Aki Kaurismäki is an unusual filmmaker. He and his older brother Mika have been the most important Finnish filmmakers over the last forty years. Aki has received the most attention internationally and the most prizes for his distinctive films. 

Our event will consider The Man Without a Past (Finland-Germany-France 2002) which won prizes at Cannes and many more around the world over the next two years. When his film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language film at the 2003 Oscars, Kaurismäki decided not to attend because the US was at war in Iraq. 

The Man Without a Past finds himself in Helsinki with no memory of his past life after a violent attack. He finds a home with a community of disadvantaged people living by the docks and gradually rebuilds his life. The story is a drama, a romance, a comedy, a musical and a social commentary.

We’ll discuss the film in the context of Kaurismäki’s unique blend of social realism, visual stylisation, 1950s music, dry wit and warm humanism.

The Man Without a Past is available to rent on Amazon Prime, Curzon, Google and YouTube.

To help combat any technical issues, the Zoom link will be live from 6pm to give us time to vanquish any gremlins before the discussion is due to start.

If you are worried about access issues, we suggest you log on early. Once you’re in, you can turn off your camera, mute your microphone and go about your business until we start at 7pm.