News

For those of you tired of the usual holiday movie diet of sleigh bells, snowflakes, and sugarplum fairies, The Hollywood Reporter‘s international team has whipped up a menu of new foreign films, currently available to screen in the U.S., that offer something for a more refined cinema palate.

Whether your taste runs to Irish hip-hop or Mexican musicals, Austrian horror or Danish romance, family-friend Thai comedy, or adult-only Aussie animation, we’ve got you covered for those long winter nights.

Banel & Adama (Stream/Rent On: Apple, Amazon, Fandango) ‘Banel & Adama’

French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s bold debut illuminates the complexities of love and identity in a Romeo and Juliet-style story set in rural Senegal. Featuring captivating performances by Khady Mane and Mamadou Diallo as the titular couple, Banel & Adama combines rich, humanistic storytelling with stunning visuals to conjure a deeply imagined world. While the director...

The independent movie service has become the streaming home to some of the best cinema in the world.

After just over a month in theaters, Coralie Fargeat’s acclaimed and outrageous body horror film “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, will make its exclusive streaming debut this Halloween on the global film streamer Mubi, and to prepare from the switch, it’s time to countdown some of the platform’s best films!

Whether you’re activating or stabilizing your Mubi subscription to watch the must-see new release, the arthouse movie streamer is not only housed with classics like “In the Mood for Love,” “All About My Mother,” and more, it’s also packed with its own collection of Mubi-exclusive releases. From black comedies to neo-noir love stories, here are some of the best movies available to stream right now exclusively on Mubi!

7-Day Trial via amazon.com Mubi...

Finnish director Ulla Heikkilä chose the “best actors she could think of” for sophomore feature “Summer is Crazy,” featuring “Fallen Leaves” star Jussi Vatanen, Aamu Milonoff (“Girl Picture”), Jani Volanen (“Hatching”), Pirjo Lonka and Bruno Baer (“Light Light Light”).

“They brought their general ‘bestness’. It’s simply a luxury to work with such intelligent, skillful and charismatic actors. They are all very good at showing human condition in a bold and ‘naked’ manner,” she told Variety.

In the upcoming “Summer is Crazy,” set in the Finnish archipelago during the Midsummer week, one family – as well as their friends and lovers – deal with disappointments and dream of a better tomorrow.

After the bankruptcy of their fine-dining restaurant, the Eerolas are stuck in a seaside village. In the shadow of the father’s depression, both the mother and the teenaged daughter rebel against their stagnant life – each in their own way.

“I...

Aki Kaurismäki's Fallen Leaves is screening exclusively on Mubi in many countries.Fallen Leaves.There’s a moment early in Aki Kaurismäki’s latest film, Fallen Leaves (2023), that will surely tug at the heartstrings of shy lovers everywhere. A man, Holappa (played by Jussi Vatanen), and a woman, Ansa (Alma Pöysti), sit across from each other in a bar. Between them, his friend tries vainly to flirt with hers, getting nowhere, but Holappa and Ansa themselves do not speak, and instead merely stare meekly into their drinks, the gap of a few meters opening up like a yawning chasm. Then, for just a moment, Holappa looks up from his beer and their eyes meet. And as they do, the first cascading piano chords of Franz Schubert’s “Serenade” are heard and a besuited man takes the karaoke stage to start singing: “Softly my songs plead / through the night for...

Fallen Leaves is a deadpan romantic comedy that explores the possibility of human connection in a challenging world that encourages emotional detachment. The film's stars, Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, deliver subtle performances that leave a big impression and highlight the difficulty of their characters' daily lives. The movie's larger message emphasizes the importance of real interaction and the limitations of art as a substitute, while also acknowledging the value of cinema as a means to connect with others.

Encountering an established auteur filmmaker for the first time is one of my favorite moviegoing experiences. Their early work might hold the seeds of their personal style, but jumping into a career well underway means seeing it in full bloom, like stumbling into a new world and having to learn its rules and rhythms from scratch. Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet lehdet) is my first Aki Kaurismäki film, but his 20th. From what I've read,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Boys in the Boat (George Clooney)

This is, from start to finish, an underdog sports picture. Edgerton puts a welcome spin on the gruff-but-caring coach archetype, and Turner does the same with his lead character. Soft-spoken, stern, and handsome, this is a role someone like Ronald Reagan would have excelled at bringing to the screen some 80 years ago; Turner, luckily, is more interesting to look at and a better actor. Alexandre Desplat’s score is maybe the most playful thing about this film, and it works when it needs to. The race sequences are unquestionably Boys‘ highlight, Clooney making use of zoom lenses and well-placed cameras to capture the speed and fluidity of each competition. There is a real tension mined in these scenes,...

