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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.

Nobody can see everything that screens in competition at the Cannes Film Festival — there were 21 titles in the mix this year — and I certainly didn’t. So, without passing judgment on all of the titles that were recognized with prizes on Saturday, I must say that I am struck by the fact that all five of the eligible English-language titles — Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Black Flies, Karim Aïnouz’s Firebrand, Todd Haynes’s May December and Ken Loach’s The Old Oak — were completely passed over by the jury.

Needless to say, it is not the mandate of the Cannes jury — which this year included the likes of Paul Dano, Brie Larson and recent Palme d’Or winners Ruben Östlund (2017’s The Square and 2022’s Triangle of Sadness) and 2021’s Julia Ducournau (Titane) — to try to presage the Oscar race. But it is still noteworthy, to me,...

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.…...

The lineup for the 76th installment of the Cannes Film Festival has finally been announced. Nineteen films will be competing to take home the prestigious Palme d’Or, including a record six films helmed by women. The festival will be taking place in the French Riviera from May 16 to May 27. This year’s jury will be headed by Ruben Östlund, who won his second Palme d’Or last year for “Triangle of Sadness.”

Knowing a filmmaker’s previous track record at Cannes can sometimes help give an idea as to who might be in the best position to claim the Palme. For instance, five of this year’s entries come from directors who have previously won the Palme. Another five are from auteurs who have had previous films win a prize in the main competition other than the Palme. Another five are from directors having their first film screen in the main competition.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Allied (Robert Zemeckis)

That thing we can’t take for granted: a film whose many parts – period piece, war picture, blood-spattered actioner, deception-fueled espionage thriller, sexy romance, and, at certain turns, comedy – can gracefully move in conjunction and separate from each other, just as its labyrinthine-but-not-quite plot jumps from one setpiece to the next with little trouble in maintaining a consistency of overall pleasure. Another late-career triumph for Robert Zemeckis,...

by Vadim Rizov

Fatalist Finn Aki Kaurismäki's Le Havre is a comic-strip-colored take on France's inability to find a humane response to an illegal immigrant influx. The story follows the familiar contours of old-man-softened-by-young-boy sagas: shoeshiner Marcel Marx (André Wilms) helps stranded Gabonese youth Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) evade the law and make it to London. Soothing turquoise paint covers the walls, natural light floods the outdoors and Kaurismäki's usual taciturn deadpan comedy is swapped out for brisk dialogue bonding sessions. It's a change of pace for Kaurismäki, who—like the early work of aesthetic fellow traveler/friend Jim Jarmusch—prefers jokes that don't noticeably raise the surface temperature. Having effectively exhausted this mode into self-parody in his last feature (2006's Lights in the Dusk), Le Havre represents a major, much-needed artistic reset.

Marcel was a feckless unpublished writer in Kaurismäki's 1992 travesty of French artistic dissolution La Vie de Boheme.

James Cameron re-release emerges top at the UK box office ahead of The Hunger Games, Mirror Mirror and The Pirates!

The winner

A combination of wet weather and the Easter holiday created a box-office bonanza for UK cinemas at the weekend, with the 3D re-release of Titanic emerging top of a highly competitive heap. With an impressive Friday-Sunday total of £2.86m including £97,000 in previews, the James Cameron epic went on to pull in a further £1.03m on bank holiday Monday, yielding a holiday weekend haul of £3.88m. This compares with a debut weekend of £4.81m for Titanic back in January 1998, and an opening weekend of £1.53m (including £228,000 in previews) for recent 3D re-release, Star Wars: Episode I. The Lion King 3D kicked off its run with £2.75m last October, on its way to a gross so far of £12.37m.

The runners-up

Three movies fought for bragging rights on the runner-up spot.

★★★★☆ It's been six years since the last cinematic release from Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (2006's Lights in the Dusk), and he couldn't have picked a much better return project than the wonderfully stylish comic drama Le Havre (2011). If Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist (2011) was a part-homage to Hollywood's silent age, Kaurismäki's latest functions perfectly as a loving ode to the French cinema of the 1950s and 60s.

Read more »...

