25th HIFF started accepting submissions for consideration.

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Finnish director Vivi Friedman has lost a long and courageous battle with cancer and died this Monday at the age of 44. Friedman visited Helsinki International Film Festival in 2010 with her first feature film THE FAMILY TREE. The film boasts a star-studded cast like Cristina Hendricksin, Dermot Mulroneyn, Selma Blair, Jane Seymour, and others. Friedman's black comedy premiered also in US, before the director passed away.

The French box office sensation Poliss is on the Finnish screens starting last weekend, gathering favorable reviews. In France Poliss has reached over 2 million admissions in five weeks. The film has now broken into the Top 20 of films released in France in 2011 and is one of the Top 5 French films released in France in 2011.

Check the highlights of the 2011 festival from our Photo Gallery.

She Monkeys, presented at HIFF this year, gets its theatrical release on November 4^th in Helsinki/Kino Engel, Kuopio/Kuvakukko and Tampere/Niagara. Swedish Lisa Aschan’s feature debut is a thrilling coming-of-age story that reveals how developing sexuality and friendships can be confusing and painful.

Another youth story Neds is also having its theatrical premier on November 4^th. Celebrated writer-director Peter Mullan tells a 1970 Glasgow based story of young man’s descent into the gang crime.

Helsinki Short Film Festival HLEF will take place from November 8 until November 12 . HLEF will present recent Finnish short films, classic shorts, competitions and far more in Cinemas Andorra and Orion.

ARRIETTY, the work of director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Studio Ghibli, gets its theatrical release on Friday, October 28. The critically acclaimed ARRIETTY was the highest grossing film at the Japanese box office in 2010 and it also won the Animation of the Year Award at the Japan Academy Prize award ceremony. ARRIETTY was a part of this year’s HIFF’s Animated Dreams series.

HIFF’s main theatre, Bio Rex, turns 75 this year. Over the years Bio Rex has hosted a countless number of film festivals, been the venue for a number of important Finnish premieres and welcomed audiences to screenings of both European and American film favourites.

To commemorate Bio Rex’s 75th anniversary, four film classics chosen by the public will be shown during Friday (28.10.) and Saturday (29.10).

Norwegian film HEADHUNTERS, a part of this year’s HIFF programme, has been a huge success in its native country. With over half a million sold tickets HEADHUNTERS is the second most popular Norwegian film in the last ten years. In addition to doing well locally, the film has also sold 120 000 tickets in neighbouring Denmark. HEADHUNTERS is based on Jo Nesbø’s novel, Hodejegerne.

Three films seen at this year’s HIFF get their theatrical releases on Friday, October 21. John Michael McDonagh’s THE GUARD is a dark and witty crime comedy starring the brilliant Brendan Gleeson. CONTAGION is director Steven Soderbergh’s new thriller that revolves around the rapid progress of a deadly virus. Showcasing Finnish film know-how is HOME SWEET HOME, directed by Aleksi Mäkelä and starring Samuli Edelmann.

Swedish film BEYOND has won this year’s Nordic Council Film Prize. Pernilla August’s dark debut feature is a tale of the effects of parental alcoholism on children. Outi Mäenpää plays a dying alcoholic mother, Ville Virtanen the father and Noomi Rapace is faultless as their adult daughter. The film is based on Susanna Alakoski’s prize-winning novel Svinalängorna.

BEYOND has also been chosen to represent Sweden in this year’s Foreign Language Oscar race.

The opening film of this year’s HIFF, Pedro Almodóvar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN, gets its theatrical release on Friday, October 14.

The sheer muscular confidence of Almodóvar's film-making language gives it force, and co-exists with a dancer's elegance and grace. Without this, the story could look strained and farcical. Instead, its bizarre passions are compelling. – Peter Bradshaw / The Guardian