Arthur Franck’s The Helsinki Effect gets its Norwegian premiere on 14 January. The director visits the screenings in Oslo.
About the film
The Helsinki Effect is a satirical all-archival essay documentary that, through the lens of this conference, offers a fresh and comedic perspective on The Cold War. Based on hundreds of hours of archival footage, countless declassified memorandums of conversation (reimagined through Al voice simulation technology) and guided by a highly subjective and cheeky director-narrator, the film deconstructs the anatomy of this often misunderstood diplomatic process, and reveals how it came to impact the world in a decisive way.
The motifs that take shape in the film are familiar from our present day reality: realism vs. principles; pile vs. cynicism; peace vs. imperial anxiety. At its core, The Helsinki Effect is a story about how boring conferences can change the world.
The film is directed by Arthur Franck and produced by Sandra Enkvist, Arthur Franck, Oskar Forstén, Anja Dziersk, Stefan Kloos and Thorvald Nilsen.
About Arthur Franck
Arthur Franck is a documentary filmmaker from Helsinki, Finland. He graduated with his bachelors in 2009 and has been making films for over 15 years. Franck’s newest film The Helsinki Effect premiered at the CPH:DOX 2025 documentary film festival. Together with producer Sandra Enkvist, he leads production company Polygraf, and his latest film was nominated for the Nordic Council’s film award in 2025.
Prepremier 14 january, seniorkino, 1 pm, Symra
Cinema Symra organises the year’s first seniorkino screening. Director Arthur Franck will pay a visit to the showing.
Prepremier 14 january, 6 pm, Gimle Kino
The screening will begin with opening remarks from the film’s director, Arthur Franck. Afterwards, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee will lead a discussion about the significance of the Helsinki Accords.
There will be a glass of bubbly for everyone who bought a ticket.
Get your tickets and read more https://tinyurl.com/kd7t4thk
The screening is organised by Norwegian Helsinki Comittee, Embassy of Finland in Oslo, the Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute, Indie Film and Nordisk Film Kino.
The film premieres in Norway on 16.1.2026