracking process and the fact that this year, the FestArt art exhibition, which has attracted a wide audience, was not organised.
On the opening day, Wednesday, 5 March, there was a strong turnout, with the opening screening at the Finnkino Plevna selling out. The opening film was the Finnish premiere of Orenda (Finland, Estonia, Sweden, 2025), a new film by internationally acclaimed and successful director Pirjo Honkasalo.
As usual, Friday and Saturday were the busiest days in terms of attendance, with sold-out screenings including the Rake Special, the final curatorial work by Tampere Film Festival legend Raimo “Rake” Silius, European Film Academy: Nominees showcasing new European cinema, a screening of films made during the Uneton48 film challenge, and the Award Ceremony, which honored the best films in the competition categories.
On Sunday afternoon, the screenings of Awarded Films sold out, including the Best of International and National Shorts. Other crowd favourites during the festival included Tampere UG screenings, showcasing the city’s underground culture, screenings of Club des Femmes: Annette Kennerley, showcasing British queer culture, and the Mongolian and Lithuanian programmes, featuring Mongolia 3: Society and Culture and Lithuania 3: Female Focus.
The festival’s free events and screenings were also very popular with the audience. The traditional silent film screening at Tampere Cathedral, featuring Teuvo Puro’s 1927 film Vaihdokas, drew approximately 600 viewers. Pirjo Honkasalo’s Masterclass on Saturday also filled the venue.
One of the highlights of the festival was the Award Ceremony on Saturday evening at Olympia, where the best films in the competition categories were awarded. The Grand Prix went to the Chilean film El canon by Martín Seeger (Chile, 2024). In the National Competition’s category for films over 30 minutes, the Main Prize was exceptionally shared between two films: Two Forests by Jan Ijäs (Finland, 2024) and Sirkus Tuomento by Veli Granö (Finland, 2025).
The Main Prize for films under 30 minutes in the National Competition went to Marjo Levlin’s short documentary Underdog (Finland, 2024). The Risto Jarva Prize, presented annually by the Finnish Film Foundation, was awarded to Veera Lamminpää’s animation Mereneläviä (Finland, 2024), which also won four other awards in the National Competition. In the genre film competition, Generation XYZ, the Best Genre Film Prize went to The Eggregores’ Theory by Andrea Gatopoulos (Italy, 2024).
The festival’s competition films are available to watch online, with a few exceptions, through the Filmchief platform until Sunday, 16 March. More information about online screenings can be found on our website’s Online Screenings page. A selection of award-winning short films from the 2025 festival will also be shown on Saturday, 15 March, and Sunday, 16 March, in The Best of Tampere 2025 screenings, organised by the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.
The 56th Tampere International Film Festival will take place next spring 4–8 March, 2026.
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