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Submissions for the 32nd Finnish Music Video Competition at the Oulu Music Video Festival are now open. The deadline for submitting music videos is Friday 6th May.
Registration and more info:
https://www2.omvf.net/fi/kotimainen-kilpailu/ilmoittautuminen
The competition is open to music videos directed by Finnish filmmakers that have not been previously screened at the festival. Creators may also submit videos made for international artists. The same video can take part in both the Finnish and Nordic competitions, but needs to be submitted for both separately.
The submitted videos will be pre-screened and placed into either competition or showcase screenings. The competition screenings will be curated into thematic programmes, and all selected videos will be shown in free public screenings during the festival. All submitted videos will take part in the audience vote and will be archived in OMVF’s archive – the world’s largest collection of Finnish music videos – currently containing 7,301 works from the years 1994–2024.
Participation is free of charge, but the festival can be supported at:
Winners will be announced at the festival’s awards gala, Pumpeligaala, on Saturday 23 August. The gala will also feature the winner announcement of OMVF’s first international competition, the OMVF Nordic Music Video Competition. Winners of The Finnish Music Video Competition will be selected by an independent jury, which this year includes journalist and author Anton Vanha-Majamaa, Tromsø International Film Festival director Lisa Hoen, and award-winning music video director Kalevi Suopursu.
Directors competing in the Finnish Music Video Competition are vying not only for eternal glory but also for the main prize, the Kultapumpeli, which comes with a 3000 € gift card donated by Kinos Rentals. A promising new director will receive the Teinipumpeli and a prize provided by Toast. The most outstanding post-production work will be awarded a product prize from Valco. Best cinematography will be recognised with the Linssipumpeli and an equipment rental prize sponsored by Valofirma and Kamerafirma. In addition, the jury will award four honorary mentions, and the audience vote winner will receive the Kansanpumpeli.
This year’s Pumpeli statues are designed by Irene Suosalo, who also created the festival’s 2025 visual identity.
The 32nd Oulu Music Video Festival will take place on August 21–24, 2025. This year's festival theme is Hyper Reality.
The modern music video was born into a world where media no longer just depicted reality but began to produce it. French philosopher Jean Baudrillard called this phenomenon hyperreality: visual imagery replicates itself to the point where the original reality disappears. In the 1980s, the power of simulation was especially evident in the United States, where advertising, television, and consumer culture turned products into symbols of identity. The golden age of music television reflected this transformation. Today, AI, VR and deepfake technologies, video games, reality TV, and social media platforms have made hyperreality a part of everyday life—alongside which physical reality, as we understand it, appears like an illusion, a pale imitation.
“Music videos are part of hyperreality, but they can also dismantle it—return the experience to the body, to time and space. I’ve curated screenings for the festival that mix 'traditional' music videos with experimental short films. OMVF wants to ask how music video might be freed again as an art form, reaching back to its avant-garde roots of the 1920s. A music video can be so much more than just a product to market music,” says artistic director Joel Karppanen.
The festival’s new visual identity and the Pumpeli Awards for the best music videos have been designed by video artist and illustrator Irene Suosalo. Based in Helsinki, Suosalo works primarily with animation loops and video installations, blending analog and digital techniques. She textures and compresses her animations using video synthesizers, in a way reminiscent of creating electronic music. Suosalo’s retro aesthetic often references experimental animation, abstract art, and techno culture. Internationally, she is known for illustrations published in outlets such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg.
The first program announcements for the festival will be made later this spring.
Submissions are currently open for the first-ever international music video competition in OMVF’s history, the OMVF Nordic Music Video Competition.
Photo: Adele Hyry
The oldest music video festival in the world, Oulu Music Video Festival, launches its first international competition series, the OMVF Nordic Music Video Competition, for the 2025 edition of the festival. The competition is open to directors living and working in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland.
Filmmakers can submit their videos via FilmFreeway.com/OMVF from 19th March to 31st May. Twelve videos will be selected to be screened at the festival, and the winner of the competition will be awarded at the legendary OMVF awards gala with a prize designed by artist Irene Suosalo and a pair of Genelec 1029 speakers valued at €8,000.
The competition is part of the Oulu 2026 European Capital of Culture program and will expand into a European competition in 2026.
Oulu Music Video Festival takes place on 21–25 August 2025. In addition to the Music Video Competition the festival offers curated music video and movie screenings, panel discussions, workshops, networking events, audiovisual after parties, an art exhibition and many other events.
The festival programme will be released later in the spring and submissions for the Finnish Music Video Competition open in May.
More information:
Executive Director Juhani Oivo
Oulu Music Festival
www.omvf.net
+358 45 651 6596
juhani(at)omvf.net
Registration for the 31st Finnish Music Video Competition is now open. The last day to send your videos is Friday 7th of June. Decisions on whether your video makes it to the competition series or is screened in the showcase series will be made by the first copy you send. The final copy that will be screened at the festival and seen by the jury of the competition must be sent by 12th of July
All videos made by Finnish directors that have not been screened at the festival can be sent. Videos made by Finnish directors for international artists can also participate.