Lars Von Trier's apocalypse story takes on Mel Gibson's bizarre comeback in Peter Bradshaw's list of 10 films sure to have Cannes abuzz

• Peter Bradshaw's picks in pictures

The Skin I Live In (dir. Pedro Almodóvar)

Almodóvar is a Cannes favourite, one of the few directors who draws superstar-level crowds in the streets wherever he goes. Yet he has still to win the big prize. This film reunites him with Antonio Banderas, and is based on a Sadean horror-thriller by French author Thierry Jonquet, published in the UK under the title Tarantula. Banderas plays Ledgard, a plastic surgeon who keeps his partner chained up in his chateau, where he has a secret operating theatre. The theme of obsession will be familiar to admirers of Almodóvar's work, but this looks set to be one of his darkest and most challenging films to date.

The Tree of Life (dir.

#32. Le Havre Director/Screenwriter: Aki Kaurismäki Producers: Haije TulokasDistributor: Rights Available. The Gist: This is about a boot polisher who tries to save a refugee.....(more) Cast: André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Elina Salo and Ilkka Koivula List Worthy Reasons...: With only a pair of films made in the past decade with The Man Without a Past (2002) and Lights in the Dusk (2006), we are itching for Kaurismaki's brand of dramatic comedy.  Release Date/Status?: The film might receive a headstart in the filmmaker's native Finland, but Aki Kaurismäki is among Cannes' favorites so I'm expecting its international preem to take place at the fest especially since it was filmed in France and is in the French language. Fest circuit showings to follow in the autumn.  ...

Rare Exports Concept PosterRare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a film from Finland, which puts a dark note on the most notable of Christian holidays. Santa is kidnapped and the locals will need to find a way to free him from an overzealous developer. This picture shows at this year's Toronto International Film Festival beginning September 14th and there are more details inside including a teaser trailer.

The film's tagline:

"This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus" (Rare).

The synopsis for Rare Exports here:

"In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up!" (Rare).

Release Date: September 14th (Limited Run).

Director/writer: Jalmari Helander.

Cast: Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Per Christian Ellefsen, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Ilmari Järvenpää, Peeter Jakobi, Jonathan Hutchings, Risto Salmi

One of two teaser trailers available for the film:...

In pure Kaurismaki tradition, Le Havre as reported by Screen Daily, falls in his usual "dramatic comedy" territory and is about a shoeshiner who tries to save a refugee. Fitting since the city is a port town in the North of France. - Finnish master filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki will be heading to the port city of Le Havre for his next project aptly titled, Le Havre. The French -- the biggest supporters of auteur cinema will be co-producing on a project that received development funding from The Finnish Film Foundation. In pure Kaurismaki tradition, Le Havre as reported by Screen Daily, falls in his usual "dramatic comedy" territory and is about a shoeshiner who tries to save a refugee. Fitting since the city is a port town in the North of France. Haije Tulokas will produce and the great news is that the film will shoot in the spring. Kaurismaki...

Utv World Movies has signed an in-flight entertainment deal with Kingfisher Airlines to showcase nine movies in the next three months starting October 2009. The movies to be showcased are - Ariel, Match factory Girl, The Man without a Past, Drifting Clouds, The Wyvern Mystery, Twin Sisters, The River Chao Phraya, Lights in the Dusk and The Last Butterfly.In addition to this, Utv World Movies in association with Kingfisher Airlines also launch a contest, which began from 1 October and ends on 31 October. The airline has tied up with Utv World Movies to promote ...

• Founded in 1988, the European Film Academy currently unites 1,700 European film professionals with the common aim of promoting Europe's film culture. Here are this year's noms.... European Film 2006 Breakfast On Pluto; Ireland/UK Directed by Neil Jordan Produced by Parallel Film Productions Ltd./Number 9 Films Grbavica; Austria/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Germany/Croatia Directed by Jasmila Zbanic Produced by Coop99 Filmproduktion Gmbh/Deblokada/Noirfilm/Jadran Film Das Leben Der Anderen (The Lives Of Others); Germany Directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck Produced by Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion/Bayerischer Rundfunk/Arte/Creado Film The Road To Guantanamo; UK Directed by Michael Winterbottom And Mat Whitecross Produced by Revolution Films Ltd. Volver; Spain Directed by Pedro Almodovar Produced by El Deseo D.A., S.L.U. The Wind That Shakes The Barley; UK/Ireland/Germany/Italy/Spain Directed By Ken Loach Produced By Sixteen Films/Matador Pictures/Regent Capital/UK Film Council/Bord Scannan Na

...

