Finnish Film Week to screen 16 titles in Iran

The Finnish Film Week, to be held in Iran’s cities of Isfahan, Mashhad and Tehran, has announced the 16 titles scheduled to go on the screen.

The titles, including nine feature films and seven short films, will go on the screen from September 28 to October 4.

The feature titles include ‘I Hired a Contract Killer’ (1990), ‘The Bohemian Life’ (La Vie de Bohème) (1992), ‘The Man Without a Past’ (2002), and ‘Le Havre’ (2011) by famous Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki’s.

‘I Hired a Contract Killer’ is about Henri Boulanger, who is laid off from his job after fifteen years of service. He fails to commit suicide, so he hires a contract killer to murder him at some unspecified time in the future. But almost immediately he meets and falls in love with a young girl. He decides to cancel the contract but he cannot find the killer.

‘The Bohemian Life’ is about three poor, struggling artists who try to make living in Paris tolerable despite setbacks and tragedies.

‘The Man Without a Past’ follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or a single detail about his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the outskirts of the city and slowly starts putting his life back on track.

‘Le Havre’ tells the story of a middle-aged shoe shiner, Marcel, who tries to save an underage illegal immigrant from Africa. Marcel and his neighbors and other townspeople help to hide the child from the police, while a police inspector is searching for him.

The other features in the lineup are ‘The Happiest Day in the Life Olli Maki’ (2016) by Juho Kuosmanen, ‘The Fencer’ (2015) by Klaus Härö, ‘East of Sweden’ (2018) by Simo Halinen, ‘Little Wing’ (2016) by Selma Vilhunen, and ‘Time Out’ (2018) by Matti Kinnunen.

‘Time Out’ depicts a father and son who are forced to move to a small snowy village.

‘Little Wing’ narrates the story of a teenage girl who steals a car to find her father she has never met.

‘The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki' is about a famous Finnish boxer who loses a fight for the world championship.

‘The Fencer’ chronicles a young champion Estonian fencer, who is forced to return to his homeland to run from Russian secret police during the 1950s. He finds work as a teacher in a local school and starts teaching his students fencing.

‘East of Sweden’ tells the story of the lives of three troubled people who are connected by an accident and they are faced with moral questions.

The short films include ‘The Tiger’ (2018) by Mikko Myllylahti, ‘Askan’ by (2018) Ville Tanttu, ‘Super Comfort’ (2018) by Kirsikka Saari, ‘Fingerling’ (2019) by Reetta Aalto, ‘The Ceiling’ (2017) By Teppo Airaksinen, ‘Fantasia’ (2016) by Timo Nikki, and ‘The Death of an Insect’ (2010) by Hannes Vartiainen.

Iran’s Art and Experience cinematic group will hold the event in collaboration with the Finnish Film Foundation and the Finnish embassy in Iran.

The Iranian Artists Forum in Tehran, Hoveyzeh Cineplex in Mashhad, and City Center Cineplex in Isfahan will play host to the program.

Iranian and Finnish filmmakers will hold three workshops on filmmaking in the three Iranian cities on the sidelines of the film week.

Read more: Finnish Film Week to be held in Iran

PR/MG