The sent videos will be divided into the competition and showcase series. The competition series will be split into separate screenings by themes. All music videos will be screened at the festival. All videos also participate in the voting for the audience award and will also be archived into OMVF’s Finnish music video archive (the world’s largest!). At present the archive holds 6972 videos made between 1994–2023.
The winners will be awarded at the awards gala Pumpeligala on the 24th of August, which takes place at Rio. The jury consists of directors Felix Geen and Matt Broadley as well as journalist Eleanoora Riihinen.The best video will be awarded the Kultapumpeli, best cinematography will receive the Linssipumpeli and the most accomplished post-production will be awarded the Postpumpeli. The judges will also award four honorary mentions and the most promising young director will receive the Teinipumpeli. The audience will vote on the recipient of the Kansanpumpeli. All videos will also be archived into the world’s largest archive of Finnish music videos.The winner will receive 2000 euros awarded by Kinos Rentals. The best new director will win a prize from Toast. The best post-production wins a prize from Fimeko. The best cinematography wins a equipment rental prize from Valofirma and Kamerafirma. The winner of the audience award gets a Real Deal gift card. The awards are made by artist Eetu Kevarinmäki who is also behind this year’s graphicsi. Four videos will win honorary mentions and MES, The Finnish Music Foundation, will award 1500 euros for the person who has done the most to further Finnish music videos.
Are you a visionary who knows popular culture and its new trends like the back of your hand? Do you want to get involved in putting together the programme for the world's oldest music video festival and helping develop the festival in an international direction?
Oulu Music Video Festival (OMVF) is the oldest music video festival in the world. Held annually in Oulu. The four-day festival features curated music video screenings, films, clubs, master classes, workshops and much more. As part of the Oulu European Capital of Culture 2026 project, OMVF is organising a Nordic music video competition in 2025 and a European music video competition in 2026.
Oulu Music Video Festival is looking for an Artistic Director to be responsible for the festival's programme in cooperation with the festival organisation. Their main task will be to put together the music video and film programme as well as the supporting programme. The artistic director also assists in the festival production. The job of Artistic Director requires vision, extensive knowledge of music videos and audiovisual culture and experience in programming.
We also value motivation, the ability to work independently, experience with associations as well as networks in the audiovisual sector. International connections are a plus. We also consider experience with event production as well as public speaking to be an advantage.
The job is part-time 18,75 h/week from the first of March to the last of August and does not require living in Oulu. The Artistic Director must subscribe to the values of the association.
Send an application and CV by the tenth of January 16:00 to hakemukset@omvf.net. For more information about the position, please contact Inka Koutaniemi, Chair of the Board of Oulu Music Video Festival Association, on 23rd of Novemeber 17-19, 14th of Dcember 17-18.30 and 9th of January 17-19 tel. 050 41091876. Job interviews will take place in week 3.
The theme for 2022s Oulu Music Video Festival is Care. Creative director Anna-Mari Nousiainen describes the theme as follows: ‘’The past years have tormented us on personal, societal and global levels. The world we live in can be a cruel, hard and scary place. That is why we desperately need more softness, understanding and warmth. This years’ festival is all about care and caring, nurturing and gentleness, with audiovisual pleasure of course!’’ The festival takes place in 25–28 August.
International professionals, intriguing curators and safer space principles
Danish director Martin de Thurah, known for his work with Kanye West, David Byrne and James Blake among others, brings his retrospective to the festival. The newer generation of music video directors is represented by the acclaimed Swedish director, Sheila Johansson, whose master class will take place at the festival. Johansson is known for her work with Seinabo Sey and Silvana Imam. Finnish music video director JIRINA holds a screening where she talks about director branding and safer space principles on set as well as showcases her work. Dxxxa D, the master of eccentric rap himself, presents his favorite music videos and also performs at the afterparty. Academic Roos Hekkens returns for another fascinating dive into music videos, this time with her self-help screening and the musician/journalist Veli Kauppinen is also back with Velinen Sunnuntai, which will be held for the 11th time.
Invisible people, anti-influencers and the dangers of fast-living
The Scars of Ali Boulala, directed by Max Eriksson, tells the colorful yet tragic life story of the Swedish skateboarding star Ali Boulala. Anonymous Club delves into the mind and soul of one of Australia’s top contemporary rock artists, Courtney Barnett, as she struggles with mental health issues and trying to find a meaning for her life. Finnish movies are represented by Petri Kärkkäinen’s documentary Kalevi Suopursu Karaoke Showand Tommi E. Virtanen’s Silence.. and the Birth of Sound, which examines the meaning of music and silence from a philosophical point of view through conversations with jazz guitarist Teemu Viinikainen and actor Hannu-Pekka Björkman. Jesse Jalonen’s fiction movie No one looks at me in the eyes, is about people with a rare syndrome – they can only be seen and heard through a camera and a microphone.
Tropical rhythms, UK garage and immersive visuals at the clubs
The OMVF clubs are the audiovisual continuum of the festival, for which Jani Pitkänen provides the immersive visuals. Look forward to performances from the Tampere-based Maajo, known for their tropic rhythms and balearic soundscapes, Dxxxa D’s eccentric rap show as well as Main Phase, the Danish UK Garage DJ on the rise.
You can find the festival's entire programme in English on OMVF's website at this link.