To mark 100 years since the start of the Finnish Civil War, the Tampere Film Festival is devoting part of its film selection to cinematic works on the historic dispute. Tampere was the focal point for some of the bloodiest fighting of the short but brutal civil war.
Landmarks of the time such as the factory Vaprikki, previously used as a bomb shelter, managed to survive the destruction of the war. The factory-turned-museum now houses a permanent exhibition on 1918 Tampere and the museum recently collaborated with filmmaker Seppo Rustanius for a retrospective on the civil war. The end result is a series of films featured as part of the festival shown in several screenings.
While films on display throughout the festival vary in language, almost all are offered with English language subtitles.
Film fans who choose to stay at home also have the chance to glimpse an array of Finnish movies through the festival's partnership with Yle Areena. Members of the public can also watch 20 films in the Uusi Kino competition category and then vote for their favourite. Several of these films are offered with English subtitles.
Other topics in this year's festival include the 100-year-anniversary of Estonian independence, the Māori people, Stanley Kubrick and Queerscenes.
The 48th Tampere Film Festival runs from Wednesday to Sunday, March 7-11.