Sydney Film Festival, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), and the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) are joinging forces to present a retrospective of Aki Kaurismäki. A collection of the Finnish filmmaker’s output will be curated by Australia’s most notable bearded film critic, David Stratton.
Spanning from Crime and Punishment (1983) to Le Havre (2011), Kaurismäki’s films are known for their distinctive style and their satirical and often biting examinations of social and political issues. The Other Side of Hope, which debuted at SFF last year and is opening in Australian cinemas this week, is a thoroughly anti-modern film that deals with the very contemporary issue of refugees in Europe.
“Kaurismäki is the complete auteur, producing, directing, scripting and usually editing his films,” said Stratton in a statement. “A master of the deadpan, the dialogue in his films is laconic and laced with stoic humour, not including a streak of sentiment, despite the presence of a loveable dog in almost every movie.” In the anachronistic world of Kaurismäki, everything is presented with a matter-of-factness. So naturally, taking in a refugee after being punched in the face is just another eventuality of being human.
Screening at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Dendy Opera Quays cinema, as part of the 65th Sydney Film Festival (6-17 June), the retrospective will also screen in Melbourne at ACMI (14-30 June) and in Canberra at NFSA’s Arc cinema (29 June – 10 July).
- Crime and Punishment (1983)
- La Vie de Boheme (1992)
- Shadows in Paradise (1986)
- Drifting Clouds (1996)
- Ariel (1988)
- The Man Without a Past (2002)
- Leningrad Cowboys go America (1989)
- Lights in the Dusk (2006)
- The Match Factory Girl (1990)
- Le Havre (2011)
Sydney Film Festival tickets are on sale now for Essential Kaurismäki: Selected by David Stratton screenings for $19.90 (Adult) each or Concession $17.00 + booking fee. You can buy them from the sff.org.au website.
The first titles in this year’s main program won’t be announced until Wednesday 4 April, with the full festival program to be revealed in May. The SFF has already hinted that there will be over 250 films and in excess of 150 local and international guests to keep us entertained.