“It was fantastic!” exclaims “Fallen Leaves” star Alma Pöysti while discussing her recent attendance at the Golden Globes. “We were so honored to be there and what a great party!” Pöysti was nominated for Best Comedy/Musical Actress and the film was in contention for Best Non-English Film. The Finnish movie has been shortlisted by the academy and is among 15 titles eligible to be nominated for Best International Feature at the 96th Oscars. Watch our exclusive video with Pöysti and her co-star Jussi Vatanen above.

Vatanen explains what an honor it has been to represent Finnish cinema all around the world. “Everybody loves it,” he says. “It brings hope and comfort to people and it feels important.”

See Watch interviews with other awards contenders

“Fallen Leaves” is set in modern-day Helsinki, where two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to...

As awards season switches up a gear, with the handing out of the Golden Globes and the publication of the Bafta shortlists, one major title stands out in the International categories of both: Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall. It would be a reasonable bet for the Oscar win in any year — if it were actually eligible. In lieu of Triet’s film, which fell well within Academy rules in terms of the amount of English spoken, the French selection panel opted instead for period gourmet drama The Taste of Things to do battle for the country’s honor, a move that is sure to cause a lot of confusion in the coming weeks.

Otherwise, the release of the international shortlist came with very few surprises this year, but perhaps chief among them was an unexpected snub for the Palestinian entry Bye Bye Tiberias by Lina Soulem.

Alma Pöysti agreed to star in Fallen Leaves, Finland’s Oscar entry, before there was a script. It was enough to know that local directing legend Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past) wanted her for his latest working-class love story, playing Ansa, a shy and lonely supermarket shelf stocker who falls for Holappa, a construction worker, played by Jussi Vatanen.

How were you cast for this film?

I got a phone call that Aki wanted to meet for lunch. We met, and Jussi Vatanen, my co-star, was there as well. Aki presented this idea of the movie. There wasn’t a script yet, but he mumbled something about a love story. Then he wanted to talk about the forest and about growing vegetables and politics. All he said about my character was she worked in a store and the two of them would fall in love. We got the script a year later.

Rotten Tomatoes and the Academy Awards don’t often go hand in hand. In fact, the Rt scores of Best Picture nominees/winners are a mixed bag. “Parasite” won Best Picture with a Rt score of 99% while “Green Book” emerged victorious with a score of just 77%. The site dishes out percentage scores to movie’s based on the film’s collection of critical reviews. The higher the score, the better the movie. Supposedly.

But, that’s not how it always work in tandem with the Oscars. For instance, “Black Panther,” “BlacKkKlansman,” and “Roma” all scored 96% but lost Best Picture to “Green Book.” Perhaps, if the Oscars listened to Rotten Tomatoes more, things would go a little more smoothly? Probably not but, just for fun, let’s pretend that Rotten Tomatoes are in charge of this year’s Academy Awards.

With that in mind, here are the 10 Best Picture nominees the...

Aki Kaurismäki is back with this new film Fallen Leaves that won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The legendary Finnish director has made a film that is bound to be the darling of the upcoming awards season and which could possibly see it win the Best Foreign Feature film at the Oscars in 2024. Fallen Leaves is a simple film that takes us through the lives of two lonely souls as they navigate their bleak lives. This is a very low-key, subtle kind of film, funny but also absurd at times. A refreshing comedy of errors love story that hits all the right notes powered by the creative storytelling ingenuity of the critically acclaimed director.

The movie kicks off with a series of shots following Ansa (Alma Pöysti) who works at a grocery store. She is closely watched by a security guard, a little too closely like he is stalking her.

Denmark

The Promised Land

Mads Mikkelsen stars in this Nordic Western as a low-born military man determined to tame the wild Jutland heath, whatever the costs. Touching on themes of class, racism and labor exploitation, it’s an old-fashioned period romp with stunning set pieces, plenty of romance and a satisfying villain in Simon Bennebjerg’s scene-chewing aristocrat Frederik De Schinkel.

