The warm Saturday began with the special guests morning discussion. Chris Petit, the British director and screenwriter, and Athina Rachel Tsangari, the Greek filmmaker, opened up about the meaningful and remarkable moments of the beginnings of their careers, and discussed their methods of filmmaking.
Petit talked about his youth in the cultural magazine Time Out, for which he wrote film reviews. The young Petit discovered London in a new way by touring small cinemas in the suburbs. Petit said that his latest film, D is for Distance, was inspired by his son Louis’ epileptic seizures, which the doctors treating him urged him to film.
Tsangari says he spent his childhood summers at outdoor film screenings in his hometown. As a child, she did not dream of going into the film industry because she felt that it was not possible for a girl in Greece. Tsangari has been called a pioneer of the “Greek wave of weirdness”, but she herself is critical of the term. He says that the critics’ desire to categorise films also dumbs them down.
During Saturday, the festival visitors got to follow various discussions and masterclasses of film. In the Club Tent, at the discussion event held by WIFT (Women in Film and Television) the independent film editor Melody London discussed in great detail her long and varied career and how editing as a profession and as a progress has developed. While at times the strong wind shook the tent, London displayed examples of films by Jim Jarmusch, in which London had worked on as the editor. In the evening, London held a masterclass at the school, in which she discussed and presented Jarmusch’s Mystery Train (1989), for which she worked as the editor for. In the masterclass London illustrated the interlacing details that tied together the three episode-like sections of the film.
The afternoon consisted of the discussion session of Finnish filmmakers, who analysed broadly on how both one’s own experiences, as well as the expectations of others that can influence the creation and being of a film. Jaana Saarinen (Long Good Thursday, 2024), Elina Knihtilä (Raptures, 2025 ja 100 Litres of Gold, 2024), Ville Virtanen (Never Alone, 2024) and the director Herra Ylppö (Kronos Kairos, 2025), took part in the event.
Midnight Sun Pride was also celebrated during the day, and a part of the festival’s visitors and staff took part in the march. The Sodankylä Pride march paraded energetically through the center of Sodankylä, and the celebration at the park was held in the Kirkkopuisto, with performances by Jukka Nousiainen, joku iiris and the artists of VHS-club.
A much-beloved film by the film enthusiasts, Joseph von Stroheim’s Greed (1924) was screened from 35mm film in the early evening. The long-awaited live score by Anssi Tikanmäki Film Orchestra led the audience to Stroheim’s cruel world, and the screening was characterized as magical. In the third and final karaoke screening of this year’s festival the audience, in turn, immersed themselves into the world of Gurinder Chadhan’s film, Blinded by the Light (2019). The singalong was led by Olavi Uusivirta, with the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen.
The Night School of Experimental Cinema, a masterclass and “lecture” curated and presented by Mika Taanila, was given in the early hours of the morning of Sunday. The short films presented in the screening were an expansive set of vivid contemporary works of film, and the audience was both surprised and delighted by the selection. Taanila’s loose theme was to find in experimental films a representation of the inner world of the filmmaker. The screening included John Smith’s autobiographical and self-deprecating Being a John Smith (2024) and Ville Koskinen’s urban horror film Teeth (2024). According to Taanila, Koskinen is one of the most important new names in new cinema.
The fluctuating weather and the rain clouds carried by the wind that were present for the day escaped to the horizon during the night. The glowy sunrays of the midnight sun lighted up the ecstatic faces of the festival guests along the Kitisenranta.