Guests
CAROLINE MUNRO
The headliner guest of spring 2026 edition of Night Visions arrives to Helsinki from London. An iconic genre film actress and Bond star, Caroline Munro (b. 1949, Windsor, Berkshire, UK) has a magnificent career in film spanning over seven decades, well worth celebrating with the Night Visions audience.
A Vogue magazine model at the age of 17 thanks to a competition in The Evening News newspaper, Munro quickly caught the eye of film industry hotshots. A small part in the comedic James Bond adventure Casino Royale (1967) paved the way for a career as a recording artist and a contract actress with Paramount Studios. After that, she was hired by the legendary Hammer Studios.
Munro’s best-known sci-fi credit is the starring role of Stella Star in Luigi Cozzi’s fantastic Star Wars rip-off Starcrash(1978). Munro got along with Cozzi so well that she returned in front of his camera for the psychedelic Dario Argento riffThe Black Cat (1989).
The selection of four features now screening at the festival offers an in-depth look at the most prolific period of Munro’s acting career. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and At the Earth’s Core (1976) are fantasy adventures, while Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) and Maniac (1980) offer two unique takes on horror on screen.
Caroline Munro will be presenting the Night Visions screenings of her films to the audience:
At the Earth’s Core on Thursday, March 26, at 07.15 PM at WHS Teatteri Union
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter on Friday, March 27, at 04.45 PM at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad on Saturday, March 28, at 02.00 PM at Cinema Orion
Maniac on Saturday, March 28, at 06.30 PM at Cinema Orion
NOTE that Caroline Munro will not be signing items in conjunction with the screenings. The signing session (for ticketholders of Munro screening tickets only) takes place on Friday, March 27, after the Captain Kronos screening at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi, starting at approximately 07.00 PM.
VIKTOR JAKOVLESKI
Director-screenwriter Viktor Jakovleski arrives to Helsinki with Rave On, a dive into Berlin’s unique club culture in the vein of the provocative auteur Gaspar Noé.
Born in West Berlin in 1983 to a Macedonian-Yugoslav immigrant family, Jakovleski began his career as a producer and director of short films and music videos. His first foray into feature films was Brimstone & Glory (2017), a documentary about the Mexican fireworks capital Tultepec. Made in collaboration with the New Orleans filmmaker collective Court 13 (Beast of the Southern Wild, 2012), it also paved his way in 2015 to the list of “25 New Faces of Independent Film” compiled by Filmmaker magazine.
Jakovleski is also co-creator of the Apple TV medical drama series Krank Berlin (a.k.a. Berlin ER), which is based on an idea by Jakovleski and stems from his encounters with Berlin doctors and nurses.
Viktor Jakovleski will be presenting Rave On to the Night Visions audience at its both festival screenings:
Thursday, March 26, at 07.25 PM at Cinema Orion
Saturday, March 28, at 09.10 PM at WHS Teatteri Union
EINAR LOFTESNES
The grandmaster of Nordic genre cinema Einar Loftesnes (b. 1974) delights Helsinki with Kraken, a tentaclous genre piece combining Alien and Jaws with disaster movie aesthetics. Produced by Loftesnes and directed by Pål Øie, also a filmmaker guest at this edition of Night Visions, this large-scale horror thriller inspired by Nordic folklore made it to number one spot of the box office chart in Norway on its opening week in February.
Loftesnes’ track record includes producer credits also in The Tunnel (2019), Nightmare (2022), and Wild Men (2021), all both local and international hits.
Einar Loftesnes will be presenting Kraken to the Night Visions audience along with its director Pål Øie at its both festival screenings:
Friday, March 27, at 07.00 PM at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi
Saturday, March 28, at 11.10 PM at Gilda 3
PETE OHS
A director, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor and producer, Pete Ohs ranks among the sharpest and most original multi-talents of contemporary American independent cinema. He was named as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker magazine already in 2013.
Ohs arrives in Helsinki with two features. A cavalcade of folk-horror induced strangeness, the South by Southwest world premiere The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick is directed, shot, edited, and co-written by Ohs. Also shot by Ohs and co-written and co-edited by him along with its director Albert Birney, the Sundance world premiere OBEX is a sci-fi fantasy set in the world pre-Internet and a surreal universe of its titular video game.
Ohs’ savviness of popular culture also extends to music. The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick features a stunning score by Florence + The Machine keyboardist Isabella Summers. His latest feature, the relationship drama Erupcja, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, features Charli XCX in its female lead.
Pete Ohs will be presenting OBEX and The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick to the Night Visions audience at their all festival screenings:
OBEX on Wednesday, March 25, at 06.45 PM at Cinema Orion
The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick on Thursday, March 26, at 05.15 PM at WHS Teatteri Union
OBEX on Friday, March 27, at 07.00 PM at WHS Teatteri Union
The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick on Saturday, March 28, at 04.30 PM at Cinema Orion
PÅL ØIE
Along with his producer Einar Loftesnes, Norwegian director and screenwriter Pål Øie (b. 1961) arrives in Helsinki with Kraken, a cross between Jaws and Alien drawing its inspiration from unexplored Nordic mythology. Partially shot in Finland, the horror thriller which premiered in his home turf in early February to box office records is Øie’s sixth feature film.
Øie has established himself as a specialist in horror and disaster genres since the beginning of his career. Readers of the newspaper Dagbladet voted his debut feature Villmark (2003) the scariest Norwegian film of all time. It was also nominated for Best Picture at the Amanda Awards, Norway’s equivalent to the Oscars.
His other directorial efforts include Hidden (2009), Villmark Asylum (2015), and The Tunnel (2019), with two of the latter also produced by Einar Loftesnes.
Pål Øie will be presenting Kraken to the Night Visions audience along with its producer Einar Loftesnes at its both festival screenings:
Friday, March 27, at 07.00 PM at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi
Saturday, March 28, at 11.10 PM at Gilda 3