Finland

Fallen Leaves

In his first film in six years, Aki Kaurismäki serves up a slender but deeply satisfying slice of blue-collar romance. Jussi Vatanen and Alma Pöysti star as lonely souls yearning for love, kept apart by a series of obstacles both tragic and farcical. Touching, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, this Finnish gem might be the little awards contender that could.

Malaysia

Tiger Stripes

Amanda Nell Eu’s subversive story about a girl confronting the horrors of puberty could become Malaysia’s first-ever Oscar nominee. The film...

Nothing gets our forum posters quite as fired up as the Golden Globes. Reactions to the latest nominations announcement on December 11 ranged from sheer jubilation over the abundance of “Past Lives” love to a fascinating mix of anger and delight regarding “The Color Purple’s” underperformance.

As usual, many of those who’ve made their opinions heard regarding this year’s Golden Globes contenders are Hollywood insiders hiding behind clever screen names. Below is just a sampling of their cheers and jeers for the 14 film categories. What do you think of the newly revealed lineups? Sound off here if you dare.

Best Drama Film

LLLhawks: “The Zone of Interest.” I Am Shook.

Marcus Snowden: I knew “Past Lives” was gonna overperform.

Vicki Leekx: “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Oppenheimer,” and “The Zone of Interest,” whew the strength.

ejaru1810: Happy for the Globes going more international this year.

vinny: Do not underestimate “Maestro.

The 36th European Film Awards took place in Berlin on Saturday, honoring the best cinema to emerge from Europe in 2023. The nominations, which were selected by the European Film Academy, were heavy on arthouse hits that emerged from the Cannes Film Festival including Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” and Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest.” The results played out similarly to those from Cannes, with Triet’s Palme d’Or-winner taking the top prize of Best European Film.

“Anatomy of a Fall” additionally won the European Director award for Triet, who also shared the European Screenwriter award with Arthur Harari. Sandra Hüller was nominated twice in the European Actress category for her performances in “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest,” ultimately winning for the former.

The results mirrored those of the 2022 European Film Awards, when “Triangle of Sadness” followed...

French director Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winning film Anatomy Of A Fall swept the awards at 36th European Film Awards in Berlin this evening, winning Best European Film, Director, Screenplay (with Arthur Harari) and actress for Sandra Hüller.

There was a strong selection this year with other films and directors leading the nominations including Aki Kaurismäki with Fallen Leaves, Agnieszka Holland with Green Border, Matteo Garrone with Me Captain, Jonathan Glazer with The Zone Of Interest.

The European Films Awards haul for Anatomy Of A Fall will likely ramp up growing Academy Awards buzz around the film and its star Sandra Hüller.

“I can’t say whether it will happen or not but yes… now we are in the race and we will continue the campaign in the U.S. and we’re totally involved, let’s see,” Triet said in an press conference after the ceremony.

Justine Triet’s courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall” triumphed at the 36th European Film Awards, taking statuettes for best film, director, screenwriter and actress at the ceremony, which took place Saturday in Berlin. It had been previously announced that it had won the best editing prize as well.

“Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and recently took the screenplay and international feature awards at the Gothams, but was not selected to represent France in the international feature film category of the Oscars. Despite that setback, Triet said the film would still compete for other categories at the Oscars. “Now we are in the race, of course. We continue down that road,” she said at a press conference following the ceremony in Berlin.

Triet, who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur Harari, said that they had written it for Sandra Hüller, winner of the best actress award.

The ceremony kicks off live from Berlin today (December 9) at 19:30 Cet.

The European Film Awards is taking place in Berlin tonight (December 9), and Screen will be revealing the winners live from the ceremony, kicking off at 19:30 Cet.

German actor Britta Steffenhagen is hosting the awards, which will take place at the Arena Berlin.

Screen will be live-streaming the ceremony below, or you can refresh the page and scroll down to read the winners as they are announced.

Three of the best European film nominees world premiered at Cannes. Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall...

Alma Pöysti as Ansa and Jussi Vatanen as Holappa, in Fallen Leaves. Courtesy of Mubi.

Fallen Leaves is a romantic comedy from Finland, with the driest of humor. Bone-dry does not cover it; this is a Sahara Desert of dry humor. No one cracks a smile and no one winks at the audience as they deadpan their satiric comedy lines. This is also the bad-luck couple of the year, who can’t seem to catch a break, except through the most absurd of coincidence. Fallen Leaves is undeniably funny, in it deadpan Nordic way but you have to meet the humor on its own terms. It is not there to help you.

