Czech Films at This Year´s Helsinki International Film Festival
14.09.2026 / 10:43 | Aktualizováno: 16.09.2026 / 06:36
The Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy is Finland's largest film festival and this year, it hosts its 39th edition from September 17 to 27. Its mission is to showcase bold, distinctive, and controversial films that would otherwise not reach Finnish cinemas. This year’s edition features 417 screenings across Helsinki and includes a competition program within the national short film section.
Among the many displayed international films, four have ties to Czechia:
Rehearsals for a Revolution is a feature film directed by an Iranian director and actress Pegah Ahangarani, co-produced by Czechia and Spain. It covers forty years of Iranian history, spanning from the 1979 revolution to the war that began last year. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the festival's top documentary prize.
© R&A 2026: Rehearsals for a Revolution
Orla by Marie Lukáčová is a twenty-minute Czech-Slovak film described by its creators as an eco-feminist rap musical about justice. The film combines live-action footage with 2D and 3D animation, drawing upon the tradition of Czech surrealist fairy tales.
© R&A 2026: Orla
Dog and Wolf was directed by a Slovak filmmaker Terézia Halamová and tells the story of a man touring with a group of male strippers, driven by drugs and exhaustion, he finds himself confronted by his past life. The film in Czech production won Czech Film and Television Award (Czech Lion Award) for both Best Student Film and Best Short Film.
© R&A 2026: Dog and Wolf
Tourists is a fifteen-minute animated comedy with Czech, Slovak, and French co-production, directed by Mária Kralovič, in which an ordinary trip taken by a married couple turns into a fight for survival.
© R&A 2026: Tourists
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit the festival's official website.
The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Helsinki is a partner of the National Competition of Finnish short films, held within the Helsinki International Film Festival.
The National Competition has been held since 2018 and its popularity has grown year by year: this year, a record number of 211 works were submitted. Thirty-five films were chosen, and the jury and audience will choose their favourites among them. The National Competition short films will be presented on 18–22 September over six separate screenings. The winners will be screened again on Saturday 26 September.
This year’s jury is made up of producer Emilia Haukka, cinematographer Christopher Wessels and Eliška Děcká, Head of International Promotion for Animation & Short Films at the Czech Film Center of the Czech Audiovisual Fund.