Thu & Fri, Dec 7 & 8 / 9 pm
Sat, Dec 9 / 3 pm
Sun, Dec 10 / 7 pm
Wed & Thu, Dec 13 & 14 / 7 pm
Sat & Sun , Dec 16 & 17 / 3 pm
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
2017, Finland & Germany, 100 min
Finnish, English, Arabic with English subtitles
Finland’s master of deadpan comedy, Aki Kaurismäki (Leningrad Cowboys Go America, The Match Factory Girl, Le Havre), returns with the story of an unlikely friendship between a Syrian asylum seeker and an elderly Finnish restaurant owner. It’s a beautiful, timely film from one of the world’s leading masters of dry comedy. Khaled arrives at the port of Helsinki concealed in a coal container, fleeing war-torn Syria to seek asylum in Finland. Dazed and frustrated by the monolithic administration he encounters at the detention centre, he makes a break for it. There he meets Wikström, a former shirt salesman who has recently left his alcoholic wife for a new life as a bachelor restaurateur. Together they help each other to navigate the adversities they face in these unfamiliar and often baffling new worlds.
