Aki Kaurismäki · Queuebrick

Aki Kaurismäki

Directing·Apr 4, 1957·Orimattila, Finland

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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.

Cannes Film Festival2002
- Grand Prix
  The Man Without a Past
Berlinale2017
- Silver Bear · Best Director
  The Other Side of Hope

Film	Credit
Fallen Leaves2023 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
The Other Side of Hope2017 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Dirty Hands2015 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Bluesia Pieksämäen asemalla2013 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Historic Centre2012 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
Tavern Man2012 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Le Havre2011 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
To Each His Own Cinema2007 · Director, Producer, Writer	Director, Producer, Writer
The Foundry2007 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Lights in the Dusk2006 · Director, Producer, Writer	Director, Producer, Writer
Visions of Europe2004 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Bico2004 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet2002 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Dogs Have No Hell2002 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
The Man Without a Past2002 · Director, Producer, Writer	Director, Producer, Writer
Juha1999 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
Drifting Clouds1996 · Director, Producer, Writer	Director, Producer, Writer
Total Balalaika Show1994 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses1994 · Factory Worker Imitating Chaplin (uncredited), Director, Producer, Screenplay	Factory Worker Imitating Chaplin (uncredited), Director, Producer, Screenplay
Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana1994 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
La Vie de Bohème1992 · Director, Producer, Screenplay	Director, Producer, Screenplay
I Hired a Contract Killer1990 · Sunglasses Seller (uncredited), Director, Screenplay, Producer	Sunglasses Seller (uncredited), Director, Screenplay, Producer
The Match Factory Girl1990 · Director, Producer, Writer	Director, Producer, Writer
Leningrad Cowboys Go America1989 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
Ariel1988 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Hamlet Goes Business1987 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
Shadows in Paradise1986 · Hotel Receptionist (uncredited), Director, Writer	Hotel Receptionist (uncredited), Director, Writer
Rocky VI1986 · Magazine Photographer, Director, Writer, Producer	Magazine Photographer, Director, Writer, Producer
Calamari Union1985 · Hearse Driver (uncredited), Writer, Director, Producer	Hearse Driver (uncredited), Writer, Director, Producer
Crime and Punishment1983 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
The Saimaa Gesture1981 · Director, Producer, Writer	Director, Producer, Writer