Info
Logline
A brief note, a fondness for movies, and a whole lot of bottles form the backdrop to a romantic encounter in a Helsinki lost in time.
Ansa, a supermarket employee, and Holappa, a construction worker, don't really have much in common when they meet in a karaoke bar one evening. And yet there is a spark between these two lonely souls -- as much of a spark as there can be in a film by Aki Kaurismäki when people of few words stumble through an alienating world. Awarded the Jury Prize at Cannes, this tragicomedy is a touching love letter to ordinary people.
The premiere will be shown in the original version with German subtitles.
The second screening will be shown in the original version with English subtitles.
Meet the director
Aki Kaurismäki
Aki Kaurismäki was born in Orimattila, Finland, in 1957. He studied literature and communications at the University of Tampere, where he published a student film magazine and wrote film reviews for "Filmihullu" magazine. He wrote his first screenplay in 1980 for the film THE LIAR, directed by his brother, Mika. The two of them directed his first film, the documentary SAIMAA-ILMIÖ. Aki Kaurismäki's breakthrough came in 1986 with the film SHADOWS IN PARADISE, the first part of his workers' trilogy. Since then he has become one of the best-known directors in European art house cinema, his specialty being a mixture of whimsical, laconic humor and melancholy. FALLEN LEAVES (2023) is the fifth film of his to be nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and is considered an unofficial sequel to the workers' trilogy.