Finnish Film Affair has put out the call for documentary and Finnish Weird (aka F-Weird) projects for its 14th edition, running 24 to 26 September 2025. “We accept projects from Finland, as well as projects with Finland as the minority production country. For our F-Weird series, we also accept applications with no connection to Finland, other than a shared flair for the weird,” write organisers. The deadline for applications is 18 May.
“Finnish Film Affair (FFA) is the bold, bubbly and beloved industry event of the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy,” organisers underline. “For over a decade, FFA has been a must-visit September market for film professionals worldwide, offering a daring, fresh, and delightfully extravagant showcase of Finnish and Nordic film.”
FFA 2025 is looking for documentary projects in development and production. Organisers also accept projects where a Finnish production company is the minority producer.
For Finnish Weird, FFA is looking for doc or fiction projects that “you don’t dare to tell your mom about, the TV series you think will be a hit but ‘no one gets’, or the idea you don’t want to define yet.”
“It can be a horror film. The wittiest reality TV we’ll be glued to. A good comedy with bad drama. A bad comedy with good drama. A game you want to see on the big screen. A film that everyone will play on their consoles. Or a great weird doc. We are looking for fresh talent to throw their best ideas at us!”
To be eligible to pitch in the F-Weird series, applicants must have a maximum of two professional credits in the role they are applying in.
To make a documentary or Finnish Weird application, click here. For a guide on how to apply, click here.
In 2024 the FFA Documentary Award was won by The Helsinki Effect (then named Showtime in Helsinki), directed by Arthur Franck and produced by Oskar Forstén.
The film, which world-premiered at CPH:DOX 2025, concerns the 1975 ‘Helsinki Accords’ conference, designed to bring the Cold War to an end, but which ultimately led to “the demise of the Soviet Empire and totalitarian rule in Eastern Europe.”
The jury, consisting of Oleksandra Kravchenko, producer at Moon Man; Mita Suri, film programme producer at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director at Women Make Movies noted how, “the project sheds light on an interesting and pivotal event in political history, and addresses alarming issues with genuine humour. The jurors were impressed by the commitment and passion of the team and how the artistic vision skilfully presents to a modern audience.”
Speaking to Business Doc Europe at FFA 2024, producer Forstén described the project. “[It] is a film that deconstructs the anatomy of an almost forgotten diplomatic process. In its essence it is Cold War history like never told before, about a conference that was considered meaningless, but that ultimately changed the world.”
