Aki Kaurismäki
63 movies
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- Apr 4, 1957 (age 69)
- Place of birth
- Orimattila, Finland
- Also known as
- Aki Olavi Kaurismäki
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).
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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.
Known for
Aki Kaurismäki: movies and TV shows
Acting (15)
- 2004 Aaltra
as Aaltra's Boss
- 2000
- 1995 Iron Horsemen
as Cadillac Man
- 1994 Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
as Factory Worker Imitating Chaplin (uncredited)
- 1992 Shit Happens
as Estonian
- 1990 I Hired a Contract Killer
as Sunglasses Seller (uncredited)
- 1986 Shadows in Paradise
as Hotel Receptionist (uncredited)
- 1986 Rocky VI
as Magazine Photographer
- 1985 Ylösnousemus
as Taksikuski
- 1985 Calamari Union
as Hearse Driver (uncredited)
- 1985
- 1983 Huhtikuu on kuukausista julmin
as Ville Alfa
- 1982 The Worthless
as Ville Alfa
- 1982
- 1981 The Liar
as Ville Alfa
Behind the camera (59)
- 2024
- 2023 Fallen Leaves
Director, Writer, Producer
- 2017 The Other Side of Hope
Director, Producer, Writer
- 2016 John From
Thanks
- 2015 Dirty Hands
Director, Writer
- 2013 Bluesia Pieksämäen asemalla
Director, Writer, Producer
- 2012 Historic Centre
Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor
- 2012 Tavern Man
Producer, Director, Editor, Writer
- 2011 Le Havre
Director, Writer, Producer
- 2011 Barzakh
Producer
- 2010 Bad Family
Producer
- 2009 Jeanne d'Arc
Producer
- 2008 Calamari Union
Writer
- 2008 Helsinki, Forever
Thanks
- 2007 To Each His Own Cinema
Director, Producer, Writer
- 2007 The Foundry
Director, Writer, Editor
- 2006 Lights in the Dusk
Editor, Director, Producer, Writer
- 2004 Whisky
Thanks
- 2004 Visions of Europe
Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- 2004 Bico
Director, Writer, Producer
- 2002 Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- 2002 Dogs Have No Hell
Director, Writer, Editor, Producer
- 2002 The Man Without a Past
Producer, Director, Writer
- 2001 The Classic
Producer
- 2000 A Stone Left Unturned
Producer
- 2000 Belief, Hope and Blood
Producer
- 1999 Juha
Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor
- 1997 Vaiennut kylä
Producer
- 1996 Drifting Clouds
Producer, Director, Editor, Writer
- 1995 Iron Horsemen
Producer, Assistant Director
- 1994 Total Balalaika Show
Director, Writer, Producer
- 1994 Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses
Director, Editor, Producer, Story, Screenplay
- 1994 Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana
Director, Writer, Editor, Producer
- 1993 Our Father…
Producer
- 1993 Kaksi vanhaa varasta
Producer
- 1993 Ripa Hits the Skids
Producer
- 1992 The Prodigal Son
Producer
- 1992 Shit Happens
Producer, Editor
- 1992 The Parrot Man
Editor
- 1992 La Vie de Bohème
Director, Producer, Screenplay
- 1990 I Hired a Contract Killer
Producer, Editor, Director, Screenplay, Story
- 1990 The Match Factory Girl
Director, Editor, Producer, Writer
- 1989 Leningrad Cowboys Go America
Screenplay, Director, Story, Producer
- 1988 Ariel
Director, Writer, Producer
- 1987 Hamlet Goes Business
Producer, Screenplay, Director
- 1987 Tilinteko
Writer, Producer
- 1987 Macbeth
Producer
- 1986 Shadows in Paradise
Director, Writer
- 1986 Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan
Gaffer
- 1986 Rocky VI
Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- 1986 Morena
Production Sound Mixer
- 1985 Rosso
Dialogue, Gaffer
- 1985 Calamari Union
Writer, Director, Producer, Editor
- 1984 The Clan: Tale of the Frogs
Screenplay, Assistant Director
- 1983 Crime and Punishment
Director, Screenplay
- 1982 The Worthless
Production Design, Dialogue, Assistant Director, Writer
- 1982 Jackpot 2
Costume Design, Assistant Director, Smoke Artist, Production Design, Writer
- 1981 The Saimaa Gesture
Producer, Director, Writer
- 1981 The Liar
Writer
Talk shows and appearances (17)
- 2023
- 2021
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2015
- 2014
- 2012
- 2011
- 2008
- 2001
- 2001
- 1995
- 1993
- 1992
- 1991