If all that sounds good to you, dive in. Personally I like Nordic humor and I appreciate the film’s touches of social commentary in its absurdist humor, but it is not for everyone.

In Helsinki, two lonely people meet by chance.

Aki Kaurismäki’s 20th film keeps his signature humor and style. Fallen Leaves, starring Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen as lonely, meant-to-be lovers, finds the Finnish director at one of the peaks of his career, with his most recent film coming six years ago. In that time, the world has missed the droll comedy, dry warmth, and simplicity of Kaurismäki.

Fallen Leaves features everything one might want from a romcom in 2023: a cute dog, a one-liner about Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die, and a singular karaoke scene in which neither of the main characters get on stage. Both Pöysti and Vatanen are wonderful, each of their characters existing in a state of hyperextended loneliness, finding one another through initial circumstance, then thrust together even when everything else seems intent on keeping them apart. Ansa (Pöysti) and Holappa (Vatanen), in many ways, need one another. Their lives are...

All the Leaves Are Brown: Kaurismaki’s Song for the Lonely

Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki adds a fourth chapter to his thematic Proletariat Trilogy with Fallen Leaves, a deadpan love story imbued with all his customary trembles of curt communications he’s known for. It is perhaps his most generously romantically upbeat film since Shadows in Paradise (1986). Paying homage to several classic films, Kaurismäki folds some fresh faces into his milieu as the leads, including Jussi Vatanen and up-and-coming star Alma Pöysti alongside a handful of usual suspects.

The story is customarily simple, two alienated, lonely people finding each other by chance and then repeatedly pulled apart in the bleak, cruel working class world of modern day Helsinki.…...

Five European films dominate the nominations.

The European Film Academy has revealed the nominees for the main categories of the European Film Awards which take place in Berlin on December 9.

The Academy has shortlisted five of the highest profile films to come out of Europe this year for its best European film category, with the directors of the five films also all nominated in the best European director category. The five films also dominate the acting and screenwriting categories.

Three of the best European film nominees world premiered at Cannes. Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall...

Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves and UK director Jonathan Glazer The Zone Of Interest lead the nominations in the main categories of the 36th European Film Awards which will take place in Berlin on December 9.

The dramas are nominated in all five key categories of Best European Film, Director, Screenwriter as well as Best Actress and Actor. (Click on film titles for Deadline reviews and interviews)

Both films world premiered in Competition at Cannes this year, with The Zone Of Interest winning the Grand Prix and Fallen Leaves clinching the Jury Prize. They are representing the UK and Finland respectively in the Best International Feature Film Oscar race.

French director Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall follows with four nominations in all the categories except for best actor, while Poland’s Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, which won the Venice Special Jury Prize,...

Five European films dominate the nominations for this year’s Awards

The European Film Academy has revealed the nominees for the main categories of the European Film Awards which take place in Berlin on November 9.

The Academy has shortlisted five of the highest profile films to come out of European this year for its best European film category, with the directors of the five films also all nominated in the best European director category. The five films also dominate the acting and screenwriting categories.

Three of the best European film nominees world premiered at Cannes. Justine Triet’s Palme d...

Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest leads the nominations for this year’s European Film Awards (EFAs), picking up five nominations, including for best film and best director, in nominations announced via video on Tuesday.

Zone of Interest, the U.K. official entry for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category, also scored Efa nominations for best screenwriter, for Glazer, and best actress and best actor noms for leads Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel.

Hüller will be competing against herself in the best actress category, having picked up a second Efa nom for her starring role in Justine Triet’s courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall. The Palme d’Or winner recieved four Efa noms, including for best European Film, best director for Triet and best screenplay for Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari.

Other best European film nominees include Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano from Italy,...

Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves” led the European Film Awards race after nominations for the major categories were revealed Tuesday.

The films were nominated in all five major categories – European film, director, screenwriter, actor and actress.

Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” was close behind with four nominations – film, director, screenwriter and actress.

All three films were prizewinners at Cannes: “The Zone of Interest” took the festival’s Grand Prize, “Fallen Leaves” won the Jury Prize, and “Anatomy of a Fall” was the Palme d’Or winner.

Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” the Special Jury Prize winner at Venice, took three nominations – film, director and screenwriter.

“Me Captain,” Venice’s best director winner, and “The Teachers’ Lounge” each nabbed two nominations.

“Afire,” “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,” “How to Have Sex,” “La Chimera” and “The Promised Land” took one nomination each in major categories.

It’s a weird month. No one is talking about the new Marvel movie. Everyone is clamoring for offerings from streamers Netflix and Apple. And somehow another Trolls movie’s coming out already. Ask anyone on the street if they know the title of Disney’s new animated movie Wish (opens November 22) and you might be hard-pressed to find the answer.

Primed for International Oscar hopefuls and small-scale indies to take your local multiplex over, November should be delivering some gems your way as a result. So take a look at the walls and see if any of the below are hanging besides the glossier mainstream fare. They might just be worth a ticket.

Two-hander

While there’s obviously more than two people on the poster for Radical, the story being told concerns two entities: teacher and students. And rather than focus on the former standing in front of the...

Writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s new deadpan dark dramedy Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet lehdet) delighted the jury at Cannes in May 2023, as well as audiences at London Film Festival in October.

The Finnish filmmaker’s candid expertise at understanding emotional complexity is unrivalled in this tender, enchanting and romantic tale of love between two lonely singletons in Helsinki.

Ansa (Alma Pöysti) works in a local supermarket then goes home to her small inherited apartment, before repeating her daily grind the following day. Laborer Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) has a similar existence, minus a home to call home, with his only passion coming from a cigarette and a drink with work colleague and friend Huotari (Janne Hyytiäinen) at the end of the day.

All three characters have a chance meeting at a local karaoke bar, with Ansa, accompanied by best friend Tonja (Alina Tomnikov), making a lasting impression on Holappa, without a single word uttered between them.

"Now what?" "Would you like to go to the cinema?" Any fans of awkward romance must watch this. Mubi has unveiled their official trailer for Aki Kaurismäki's latest film Fallen Leaves, his light-hearted romantic tragicomedy that first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night, until then can't find each other again. "With this film, Kaurismäki tips his hat to Bresson, Ozu and Chaplin, wanting to tell a story about the things that may lead humanity to a future: longing for love, solidarity, hope, and respect for another human being, nature and anything living or dead." Starring Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen. The film was initially inspired by the song “Les feuilles mortes" (translates to "Dead Leaves”), composed by Joseph Kosma with lyrics by Jacques Prévert. And the fun song in the trailer is by the Finnish band Maustetytöt,...

With almost twenty narrative features to his name, Aki Kaurismäki is one of the most consistent directors in terms of quality that is working today. Now returning with his first film in over half-a-decade, Fallen Leaves picked up the Jury Prize from this year’s Cannes and was selected as Finland’s Oscar entry. Telling the story of two lonely people (Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen) who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first, only, and ultimate love of their lives, Mubi will release the film on November 17 and now the first full trailer has arrived.

Rory O’Connor said in his Cannes review it’s “a charming, moving, bittersweet romance packed with all the lovely things we’ve come to associate with him after four decades.” As he continued, “The locations and colors still come in admirable shades of mustard and pea...

If you’re vibing with Aki Kaurismäki‘s droll wavelength of dry comedies about ordinary people in Helsinki, “Fallen Leaves” is definitely for you. This warm and witty romantic comedy about two lost souls adrift, who eventually find each other on the existential carousel to nowhere, won a Jury Prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (where Ruben Östlund served as Jury President) and now represents Finland in the 2024 Best International Feature Film Oscar race. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for this Mubi release below on the heels of its New York Film Festival premiere.

The latest film from the Finnish director of “The Man Without a Past” and “Le Havre” tells the story of two lonely people. Ansa (whose name literally means “trapped” in Finnish and who is played wonderfully by Alma Pöysti) and Holappa, in between soul-numbing blue-collar jobs, meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and maybe discover the first,...

Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki is one of many prominent directors working within Europe in the past few decades, and one of the biggest Finnish film directors in general. Known for his sparse b ut quirky visual style, which consists of many minimalist scenes, sets, and performances, Kaurismäki has been consistently putting out feature films throughout the years with a curious eye towards those often not depicted on the screen. With a tendency to depict everyday working class people, this manifested into a series of comedy films that began in the '80s. His newest movie is Fallen Leaves, the 20 entry into his filmography.