Kazakhstan may be bracing itself for the upcoming release of the 20th Century Fox comedy Borat, but Thursday the embattled country got some good news when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of the 61 countries that have successfully submitted films for consideration in the foreign-language-film category at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. For the first time, Kazahstan will be represented by a film: Nomad, a historical epic set in the 18th century and directed by Sergei Bodrov, Talgat Temenov and Ivan Passer, which the Weinstein Co. has acquired for domestic distribution. Although the Academy included Finland's submission of Aki Kaurismaki's Lights in the Dusk on its list, the director has requested the film be withdrawn because he didn't approve of the submission. However, the Academy reported that foreign-language committee chair Mark Johnson approached Kaurismaki about reversing that decision. The 61 films selected represent a record number in the category.

Kazakhstan may be bracing itself for the upcoming release of the 20th Century Fox comedy Borat, but Thursday the embattled country got some good news when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of the 61 countries that have successfully submitted films for consideration in the foreign-language-film category at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. For the first time, Kazahstan will be represented by a film: Nomad, a historical epic set in the 18th century and directed by Sergei Bodrov, Talgat Temenov and Ivan Passer, which the Weinstein Co. has acquired for domestic distribution. Although the Academy included Finland's submission of Aki Kaurismaki's Lights in the Dusk on its list, the director has requested the film be withdrawn because he didn't approve of the submission. However, the Academy reported that foreign-language committee chair Mark Johnson approached Kaurismaki about reversing that decision. The 61 films selected represent a record number in the category.

PARIS -- With a month to go before the Festival de Cannes lineup is unveiled, dozens of films have yet to be seen by selectors, but some certainties about what will be screening on the Croisette have emerged. Already, a good quarter of the 20-plus Competition titles are in place. After rumors that Sofia Coppola was leaning toward a Venice premiere, her French-shot period drama Marie-Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role, is now a lock for the Cannes Competition. French distributor Pathe has slated the film for a May 24 release. The final installment of Aki Kaurismaki's Finnish trilogy, Lights in the Dusk, also is assured a Competition slot. Kaurismaki scooped up the runner-up Grand Prix at Cannes in 2002 for The Man Without a Past. And, as expected, Pedro Almodovar's epic comedy Volver, starring Penelope Cruz, also will take a Competition berth.

PARIS -- With a month to go before the Festival de Cannes lineup is unveiled, dozens of films have yet to be seen by selectors, but some certainties about what will be screening on the Croisette have emerged. Already, a good quarter of the 20-plus Competition titles are in place. After rumors that Sofia Coppola was leaning toward a Venice premiere, her French-shot period drama Marie-Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role, is now a lock for the Cannes Competition. French distributor Pathe has slated the film for a May 24 release. The final installment of Aki Kaurismaki's Finnish trilogy, Lights in the Dusk, also is assured a Competition slot. Kaurismaki scooped up the runner-up Grand Prix at Cannes in 2002 for The Man Without a Past. And, as expected, Pedro Almodovar's epic comedy Volver, starring Penelope Cruz, also will take a Competition berth.

PARIS -- With a month to go before the Festival de Cannes lineup is unveiled, dozens of films have yet to be seen by selectors, but some certainties about what will be screening on the Croisette have emerged. Already, a good quarter of the 20-plus Competition titles are in place. After rumors that Sofia Coppola was leaning toward a Venice premiere, her French-shot period drama Marie-Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role, is now a lock for the Cannes Competition. French distributor Pathe has slated the film for a May 24 release. The final installment of Aki Kaurismaki's Finnish trilogy, Lights in the Dusk, also is assured a Competition slot. Kaurismaki scooped up the runner-up Grand Prix at Cannes in 2002 for The Man Without a Past. And, as expected, Pedro Almodovar's epic comedy Volver, starring Penelope Cruz, also will take a Competition berth.