TEHRAN – A lineup of 16 short and feature movies from Finnish filmmakers will go on screen during Finnish Film Week, which will be held in three Iranian cities from September 28 to October 4, the organizers announced on Tuesday. 

World-renowned Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki’s films “I Hired a Contract Killer”, “The Bohemian Life”, “The Man Without a Past” and “Le Havre” are the highlights of the lineup. 

“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 lineup also includes “Time Out” by Matti Kinnunen, about a father and son who are forced to move to a small snowy village, “Little Wing” by Selma Vilhunen, about a teenage girl who steals a car to find her father she has never met, and “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki” by Juho Kuosmanen, about a famous Finnish boxer who loses a fight for the world championship. 

“The Fencer” by Klaus Haro and “East of Sweden” by Simo Halinen are also among the films. 

“The Fencer” is about a young champion Estonian fencer, who is forced to return to his homeland to run from Russian secret police during 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.

Short films “The Tiger” by Mikko Myllylahti, “Askan” by Ville Tanttu, “Super Comfort” by Kirsikka Saari and “Fingerling” by Reetta Aalto will also be screened during the festival. 

The festival will also screen “The Death of an Insect” by Hannes Vartiainen, “Fantasia” by Teemu Nikki and “Ceiling” by Teppo Airaksinen in this section. 

Finnish Film Week will be organized by Iran’s Art and Experience Cinema and the Finnish Film Foundation at the Iranian Artists Forum in Tehran, the Hoveizeh Cineplex in Mashhad and the City Center Cineplex in Isfahan.

Finnish Film Foundation Chief Executive Officer Lasse Saarinen, the director of the International Department of the foundation, Jaana Puskala, and a number Finnish cineastes, including actor and producer Kaarle Aho, are scheduled to attend the festival.  

Moreover, workshops on joint film production and meetings by Iranian and Finnish filmmakers will be organized on the sidelines of the festival.

Photo: A scene from “The Fencer” by Klaus Haro.

ABU/MMS/YAW