It originally premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it then won the Jury Prize, showing its immense potential on the global stage to be a big hit, especially after being acquired by Mubi. It also has been nominated by Finland as its official entry for the Academy Awards,...

Bertrand Bonello’s inspired The Beast (La Bête) is a highlight of the 61st New York Film Festival Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Jonathan Glazer’s brilliant Cannes Grand Prix winner The Zone Of Interest (UK Oscar submission for Best International Feature Film) starring Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel (of the Babylon Berlin series), Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast starring Léa Seydoux and George MacKay (original score by Bertrand and Anna Bonello); Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves starring Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen (with a Bill Murray and Adam Driver scene from Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die) are three highlights from the Main Slate. Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron in the Spotlight programme round out the four early bird highlights of the 61st New York...

An amuse-bouche of a film, Aki Kaurismäki’s latest comedy romance may leave you wanting more but it’s also a fully rounded, good looking experience packed with all the flavours we’ve come to expect from the master of deadpan down the years.

Ansa (Alma Pöysti) is working a dead-end job which, steeped in the sort of irony that the Finnish filmmaker has made his stock-in-trade, involves checking supermarket shelves for the products that have come to the end of their shelf life. Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), meanwhile, is a metal worker with not much else in his life except a drink problem that's about to cost him his job. The pair of them don’t know each other… yet.

This, coupled with an unexpected meeting of eyes at the karaoke bar they’ve both gone to with friends, is the simple set up for Fallen Leaves that blooms, or rather threatens to bloom,...

Finland has selected Fallen Leaves, the latest feature from celebrated filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

The pic, which debuted in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first, only, and ultimate love of their lives. Their path towards this honorable goal is clouded by the man’s alcoholism, lost phone numbers, not knowing each other’s names or addresses, and life’s general tendency to place obstacles in the way of those seeking their happiness.

Out of Cannes, Deadline’s Pete Hammond described the pic as “a flat-out gem” that’s “wonderful, wryly funny, and poignant.” Mubi has nabbed the feature for several territories, including North America, the UK, Ireland, Latin America,...

Kaurismäki was previously nominated in 2002 for The Man Without A Past.

Finland has selected Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves as its official entry for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

The comedy drama world premiered at Cannes where it topped Screen’s jury grid and picked up the festival’s jury prize.

It recently won the 2023 Grand Prix, voted on by members of the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci), and will screen at San Sebastian International Film Festival where it receives the award.

Fallen Leaves is produced by Sputnik Oy and Bufo and co-produced by Pandora Film.

While watching Aki Kaurismäki’s films, one may become aware of how peculiarly attentive the Finnish auteur is to room tones. And his latest, Fallen Leaves, is no exception: the vacuum-sealed deadness of a prefabricated one-room apartment; the cavernous bellow of a factory, enlivened by faraway clanks and moans; the slightly reverberant calm of a bar after the activity has died down; and the humming sine waves of a hospital room.

Such pleasantly varied tones constitute the sparse sonic world of Fallen Leaves, which takes place in an impoverished, industrial corner of Helsinki that will be familiar to viewers of Kaurismäki’s stubbornly proletariat cinema. They provide shades to the film’s overarching loneliness and drudgery, and it seems there are only two alternatives to this droning stillness: music, which wafts in the air from karaoke bar stages and record players, and radio news broadcasts, which unfailingly transmit tragic missives from the war in Ukraine.

The award was voted on by 669 critics from all over the world.

Aki Kaurismaki’s Finnish comedy Fallen Leaves has won the 2023 Grand Prix, voted on by members of the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci).

The film will receive the award at the opening gala for San Sebastian International Film Festival (Ssiff) on September 22, where it will also screen in the Perlak strand.

The award was voted on by 669 critics from all over the world. with any film released after July 1, 2022 deemed eligible. Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin and Todd Field’s Tár were voted the two runners-up.

Hot Nordic works-in-progress at the Norwegian event include ’Handing The Undead’ starring Renate Reinsve.

Haugesund’s New Nordic Films industry event will have a two-year special focus on Nordic co-productions with the UK in 2023 and 2024.

Activities in 2023 include a session with Denitsa Yordanova, head of the UK Global Screen Fund, and a case study of Iceland-shot The Damned, Thordur Palsson’s upcoming psychological horror, with producer Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl of the UK’s Elation Pictures.

