Finland’s leading film festival Love & Anarchy is ready to celebrate its 35th edition, free of COVID restrictions and finally able to focus on the films and the audience, says executive director Anna Möttölä in Helsinki. But it has been a bittersweet time, marked by the loss of Jean-Luc Godard and Lina Wertmüller back in December, whose 1973 film gave the event its name.
While Wertmüller will be celebrated with a screening of “Seven Beauties,” another tragedy is on the team’s mind: the sudden death of Charlbi Dean, the star of Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner – and the festival’s opening film – “Triangle of Sadness.”
“It will be a memorial screening,” says artistic director Pekka Lanerva. Dean’s co-star, Zlatko Burić, is expected to attend.
“All our thoughts go to her family and to the cast and crew. To have such a promising career, not to mention young life, cut so short… We want to pay tribute to her and the work she did in this film,” adds Möttölä.
The festival will also address another weighty subject: Russian invasion of Ukraine. While the event hasn’t officially banned Russian films, they won’t be showing any this year.
“We condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine,” states Möttölä.
“We want to focus on Ukrainian films. Give them our full attention, as they can be sidelined in the debate about banning Russian titles. They should be the focus of the discussion.”
In April, the festival held a country-wide fundraising event, with 15 cinemas and organizers in 14 towns taking up their invitation to show Maryna Er Gorbach’s “Klondike.” The initiative raised €11,000, which was then donated to the Finnish Red Cross and UNICEF.
Now, in the Framing Ukraine section, curated with Ukrainian Film Days in Helsinki, L&A will show the likes of “Butterfly Vision” and “Pamfir.”
“We are not afraid of taking a stand and are ready to talk about this decision as well, the decision not to show Russian films,” argues Möttölä.
“Every program selection makes a statement, political or otherwise. One of our key principles is that art can’t be separated from politics. It’s part of human life and part of society.”
“Also, our main role is not to talk, but to present films by people who have already made strong political statements. That’s what we do,” adds Lanerva.
Focusing on vulnerable or underrepresented groups has been a part of the event’s legacy, he notes, welcoming LGBTQ+ films all the way back in the 1990s. Visual artist Minna Havukainen’s latest offering “Puutarha” will continue the tradition.
“When I talked to the filmmaker, she said it should work also as a cinematic experience and I agreed. It’s a celebration of sexual kinkiness,” notes Lanerva.
Spotlighting unusual Finnish titles also remains crucial, especially as – says Lanerva – local production and financing remain conservative and mainstream-oriented.
“Finnish film has been doing well for more than 20 years – it’s time to acknowledge there are different audiences now. It has been happening with [Finnish Oscar submission] ‘Girl Picture’ or ‘Memory of Water,’ science-fiction arthouse movie.”
As well as Mikko Myllylahti’s “The Woodcutter Story,” the opener of the industry sidebar Finnish Film Affair and Anna Eriksson’s dark experiment “W,” previously shown at Locarno.
“She is an absolute original on the Finnish scene. It’s a wonderful thing to celebrate,” says Möttölä. Also mentioning “exciting new talent” Aino Suni, now behind “Heartbeast.”
With section African Express – curated in collaboration with Think Africa and Ubuntu Film Club – including films from Morocco and Tunisia, buzzing microbudget scene of countries like Uganda or afro-futuristic “Neptune Frost,” it’s all about collaboration for the fest which has been serving as the main launchpad for arthouse films in Finland, she adds. One that forgoes world premieres for tried-and-tested titles that have a better chance of satisfying its audience.
“In smaller countries, it’s all interconnected. Cinemas, distributors, filmmakers: we all work together, because if one suffers, everyone is affected. Still, the same spirit remains, of love and anarchy, of having a bit of an edge,” notes Möttölä.
“Our main task is to enrich cinema culture in Finland. So, no pressure!”
Love & Anarchy will wrap on Sept. 25.
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