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Tampere Film Festival, one of the largest short film festivals in the world, kicks off for the 55th time on Wednesday 5 March. The festival brings five days of short film screenings as well as feature-length documentaries and fiction films to Finnkino Cine Atlas and Arthouse Cinema Niagara. In addition to screenings, the festival week offers events both for industry professionals and the general festival audience.
The film festival is opened with the Finnish premier of the internationally renowned filmmaker Pirjo Honkasalo’s awaited new film Orenda (Finland, Estonia, Sweden, 2025). The Opening Screening will be held at Finnkino Plevna’s iSense screening room on 5 March at 18:00. Director Pirjo Honkasalo, writer and leading actress Pirkko Saisio and leading actress Alma Pöysti will be in attendance.
Honkasalo’s previous catalogue is also shown extensively in the programme In the Spotlight: Pirjo Honkasalo. Honkasalo will be in Tampere throughout the festival and will be in attendance at screenings of her films as well as events. Included in these screenings is the six-time Jussi award-winning Concrete Night (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, 2013), whose lead actor Johannes Brotherus will also be in attendance at the screening. Honkasalo will talk about her career and work in the free Finnish-language events Pirjo Honkasalo: Film and Philosophy and the Pirjo Honkasalo Masterclass.
In addition to Honkasalo’s films, this year’s programme includes films from Mongolia and Lithuania in its more than one hundred screenings. Underground culture is explored in the screenings Tampere UG and Club des Femmes: Annette Kennerley. The programme also includes gems from the archives, plenty of student films and fresh European nominees (EFA and ESFAA). More information on the screenings is available on our website’s Screenings page.
Competition Winners to be Awarded at Olympia, 8 March
A total of 7 678 films applied to participate in Tampere Film Festival’s competitions in 2025. Of these, 123 films were chosen to compete in the International, National and Generation XYZ Competitions. The competition screenings feature films from 60 different countries from around the world, including European countries, the United States and Canada, Mexico and Chile, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, South Africa and Nigeria, Palestine and Lebanon as well as Japan and South Korea.
The winners of the competitions will be announced on 8 March in Olympia at 19:00 in Tampere Film Festival’s Award Ceremony. The ceremony will also feature the announcements of the winners of the Sylvi Prize for the best Finnish film and the best Finnish series, presented annually by the Writers Guild of Finland. The festival ends on Sunday with screenings of all the winning films in screenings titled Awarded Films.
Lists of all competition films, awards and juries are available on our website’s Competitions page.
Free Events and Screenings
The festival week also offers several free screenings and events. Themed programme is supplemented by Finnish-language discussion events open for all: the Care and Democracy panel discussion as well as Tampere UG: Panel & Party.
These free screenings once again include a silent film screening at Tampere Cathedral, accompanied on the organ by Esa Toivola, which has proven to be a hit over the last few years. This time the film screened will be the 1927 film The Changeling by Teuvo Puro. TFF & Yle Teema: 30 Years of Uusi Kino, organised in collaboration with Yle, celebrates Uusi Kino’s 30-year journey. This screening will be simultaneously aired on Yle Teema.
For children, there are free Minikino screenings, as well as Käsis, a screening showcasing short films written and shot by students in Tampere. Audiences can view and vote on new European films in the free screenings European Short Film Audience Award 1 and 2.
Information on free screenings and events is available on our website’s Tickets page.
Active Ticket Sales and Inspiring Moments
Last year the festival’s programme drew a crowd of around 34 000 people at venues and online. A large number of visitors is expected this year as well. Tickets have been selling well, and in addition to the festival audience, around 700 guests from around the world have been accredited for the event.
– If ticket sales continue at this rate for the whole week, I’ll be happy. Although active ticket sales is only one side of our programme’s success, financial realities dictate how interesting and varied a programme we can offer our audience, says Executive Director of Tampere Film Festival, Riina Mikkonen.
– We have a very full programme this year, too: Lithuanian experimental films from the 70’s and 80’s, Pirjo Honkasalo’s retrospective, Mongolian animation, queer shorts from the 90’s, the best new short films in the world in three different competitions, children’s screenings, free screenings… I welcome every single person interested in film to Tampere Film Festival and wish for inspiring moments for all, Mikkonen states.
Tampere Film Festival 5.–9.3.2025
Tickets to Tampere Film Festival are available at Lippu.fi online store and ticket outlets, as well as the festival’s ticket outlets at Finnkino Cine Atlas and Arthouse Cinema Niagara. For specific information on ticket pricing and opening hours of Tampere Film Festival’s ticket outlets, please visit our website’s Tickets page.
Most of the films included in the competition screenings are also available online through the Filmchief platform starting on 5 March. Read more on our website’s Online Screenings page.
The programme designed for film industry professionals can be explored on our website’s Industry Programme page.
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