At Haugesund’s Nordic Co-Production and Finance Market, four UK projects will be presented: Gunnar’s Daughter, produced by Angeli Marie Macfarlane at Script Cube...

Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki). What do we mean by “late films”? For Theodor Adorno, the maturity of late works of art did not resemble the kind one finds in fruit: “they are, for the most part, not round, but furrowed, even ravaged.” Granted, Adorno was writing about Beethoven, but this idea of contrarian lateness still survives in debates around the term’s use in cinema. Intransigent and confrontational, late films are both a summation of a filmmaker’s oeuvre and a stripping down of their style. They’re masterful distillations of decades of craft, sheared, in a senescent bid for simplicity, until whatever’s left is honed and impenetrable to the point of alienation.I was thinking of this on my last days in Cannes, as the festival kept yielding new works by august masters: Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses, Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped, Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer,...

At the start of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Swedish director Ruben Östlund told a roomful of journalists that he would rather win his third Palme d’Or than an Oscar. For this year, at least, the previous Cannes winner for “Triangle of Sadness” and “The Square” will have to settle for handing the Palme d’Or to someone else.

As the president of this year’s jury for the Official Competition of the 76th festival, Ostlund is leading a team of nine writers, directors, and actors (as well as two writer-director-actors): Fellow Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), Brie Larson, Zambian filmmaker Rungano Nyoni, Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani, Paul Dano, French actor Denis Ménochet, Afghan director Atiq Rahimi, and Argentinian director Damián Szifron. The group will spend the festival watching two to three competition films per day, and Ostlund has said that they will gather to deliberate every...

On Saturday, the Cannes Film Festival jury will unveil the winners of this year’s festival, including the 2023 Palme d’Or, but for Cannes festival regulars, and animal lovers everywhere, the true highlight of any Croisette visit is the Palm Dog, the unofficial awards show celebrating canine performances across the festival’s official selection and various sidebars.

This year’s top prize went to Messi, the border collie who plays Snoop in Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, with the jury praising a doggie performance “that covers the gambit… one of the best we’ve ever seen.” Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter (whose coverage had mentioned Messi as a Palm Dog frontrunner), Triet said the character of Snoop “was not just another character or some animal running around [but] as much a part of the film’s ensemble as any of the other actors.”

What used to be an inside joke has become,...

In 2006, Aki Kaurismäki was asked what he felt young filmmakers lacked. His response was almost Cartesian: “Humility,” the director suggested, “Above all, it is necessary to forget oneself.” The Finnish auteur returns with Fallen Leaves, a charming, moving, bittersweet romance packed with all the lovely things we’ve come to associate with him after four decades. The locations and colors still come in admirable shades of mustard and pea soup––as do the characters and their moods. As a film, Fallen Leaves could hardly be simpler––two people living separate, lonesome lives meet and maybe fall in love––but there is beauty in that simplicity and, as ever, Kaurismäki’s characters live far richer inner lives.

Few filmmakers warm the soul with such economy: Fallen Leaves is funny, heartbreaking, and only 82 minutes long. Alma Pöysti stars as Ansa, a supermarket worker who loses her job when she’s caught pocketing an expired sandwich.

The tragicomedy had is world premiere in Cannes on Monday.

Mubi has acquired Aki Kaurismäki’s Cannes competition film Fallen Leaves for North America, the UK, Ireland, Latin America and Turkey.

The global distributor and streamer plans a theatrical release for the Finnish-languge tragicomedy, which had its world premiere on Monday (May 22) in the Cannes official competition.

The film tells the story of two lonely people who meet by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first and ultimate love of their lives while dealing with the man’s alcoholism, lost phone numbers and other romantic complications.

Mubi has acquired Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves” for major markets including North America following its well-received debut in Cannes.

The indie streamer and distributor also picked up the movie for the U.K., Ireland, Latin America and Turkey.

The competition title from the Finnish auteur had a number of bidders following its world premiere on Monday. Mubi will release the film theatrically, with specific release plans to be announced in due course.

The film, which carries Kaurismäki’s signature deadpan delivery and comic one-liners, tells the story of two lonely people (Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen) who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find love. However, being together proves challenging given the personal vices they must first overcome. The tragicomedy is the fourth part of Aki Kaurismäki’s working-class trilogy. Previous instalments include “Shadows in Paradise,” “Ariel” and “The Match Factory Girl.”

