The leading Nordic short film event, Finland's Tampere International Short Film Festival (March 7-11), has unveiled the programme of its 31st edition which includes cult favourites chosen by Aki Kaurismaki as well as early shorts from Paul Verhoeven.

Both international and Finnish competition films will be judged by an international jury and compete for the $4000 Grand Prix and other prizes. Local entries will also compete in animation, documentary and fiction categories.

A sidebar will focus on digital cinema in co-operation with the US Resfest Digital Film festival. Other highlights include films by Leni Riefenstahl; a retrospective of Peruvian shorts and documentaries from the last 20 years; a focus on young Belgian cinema; and a sidebar promoting unknown European films, including films chosen by Kaurismaki, such as Mikko Niskanen's Eight Deadly Shots (1972) to be shown in its entirety for the first time.

A film market is also being held alongside the festival, with around 1,600 short films on offer, mostly from the Scandinavian territories, Russia and the Baltics.