Finland’s largest film festival, the Helsinki International Film Festival (HIFF) under the theme Love & Anarchy, will take place September 19th to 29th, 2013. The 26th edition of the festival will kick off with Cannes Palme d’Or winner BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (French: La Vie d’Adèle – Chapitre 1 & 2 – “The Life of Adèle – Chapters 1 & 2”). In the film, director Abdellatif Kechiche tells the love story of two young women. The festival’s Closing Film is FRANCES HA by Greenberg director Noah Baumbach. In this black-and-white drama comedy Greta Gerwig plays a young dancer who tries, at times desperately, to find herself and her place in New York City.
The HIFF Gala Film this year is THE GRANDMASTER, the new film by director Wong Kar-wai which opened the Berlinale this year. The film, which spans the five first decades of the 20th Century in China, depicts the life of legendary kung fu master Ip Man, portrayed by Tony Leung. The Finnish Film Gala selection is HEART OF A LION by Dome Karukoski (Lapland Odyssey, Forbidden Fruit). In this intense drama, neo-nazi Teppo (Peter Franzén) tries finding himself as a stepfather for the colored son of the woman he has fallen passionately in love with (Sari, played by Laura Birn). Other films featured in HIFF’s Spotlight Selection include Gus Van Sant’s PROMISED LAND and PIONEER, a high-octane thriller by Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjærg.