“Fallen Leaves...

Mubi has snapped up rights to the acclaimed feature Fallen Leaves, written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki, in a competitive situation, following its world premiere in Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

While specifics as to the release plans have yet to be announced, aside from the fact that the title will go to theaters, Mubi said on Wednesday that it’s picked up rights for North America, UK, Ireland, Latin America and Turkey.

The 20th feature from Kaurismäki, whose Cannes prize winner The Man Without a Past went on to nab a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination in 2003, Fallen Leaves tells the story of two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first, only, and ultimate love of their lives. Their path towards this honorable goal is clouded by the man’s alcoholism,...

To judge by Aki Kaurismäki’s typically wry and winsome “Fallen Leaves,” the Finnish auteur’s first movie since threatening to retire after “The Other Side of Hope” came out 2017, only two things have any significant importance have happened in the world over the last six years.

The first and most pressing of those is the war in Ukraine, which bleeds into Ansa’s (Alma Pöysti) already depressing kitchen every time the supermarket cashier dares to turn on her radio after work. Listening to news of the latest atrocity in Kyiv is the only thing worse than eating her microwaved dinner in the complete silence Ansa settles for when she can’t find anything more comforting on the airwaves. She doesn’t need any further evidence of the darkness outside her window, thank you very much.

The other major historical milestone since 2017 was obviously the release of Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die,...

Following Drifting Clouds (1996), The Man Without a Past (2002), Lights in the Dusk (2006), and 2011’s Le Havre, Finland’s favorite auteur Aki Kaurismäki returns to Cannes comp section with his fifth feature Fallen Leaves.

Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen topline a film that includes some old retro movie posters, booze, karaoke and essentially are two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first love of their lives.

Current temp: An apple pie type of film – always filling, you know what you get and zero complaints, the press screening for the Fallen Leaves put a lot of smiles on people’s faces and generous laughs from most.…...

Aki Kaurismäki, the deadpan cockeyed minimalist of Finland, has become the ultimate illustration of the principle that if you make movies in the same mood and style, with the same monosyllabic bombed-out hipster vibe, for a period of 30 years, your movies may not have changed — but the world around them has, so the films will have a totally different effect.

In “Fallen Leaves,” the Kaurismäki bauble that’s showing at Cannes this year, there’s actually a scene in which a character uses a computer. The film’s heroine, Ansa (Alma Pöysti), loses her job as a supermarket worker, and to find another gig she rents an Hp laptop at a makeshift Internet café that charges 10 Euro for half an hour. Apart from that, the movie unfolds in that scruffy and sparsely decorated so-familiar-it’s-cozy pre-tech Kaurismäki zone, where people still use electric adding machines or listen to a bulky...

“It felt like this bloody world needed some love stories now,” Fallen Leaves director Aki Kaurismäki said of his Palme d’Or contender this afternoon.

With war still raging in Ukraine, the Finnish auteur, who does not mince his words, focused several times on themes of love as an antidote to global conflict.

The movie features clips of the Ukraine War in radio broadcasts and Kaurismäki said he “couldn’t have done any film during the war without commenting somehow, so I commented with radio.”

“It felt like this bloody world needed some love stories now, but it doesn’t matter what we do in Finland,” he added.

Documenting the war in his movie was important so people can “watch it and understand how cruel and stupid” the conflict was years down the line, he added. In a similar vein, Kaurismäki pointed to his inclusion of the Tiananmen Square massacre...

Finnish actors Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen have been making names for each other for a while now. But playing leads in Aki Kaurismäki’s latest film, “Fallen Leaves,” was a whole different story.

“He has always been that household name, even when I was growing up on a farm in the 1980s, kicking a ball against our cowhouse. It’s crazy that now, we are here together. Also, he is really just a regular guy. Funny and he actually talks a lot,” Vatanen tells Variety in Cannes.

A household name himself thanks to the “Lapland Odyssey” franchise, he has been exploring dramatic roles in “Forest Giant” or “The Man Who Died.”

“As a Finn, you are very, very familiar with his style. We have seen all his movies and it’s just in our blood, I guess. I actually thought that [entering this universe] was quite easy.”

Pöysti, celebrated for her turn...