22/01/2013 - With DocPoint: Helsinki beginning tonight (January 22) and DocPoint: Tallinn due to begin on Thursday, Cineuropa looks at some of the new films on offer

Eschewing the markets and industry focus of fests such as IDFA, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Dok: Leipzig, the DocPoint Festivals (one is held in Helsinki, the other in Tallinn) are designed to bring audiences an opportunity to see some off the most talked about documentary films of the past year whilst hearing film-makers talk more about the stories behind them. With the Helsinki version of the event beginning tonight and the Tallinn version beginning on January 24, both of this year’s programmes promise some intriguing world premieres along with some of the more popular fare of the past year.

DocPoint: Helsinki will include a number of world premieres that will be theatrically distributed in Finland. Among these are the opening film Hilton! by Virpi Suutari (Finland), a film which follows the lives of a group of youngsters living in a youth owned tenement block, My Stuff by Petri Luukkainen (Finland), an examination of consumerism and the need to fill life with items as a substitute for living and Finnish Blood, Swedish Heart by Mika Ronkainen (Finland) about a young man journeying across Sweden with his father to remind himself of the childhood that seems such a long time ago. Viru – Story of a Hotel by Taru Mäkelä and Johanna Onnismaa (Finland/Estonia), a tale about the legendary hotel in Tallinn, will be shown by both festivals.

Popular films on the festival circuit that both festivals will screen include The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology by Sophie Fiennes (UK) and the lauded Polish documentary Fuck for Forest by Michał Marczak, which won Best Documentary at the Warsaw Film Festival.

DocPoint: Helsinki will also welcome Polish filmmaker Jerzy SladKowski , who will be the subject of a retrospective alongside holding a masterclass about the production of his latest film Love and Let Me Go. Sladsowski studied and worked in TV and film industry in Poland until moving to Sweden in 1982. During his versatile career he has produced and directed about thirty documentary films.