Videoteca

location_onHelsinkipublicFI

Hassisen Kone 40 Years After 2023 star_border 7
Documentary film about Hassisen Kone. A band that, despite its short age, is still remembered as one of the most iconic Finnish rock bands of all time. The film tells not only about the band's 40th anniversary concert and the preparations for it, but also about the history of the band and its members' growth from youth celebrities to adults.

Gracious Night 2021 star_border 6.7
The three men enjoy the evening at a bar whose fate is threatened by pandemic restrictions. Bartender Heikki offers discussion help to his friend Risto, who works in the first line of healthcare, and who has just finished a difficult shift. The evening gets a new twist when a stranger looking for a mobile phone charger pops in and refuses to leave.

Master Cheng 2019 star_border 7.2
Cheng, 45, a restaurant owner from China, has travelled with his young son halfway around the world to a remote village in Finland. His wife died recently in an accident, and Cheng wanted to have a break from everything by traveling with his son to see an old Finnish friend who lives on a farm in the countryside of Finland. It’s the most remote place Cheng can imagine with endless forests, thousands of lakes, a country with entire population of one-fifth of Cheng’s home town, Shanghai.

Over the Limit 2018 star_border 7.1
Margarita Mamun, an elite Russian rhythmic gymnast, is struggling to become an Olympic champion. It is the most important year of her career and her last chance to achieve the ultimate goal, the gold Olympic medal. The film creates a captivating portrait of a young woman who is desperately trying to handle her own ambitions and meet the expectations of the official Russian training system.

Ryhmäteatteri 2018
Documentary on the history of Ryhmäteatteri theatre company.

The Girl King 2015 star_border 6.2
A portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.

Homecoming 2015 star_border 4.4
Tiina decides to reconnect with his aged and bohemian father living alone. With her reluctant daughter and new husband, they move in and start to renovate the old house. However, neither the renovation nor facing the past is effortless.

Road North 2012 star_border 6.1
A father who was absent for 30 years of his son's life returns and wants to set on a journey through Finland, so they can learn to know each other again.

Mama Africa 2011 star_border 6.4
Miriam Makeba was one of the first African musicians who won international stardom and whose music was always anchored in her traditional South African roots. Miriam Makeba was forced into exile in 1959. She sang for John F. Kennedy, performed with Harry Belafonte and Nina Simone, was married to Hugh Masekela and also Stokely Carmichael. Her life was tumultuous. She always stood for truth and justice. She fought for the oppressed most importantly for black Africans, as a campaigner against apartheid. She died November 2008 after a concert in Italy. Mika Kaurismäki's documentary, traces fifty years of her music and her performing life. Through rare archive footage of her performances and through interviews with her contemporaries we discover the remarkable journey of Miriam Makeba.

Brothers 2011 star_border 4.8
Three brothers from three different mothers meet for the first time since years for their mutual father’s 70th birthday: nihilistic writer Ivar, failed film producer Mitja, and resentful caretaker Torsti.

The House of Branching Love 2009 star_border 5.8
A sort of "Divorce Finnish Style," Mika Kaurismäki's rambunctious comedy, The House of Branching Love , recounts the breakup of a thirty-something professional couple - Juhani, a family therapist, and his wife, Tuula, a successful business trainer.

Three Wise Men 2008 star_border 5.6
Three middle aged men, long time friends, get together in a normally closed Karaoke bar to drink their failed lives away. Secrets are revealed and sometimes discovered and they sing their miseries one by one during Karaoke sessions. The arrival of a lone woman to the bar will facilitate revealing of the final secret.

Sonic Mirror 2008 star_border 6
The multi-award-winning Finnish documentarian Mika Kaurismäki, brother of Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past), helms the nonfiction work Sonic Mirror -- a protracted exploration of rhythm as one of life's driving forces. Revered drummer Billy Cobham serves as host, taking the audience on a long musical journey around the world and through a myriad of musical genres and styles. Cobham, Kaurismäki, and co. segue from Western concert halls and stages to the music of African tribes performed by Brazilian street children to the distinct music of autistic patients. Along the way, the filmmakers raise serious questions about the function of music as an identifying force, a means of communication, and an emotional release; they also probe the enduring connections between group awareness and self-awareness. The film ultimately builds to a hugely affirming and cathartic expression of music as collective expression that unifies its performers in spirit.

Brasileirinho 2005 star_border 5.9
A musical documentary and tribute about "choro", an older style of playing that forms the foundation of all Brazilian composition, including samba and bossa nova.

Honey Baby 2004 star_border 6
An American, with a past as a successful musician, makes a living by playing at weddings and the likes in Germany. Then he gets an offer to tour in East Europe. During his travels he gets insight and finds true love.

Moro no Brasil 2002 star_border 7.5
Mika Kaurismaki's documentary Moro No Brasil features performances by a variety of Brazilian musical artists, intertwined with interviews of every day Brazilians in order to give the viewer a portrait of Brazilian culture. The film includes performances by Silberio Pessoa, Darue Malungo, and Antonio Nobrega. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Highway Society 2000 star_border 5.8
The mechanic Jack tries to get rid of his criminal background.

L.A. Without a Map 1999 star_border 5.9
An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, she tells everyone about the handsome "writer" she met on her trip. Unfortunately, he decides to follow her back to Hollywood, setting up the expected light romantic comedy with asides as the newcomer gains experience about the goings on in Hollywood.

Among the Elves 1999 star_border 6
A cinematic journey with singer Freddie Wadling, which in this bare but soulful portrait shows how he constantly breaking boundaries, there is always something new to discover. If the music as a way to survive.

Danish Girls Show Everything 1996 star_border 5.3
Despite its suggestive title, this multi-part Danish omnibus film is not a work of exploitation. Instead, it presents 20 different short films (back-to-back) on the general theme of Danish women, directed by filmmakers including Krzysztof Zanussi, Monika Treut, Gustav Hamos, David Blair, Vibeke Vogel, Dusan Makavejev, Morten Skallerud and Lars Norgaard. Some dramatic vignettes mix with other comedic ones, but all are offbeat and experimental. The picture includes one animated sequence (by Norgaard).

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