FINNISH FILM WEEK 2026 ▪ LIGHTS IN THE DUSK
By EARTH PR
April 21st, 2026
Finnish Film Week, a biennial event bringing some of the best and most intriguing recent films from this renowned cinematography, will be held for the eighth time at the Hall of the Belgrade Cultural Centre, from 23 to 27 April. The selector of this year’s programme, whose key motif is hope, accompanied by the distinctive Finnish sense of humour, is once again director Stefan Arsenijević.
Over the course of five days, ten feature films will be screened at DKC, and audiences will also have the opportunity to meet and talk with two distinguished Finnish filmmakers: Jenni Toivoniemi, director of Butterflies, and Samppa Batal, screenwriter and director of Apple Thieves, who will also appear before the Belgrade audience as the lead actor in the short film Pantyhose, which was shortlisted for the Academy Awards this year.
For the first time, the festival also includes a programme designed for children. Eighty years after writer and illustrator Tove Jansson introduced them through stories and drawings, Belgrade’s youngest audiences will have the chance to get to know the famous Moomins more closely. On Saturday, 25 April, the Moomins will arrive at Little DKC, the Belgrade Cultural Centre’s programme for children and young people, through a specially designed workshop, followed by a screening of the animated feature dubbed into Serbian, Moomins and the Winter Wonderland.
Finnish Film Week is organised with the support of the Embassy of Finland and the Finnish Film Foundation, led by Jaana Puskala, who, together with Nebojša Popović, founded this now traditional showcase of Finnish film in 2010. Puskala will also be in Belgrade during this year’s festival.
PROGRAMME
THURSDAY, 23 APRIL
20:00 Opening Ceremony
The Light That Never Goes Out, 108’
Director: Lauri-Matti Parppei
FRIDAY, 24 APRIL
18:00 100 Litres of Gold, 88’
Director: Teemu Nikki
20:00 Apple Thieves, 84’
Director: Samppa Batal
Pantyhose, 15’
Director: Fabian Munsterhjelm
* Conversation with director, screenwriter and actor Samppa Batal
SATURDAY, 25 APRIL
LITTLE DKC
11:00 Children’s Workshop: Return to Moominvalley
12:00 Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, 82’
Animated feature dubbed into Serbian
Directors: Ira Carpelan, Jakub Wronski
18:00 Butterflies, 98’
Director: Jenni Toivoniemi
* Conversation with director Jenni Toivoniemi
20:15 Orenda, 118’
Director: Pirjo Honkasalo
SUNDAY, 26 APRIL
18:00 Steel Ladies – As If There Were No Tomorrow, 108’
Director: Pamela Tola
20:00 Mad Summer, 100’
Director: Ulla Heikkilä
MONDAY, 27 APRIL
18:00 Therapy, 116’
Director: Paavo Westerberg
20:00 The One Who Loves More, 100’
Director: Oskari Sipola
SELECTOR’S NOTE
Every other year, in spring, excitement fills the Belgrade Cultural Centre. Finnish Film Week is in preparation! When this event was launched sixteen years ago, even the greatest optimists could not have imagined that it would soon become one of the audience’s favourites. To this day, even those of us who organise it cannot fully explain the secret bond between Finnish cinema and the Belgrade audience. Is it the exotic quality, the specific Finnish humour, the quirky view of the world…? Whatever the reason, a certain sympathy emerged, a recognition, something clicked. Over the years, some of the most important Finnish filmmakers have visited Belgrade, while audiences have filled DKC, curious and open, ready for conversations with guests that were often so long and intense that we had to move them into the foyer so the next film could begin.
This year again, visitors can expect a diverse selection of films reflecting the best and most interesting works made in Finnish cinema over the last two years.
It seems to me that this year’s selection is the most dramatic so far. Much like the world we live in, the protagonists of these films are unstable and on edge. In one way or another, they are all pushed to their limits and must find solutions, overcome or reinvent themselves, and establish contact with others. That essential human contact, seemingly simple, yet always specific, unique, and complex.
Perhaps the key word for each of these films would be hope. Increasingly necessary in this ever more elusive world. These films are, to borrow the title of an old Kaurismäki film, lights in the dusk.
We open the festival with a film that has just won all the most important national Jussi Awards. In The Light That Never Goes Out, a gifted classical flute virtuoso finds a new sense of purpose in creating experimental music together with an almost equally lost young woman. In Apple Thieves, the morning after a wild night filled with the most incredible youthful adventures will bring meaning to a heartbroken young man and a girl stuck in routine. The protagonist of the moving musical melodrama The One Who Loves More will, over the years, come to understand the strength of selfless love. In Mad Summer, by embarking on summer romances, a family will take its first steps out of the shadow of a depressed father. The hit comedy Steel Ladies – As If There Were No Tomorrow brings the hilarious journey of an elderly woman who rejects the nursing home and the nearness of death in favour of living life on her own terms. During Therapy, four couples, cut off from the world in a castle, will discover surprising things about themselves and each other, redefining their relationships in the process. The visually fascinating drama Orenda raises some key philosophical questions through the story of two strong women dealing with guilt. In Butterflies, an estranged father and daughter will be forced to finally spend time together and re-examine their lives during a summer tango festival. Finally, in this year’s Finnish Oscar submission 100 Litres of Gold, two middle-aged sisters will have to face the consequences of their lifestyle and take new steps in order to save a family wedding.
As you may already sense from these brief descriptions, although they deal with serious and difficult themes, the films in this selection very often carry that specific Finnish sense of humour. Sometimes black, sometimes dry, sometimes farcical, sometimes subtle, but always in celebration of life.
These films largely place female characters in the foreground. Complex, independent, imperfect, authentic heroines of all ages, which feels truly refreshing.
This year we have also introduced an important new feature: a programme intended for children. The legendary fairytale creatures, the Moomins, created by writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, are an important part of Finnish identity. Although famous around the world, 80 years after their creation it seems that children here have still not fully discovered these magical characters. In order to bring the Moomins closer to our youngest visitors, on Saturday, 25 April, they will have the opportunity to take part in a specially designed workshop and then watch the animated feature dubbed into Serbian, Moomins and the Winter Wonderland.
Throughout all the years of our festival, one person has been a constant: Jaana Puskala, Head of International Cooperation at the Finnish Film Foundation, who, together with long-time DKC editor Nebojša Popović, had the courage and vision to establish this event. This year’s edition will be Puskala’s last, as she is retiring after a long and distinguished career. Jaana’s exceptional knowledge of film, erudition, dedication, charm, and sense of humour gave a special tone to every previous edition of our event. We remain forever grateful to her for all the cinephile, professional, and human ties she has established and nurtured between our cultures over the years.
Welcome to Finnish Film Week in Belgrade!
Stefan Arsenijević
Selector