Discussions with guests alongside the screenings.
Min Bahadur Bham
Nepalese filmmaker Min Bahadur Bham holds Masters degrees in Buddhist Philosophy and Political Science while pursuing a PhD in Anthropology. His short film, Bansulli (2012), Nepal’s first entry to the Venice IFF, followed by his debut feature Kalo Pothi (2015), which won the FEDEORA Best Film Award at Venice Critics Week, and became Nepal’s official Oscar entry. Acknowledged for nurturing emerging talent, his productions have graced the festivals like Venice, Berlinale, Rotterdam and Busan.
His second feature, SHAMBHALA, made history as Nepal’s first film in the Berlinale Competition section
Festival’s closing film Shambhala’s guest discussion on Sunday before and after the movie, 18.50 o’clock onwards.
Sarah Olaussen Eira
Currently in high school studying music, she has already been cast in other film projects since My Father’s Daughter.
Biru Unjárga -guest discussion 14.10 o’clock onwards.
Miia Tervo
Her short films have all made several rounds at film festivals worldwide including IDFA (all the schoolworks and documentaries) and Torino, and won several awards. “The Little Snow Animal” (2009) also received an EFA nomination.
Tervo’s debut feature film Aurora (2019) was a critical and boxoffice success. It received its world premiere as the opening film for the Gothenburg Film Festival, in the South by Southwest (SXSW) it had its US premiere, and in Edinburgh IFF Aurora won the Best International Feature award. In the Finnish Oscars/ Jussi awards it won eight awards including Best Film, Best Director, and Screenplay.
Tervo’s second feature The Missile (2024) premiered also in the Gothenburg Film festivals main competition and Oona Airola won the main award for leading role. The Missile is now circulating festivals worldwide, having its theatrical release in Germany, US (spring 2025) and Switzerland. The Missile was also acquired by Netflix in September 2024.
Currently, Tervo is writing her third film You Crazy Thing, which was selected for the Berlinale Producer’s Market and won the
pitching prize in Gothenburg 2025. She is also working on her
fourth feature about a women in the Finnish wars of 1940’s.
Santra & Puhuvat Puut guest discussion on Saturday 13.25 o’clock onwards, alongside the short film collection.
Arttu Nieminen
Arttu Nieminen is a media artist based in Rovaniemi. Flowing nature images, poetic utterances, minimalist music and brutal montages that disrupt the whole are the cornerstones of his expression. Nature, as well as colossal man-made structures and the pulse of the city, appear to him as its own conscious entity or a mystical interface between the visible and the invisible.
Nieminen’s video art breathes life in museums, galleries and cinemas, but also at events as installations and facade projections. At events and festivals, he creates video installations and throws himself into artistic collaborations where media art collides with performance, choreography, poetry and music.
“Environmental issues and the contradictory relationship between man and nature are recurring themes in my work. I also reflect on the level of consciousness of humanity and the choice we have at our fingertips every moment as we sensitize ourselves at crossroads and as a species reach for a higher state of consciousness.”
Arttu Nieminen’s short film series at the Saturday Nightclub at 21 o’clock.
Timo Elomaa
Film director and documentary filmmaker Timo Elomaa, who lives in Sammati, is a long-time media worker.
In his latest documentary, we travel to the small village of Ludia in rural India to see local life.
Ludia discussion event on Sunday, starting at 10 o’clock.