Aki Kaurismäki
Also Known As: Aki Olavi Kaurismäki, 아키 카우리스마키, Аки Каурисмяки, А́ки Ола́ви Ка́урисмяки, 아키 카우리스매키
Biography: Aki Olavi Kaurismäki (Finnish: [ˈɑki ˈkɑu̯rismæki]; born April 4,1957; Orimattila) is a Finnish film director, screenwriter, producer, editor and actor. He is best known for the award-winning Drifting Clouds (1996), The Man Without a Past (2002), Le Havre (2011), The Other Side of Hope (2017) and Fallen Leaves (2023), as well as for the mockumentary Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989). He is described as Finland's best-known film director. He is the younger brother of director and screenwriter Mika Kaurismäki. After graduating in media studies from the University of Tampere, Kaurismäki worked as a bricklayer, postman, and dish-washer, long before pursuing his interest in cinema, first as a critic, and later as a screenwriter & director. He started his career as a co-screenwriter and actor in films made by his older brother, Mika Kaurismäki. He played the main role in Mika's film The Liar (1981). Together they founded the production company Villealfa Filmproductions and later the Midnight Sun Film Festival. His debut as an independent director was Crime and Punishment (1983), an adaptation of Dostoyevsky's novel set in modern Helsinki. He gained worldwide attention with Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989). Kaurismäki's film Ariel (1988) was entered into the 16th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Prix FIPRESCI. Kaurismäki's most acclaimed film has been The Man Without a Past, which won the Grand Prix and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2003. However, Kaurismäki refused to attend the Oscar ceremony, asserting that he did not feel like partying in a country that was in a state of war. Kaurismäki's next film Lights in the Dusk was also chosen to be Finland's nominee for best foreign-language film, but Kaurismäki again boycotted the awards and refused the nomination, as a protest against U.S. President George W. Bush's foreign policy. In 2002 Kaurismäki also boycotted the 40th New York Film Festival in a show of solidarity with the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, who was not given a US visa in time for the festival. Kaurismäki's 2017 film The Other Side of Hope won the Silver Bear for Best Director award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. At the same festival he also announced that it would be his last film, although the retirement was short-lived as he began filming Fallen Leaves in 2022, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.
Department: Directing
Place of Birth: Orimattila, Finland
Birthday: April 04, 1957
Adult: No
Gender: Male
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Known For:
I Hired a Contract Killer
Overview: After losing his job and realizing that he is alone in the world, a businessman opts to voluntarily end his life. Lacking courage, he hires a contract killer to do the job. Then, while awaiting his demise, he meets a woman and promptly falls in love.
Genres: Comedy Crime Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-10-12
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Aaltra
Overview: In this pitch black comedy the rivalry between two neighbors escalates into an all out war. Through a maintenance error on a tractor they both end up, paralyzed, in a wheelchair. It seems they are doomed to stay together. They no longer focus their rage on each other but on the manufacturer of the tractor, in Helsinki. So get ready for a hilarious wheelchair road movie.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2004-06-23
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The Worthless
Overview: Manne, Harri, and Ville Alfa are rootless twenty-somethings in search of purpose for their banal lives. After Manne steals a priceless painting from a group of petty criminals, Manne and Harri flee from the gangsters across Finland, while Ville goes to Paris. On the road they meet Veera, an old girlfriend of Harri's, and try to avoid the gangsters in pursuit.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1982-10-15
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Iron Horsemen
Overview: Bad Trip, a biker who has been freshly inducted into a gang, flees from them after stealing one of their bikes.
