Aki Kaurismäki
Aki Olavi Kaurismäki (Finnish: [ˈɑki ˈkɑu̯rismæki]; born 4 April 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.
I Hired a Contract Killer
(Sunglasses Seller (uncredited))
Aaltra
(Le patron Aaltra)
The Worthless
(Ville Alfa)
Iron Horsemen
(Cadillac Man)
Cinéma Laika
(Self)
Valokeilassa Atte Blom
(Self)
The Liar
(Ville Alfa)
I Am Curious, Film
(Self)
The Dinosaur
(Self)
Plankton Salesmen
(Self (archive footage))
Temples of Dreams
(Self)
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: Aki Kaurismäki
(Self)
Peter von Bagh
(Self)
Talking with Ozu
(Self)
Calamari Union
(Hearse Driver (uncredited))
Il était une fois... Le Havre
(himself)
Viimeiset rotannahat
A Special Day
(Self)
Huhtikuu on kuukausista julmin
(Ville Alfa)
Ylösnousemus
(Taksikuski)
Bohemian Eyes
(Self)
Crítico
(Self)
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
(Factory Worker Imitating Chaplin (uncredited))
Aki Kaurismäki
Jackpot 2
Shadows in Paradise
(Hotel Receptionist (uncredited))
Where Is Musette?
Aki and Peter
(Himself)
Rocky VI
(Magazine Photographer)
Ariel
(Director)
Shadows in Paradise
(Director)
Lights in the Dusk
(Editor)
Lights in the Dusk
(Director)
Lights in the Dusk
(Producer)
Jackpot 2
(Costume Design)
Jackpot 2
(Assistant Director)
Jackpot 2
(Smoke Artist)
Jackpot 2
(Production Design)
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
(Director)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America
(Screenplay)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America
(Director)
Drifting Clouds
(Producer)
Drifting Clouds
(Director)
Drifting Clouds
(Editor)
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
(Director)
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
(Writer)
The Man Without a Past
(Producer)
The Man Without a Past
(Director)
The Match Factory Girl
(Director)
The Match Factory Girl
(Editor)
I Hired a Contract Killer
(Producer)
I Hired a Contract Killer
(Editor)
The Match Factory Girl
(Producer)
I Hired a Contract Killer
(Director)
I Hired a Contract Killer
(Screenplay)
Hamlet Goes Business
(Producer)
Hamlet Goes Business
(Screenplay)
Hamlet Goes Business
(Director)
Visions of Europe
(Director)
La Vie de Bohème
(Director)
La Vie de Bohème
(Writer)
To Each His Own Cinema
(Director)
Calamari Union
(Writer)
Rocky VI
(Director)
Rocky VI
(Writer)
Rocky VI
(Producer)
Rocky VI
(Editor)
The Clan: Tale of the Frogs
(Screenplay)
The Match Factory Girl
(Writer)
Shadows in Paradise
(Writer)
Macbeth
(Producer)
Ariel
(Writer)
Le Havre
(Director)
Le Havre
(Writer)
Crime and Punishment
(Director)
Juha
(Director)
John From
(Thanks)
Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana
(Director)
Calamari Union
(Director)
Total Balalaika Show
(Director)
Total Balalaika Show
(Writer)
Historic Centre
(Director)
Bluesia Pieksämäen asemalla
(Director)
Dirty Hands
(Director)
Dirty Hands
(Writer)
The Liar
(Writer)
Jackpot 2
(Writer)
Fallen Leaves
(Director)
Fallen Leaves
(Writer)
Lights in the Dusk
(Writer)
Visions of Europe
(Writer)
Calamari Union
(Writer)
Helsinki, Forever
(Thanks)
The Saimaa Gesture
(Producer)
The Saimaa Gesture
(Director)
Iron Horsemen
(Producer)
Iron Horsemen
(Assistant Director)
Ripa Hits the Skids
(Producer)
The Other Side of Hope
(Director)
The Other Side of Hope
(Producer)
The Other Side of Hope
(Writer)
Tilinteko
(Writer)
Bico
(Director)
The Worthless
(Production Design)
The Worthless
(Screenplay)
The Worthless
(Dialogue)
Visions of Europe
(Producer)
Visions of Europe
(Editor)
Vaiennut kylä
(Producer)
Historic Centre
(Screenplay)
Historic Centre
(Producer)
Historic Centre
(Editor)
Fallen Leaves
(Producer)
The Saimaa Gesture
(Writer)
Tilinteko
(Producer)
Bluesia Pieksämäen asemalla
(Writer)
Belief, Hope and Blood
(Producer)
Kaksi vanhaa varasta
(Producer)
A Stone Left Unturned
(Producer)
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
(Producer)
Shit Happens
(Producer)
The Classic
(Producer)
Jeanne d'Arc
(Producer)
Our Father…
(Producer)
Bluesia Pieksämäen asemalla
(Producer)
The Parrot Man
(Editor)
Barzakh
(Producer)
Le Havre
(Producer)
Whisky
(Thanks)
The Man Without a Past
(Writer)
Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana
(Writer)
Juha
(Screenplay)
Drifting Clouds
(Writer)
Crime and Punishment
(Screenplay)
Calamari Union
(Producer)
Calamari Union
(Editor)
Ariel
(Producer)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America
(Story)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America
(Producer)
Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana
(Editor)
La Vie de Bohème
(Producer)
Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana
(Producer)
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
(Editor)
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
(Producer)
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
(Story)
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
(Screenplay)
Juha
(Producer)
Juha
(Editor)
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
(Editor)
To Each His Own Cinema
(Producer)
Tavern Man
(Producer)
Tavern Man
(Director)
Tavern Man
(Editor)
Tavern Man
(Writer)
The Prodigal Son
(Producer)
Total Balalaika Show
(Producer)
I Hired a Contract Killer
(Story)
To Each His Own Cinema
(Writer)
Bad Family
(Producer)
The Worthless
(Assistant Director)
The Clan: Tale of the Frogs
(Assistant Director)
Rosso
(Key Grip)
Rosso
(Dialogue)
Jean-Pierre Léaud: The Child of Cinema
(Thanks)