DocPoint celebrates its 25th anniversary – over 180 film screenings in Helsinki

DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival begins today, Tuesday 3 February, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Over six days, cinemas across Helsinki will screen topical and artistically ambitious documentary films from Finland and around the world, and the festival will welcome a wide range of international filmmakers.

The festival opens with Karin Pennanen’s personal documentary Days of Wonder, portraying the extensive and long-hidden artistic life’s work of the director’s reclusive uncle.

Throughout the festival week, audiences will encounter documentaries exploring music, identity, history, science, power and today’s most pressing societal issues through personal stories and wider phenomena.

Documentaries on Contemporary Issues

The programme includes Wes Orshoski’s Di’Anno – Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer, which follows the final years of Iron Maiden’s original singer Paul Di’Anno, as well as Kamal Aljafari’s moving documentary With Hasan in Gaza, in which the director returns to Gaza and a friendship disrupted by war.

Among Finnish productions is In Full Agreement by Panu Suuronen, examining the everyday lives of Russian-speaking people living in Finland amid Russia’s war of aggression and a tense social climate. The programme also features Anna Blom’s Amos A – en tolkning av en framgångssaga, a portrait of cultural patron and publisher Amos Anderson and his extensive social and artistic legacy.

The programme also addresses the intersections of science, power and ethics. Blame follows researchers whose work became entangled in political and public controversy during the pandemic, while Werner Herzog’s latest documentary Ghost Elephants takes viewers to the Angolan highlands in search of mysterious giant elephants and reflects on the meaning of scientific expeditions.

International Filmmakers in Helsinki

During the festival week, DocPoint will host a wide range of international filmmakers. Guests include director Yrsa Roca Fannberg (The Ground Beneath Our Feet), Cannes award winner Déni Oumar Pitsaev (Imago), Kristina Shtubert (Abode of Dawn), Hampus Linder (Confessions of a Swedish Man) and Wes Orshoski (Di’Anno – Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer).

Festival guests will also attend screenings and audience discussions. Yrsa Roca Fannberg will be present at screenings on Wednesday 5 February and Thursday 6 February. Déni Oumar Pitsaev will attend screenings on Friday 6 February and Saturday 7 February. Kristina Shtubert will attend screenings on Tuesday 4 February and Wednesday 5 February. Hampus Linder will attend screenings on Tuesday 4 February and Wednesday 5 February. Wes Orshoski will attend the Saturday 7 February screening at Bio Rex.

Several other international directors and producers will also visit Helsinki during the festival week.

Audience Discussions

Post-screening discussions will deepen the films’ themes and connect them to current societal issues. The programme includes DocFokus: Science Under Threat, examining the relationship between freedom of expression, journalism and research, as well as a panel organised with Amnesty Finland on freedom of assembly and expression in protests. In addition, DocPoint and Piiri invite audiences to an Annie Ernaux–themed discussion event.

Events, Encounters and Festival Atmosphere

To mark the anniversary year, DocPoint presents special screenings and events where film meets music and celebration. The programme includes a Kino Concert in which a silent film is accompanied live by Kiri Ra! (Lau Nau, Matti Bye and Linda Fredriksson).

The festival also features a combined film and concert evening at the Savoy Theatre, where internationally acclaimed artist Ivo Dimchev will present the Finnish premiere of In Hell with Ivo (dir. Kristina Nikolova), followed by a live performance with his band.

The festival week culminates in DocPoint’s 25th birthday party at H2O2 bar.

DocPoint Industry – Professional Programme

DocPoint Industry brings together documentary professionals and students in Helsinki from 4–6 February 2026. The programme addresses the future of documentary filmmaking, authorship, ethical issues and international collaboration through seminars, panel discussions and practical workshops.

Festival Information

DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival takes place in Helsinki from 3–8 February 2026.

DocPoint Film Event Association is a non-profit organisation founded in 2001. Its mission is to strengthen, deepen and diversify the position and public awareness of documentary cinema in Finland. The association organises the annual DocPoint Festival, one of the largest documentary film festivals in the Nordic countries and the only event in Finland dedicated exclusively to documentary cinema.

DocPoint Film Event Association received the Finnish State Prize for Film Art in 2024 for organising the annual DocPoint Festival. The 25th DocPoint Festival will be held from 3–8 February 2026.

DocPoint is supported by the City of Helsinki, the Finnish Film Foundation, the Ministry of Education and Culture, Yle, AVEK, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Nordic Culture Point, Svenska kulturfonden, the Amos Anderson Foundation, the Foundation of the Consumer Co-operative, the Finnish–Danish Cultural Foundation, the Finnish–Icelandic Cultural Foundation, Goethe-Institut Finnland, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Helsinki and Institut français de Finlande.