Genres: Action Thriller Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1995-01-27
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Cinéma Laika
Overview: In the heart of the Finnish forest, the long-closed foundry of the little town of Karkkila has come back to life thanks to director Aki Kaurismäki and his creation of the town's first cinema. The peace and calm of the little town of Karkkila, nestled deep in the Finnish forest, is interrupted by unexpected sounds. In the abandoned foundry, noisy building work is taking place. Inside the building, Aki Kaurismäki is both builder and site manager of what is soon to become the Kino Laika cinema. The creation of the cinema is the talk of the town. In the factory still in activity, in a 1960s Cadillac, in a bikers' club, in the local pub, in the woods or in Aki Kaurismäki's former editing room, people start talking about cinema again.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2023-06-24
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Valokeilassa Atte Blom
Overview: TV document about the Finnish music producer Atte Blom.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 2015-10-04
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The Liar
Overview: Talkative, hyperactive young drifter Ville Alfa goes around Helsinki, basically trying to borrow money from friends and strangers by means of an incessant delivery of quirky and snappy quasi-intellectual lines and fabricated excuses.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1981-02-27
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I Am Curious, Film
Overview: The Scandinavian entry in the BFI's Century of Cinema series of documentaries
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: sv
Release Date: 1995-10-28
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The Dinosaur
Overview: Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 2021-03-10
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Plankton Salesmen
Overview: A nostalgic look at the birth and death of arthouse film distribution in the early 2000s in Russia. The story of the Cinema Without Borders company and its two founders, Sam Klebanov and Anton Mazurov.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: ru
Release Date: 2017-10-29
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Temples of Dreams
Overview: Documentary about Finnish film theaters - about their past, disappearance and future. And at the same time universal story how cinema is undeniably connected with life.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 2015-09-24
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Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: Aki Kaurismäki
Overview: An interview with Aki Kaurismäki, with film clips and comments from colleagues.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1991-03-15
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Peter von Bagh
Overview: Piirainen's documentary on the last years of Peter von Bagh.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 2016-06-15
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Talking with Ozu
Overview: A tribute to the legendary Japanese film director featuring the reflections of filmmakers Lindsay Anderson, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Aki Kaurismäki, Stanley Kwan, Paul Schrader, and Wim Wenders
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1993-11-27
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Calamari Union
Overview: A group of men all called Frank—except for one named Pekka—have had enough of life in their working-class neighborhood, so they set off for a better existence in the magical seaside district of Eira. But the way is long, and the group face many hurdles including stray dogs and defunct streetlights.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1985-02-08
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Il était une fois... Le Havre
Overview: A documentary about the making of Le Havre
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2014-04-24
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Viimeiset rotannahat
Overview: Anssi Mänttäri’s low-budget movies with their intimate content have become classics. In this black comedy that takes place in Helsinki in summer the main character (played by Mänttäri himself) jumps from one bar and bed to the next. Especially vulgar black humour.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1985-01-18
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A Special Day
Overview: At the 60th anniversary of Cannes Film Festival, 34 famous directors are followed by camera.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2012-05-16
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Huhtikuu on kuukausista julmin
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Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1983-10-21
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Ylösnousemus
Overview: A man fakes his own suicide in order to see how his close ones react.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1985-09-27
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Bohemian Eyes
Overview: Documentary about the life of Finnish actor Matti Pellonpää.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 2011-01-26
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Critic
Overview: Seventy critics and filmmakers discuss cinema around the conflict between the artist and the observer, the creator and the critic. Between 1998 and 2007, Kléber Mendonça Filho recorded testimonies about this relationship in Brazil, the United States and Europe, based on his experience as a critic.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: pt
Release Date: 2008-01-22
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Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
Overview: After years of fame and misfortune in Mexico, the members of the Leningrad Cowboys decide to return to their native village. Their former manager Vladimir, who now calls himself Moses lead them on their way home.
Genres: Comedy Adventure Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-02-17
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Aki Kaurismäki
Overview: Renowned filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, creator of The Man Without a Past (Grand Prix du Jury, 2002 Cannes Film Festival) and acclaimed films such as Ariel, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, and Drifting Clouds, is the subject of AKI KAURISMÄKI, the latest release from the Cinema, of Our Time series. The younger member of Finland's most prolific and irreverent filmmaking team, Kaurismäki, together with older brother Mika, virtually invented "The New Finnish Cinema." Since 1981, Kaurismäki has made twenty-two films, many of which are excerpted in this documentary.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2001-04-22
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Shadows in Paradise
Overview: Nikander, a rubbish collector and would-be entrepreneur, finds his plans for success dashed when his business associate dies. One evening, he meets Ilona, a down-on-her-luck cashier, in a local supermarket. Falteringly, a bond begins to develop between them.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1986-10-17
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Jackpot 2
Overview: Three young people, two boys and a girl, meet on a Friday evening in an urban post-disaster setting which has brought Helsinki to ruins. The boys' sole purpose of life is to play a Flip-Flop pinball machine.
Genres: Comedy Science Fiction
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1982-03-05
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Where Is Musette?
Overview: Documentary filmed on-set during the making of Aki Kaurismaki's "La vie de Boheme"
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-01-01
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Aki and Peter
Overview: THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE is dedicated to filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki’s longtime friend and collaborator, the film critic and festival programmer Peter von Bagh. In this new video essay, filmmaker Daniel Raim explores Kaurismäki’s oeuvre through the world of von Bagh.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-05-15
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Rocky VI
Overview: Not to be confused with any of the sequels to Sylvester Stallone's classic Oscar-winning Rocky, this short film from Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki is actually meant as a parody of the late Cold War-era Rocky IV, which saw Stallone's character taking on a juiced-up Russian fighter played by Dolph Lundgren. In this 1986 send-up, Rock'y, played by Silu Seppala, goes head to head with Soviet Igor (Sakari Kuosmanen) and loses.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1986-06-14
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The Saimaa Gesture
Overview: A documentary film about a tour of three Finnish rock bands around Saimaa lake system in a steam boat in 1981. The bands (Juice Leskinen Slam, Eppu Normaali and Hassisen Kone) are shown playing songs in their gigs and, in between, the members give intimate interviews or just act plain silly and have a good time.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: fi
Release Date: 1981-09-11
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