Etnia Film Festival ( EFF )

The first Etnia Film Festival was held in 2000 during which only documentaries on indigenous peoples were shown. Since then the festival has become an opportunity to showcase films that are rarely available in Finnish cinemas or video rental stores. During the past years many movies from Africa, Asia and Latin America have had their Finnish premiere at our festival.

Since 2003 the festival has taken giant leaps forward. The theme of the festival that year was Africa, and it was the first time feature films were shown; these films pulled in large audiences and were very popular. The most notable film to have its Finnish premiere was Heremakono, but Price of Forgiveness/Ndeysaan was not a bad runner-up. One of the guest directors that year was Dani Kouyaté and his film Sia – Dream of a Python was shown twice; the second screening drew the cinema full of viewers. During the festival a small music club event was arranged, with Congolese Marius Billy and Momar from Mama Africa performing. The four-day festival with its half a dozen feature films and some 20 documentaries drew over 3000 viewers.

The festival has been arranged annually after mid-October. In the first two years the goal was to obtain an extensive collection of documentaries dealing with indigenous peoples from all around the world. The difficulty of choosing led to the theme being specified. Since then the theme has changed according to continent: Africa, Asia and Latin America. This division helps to be able to properly focus on each area and its cultures.

If you have questions concerning the festival, contact: here.

This year's festival:

Previous festivals:

Etnia Film Festival 2006 (Africa)

Etnia Film Festival 2005 ( Latin America )

Etnia Film Festival 2004 ( Asia )

Etnia Film Festival 2003 ( Africa )

Etnia Film Festival 2002 ( Indigenous People Film Festival )

Etnia Film Festival 2000 ( Indigenous People Film Festival )