The Finnish master’s much anticipated new film will be released in Finland by B-Plan, Match Factory handles world sales. 

The announcement was made by the distributor and co-production company Bufo.

The film is the second instalment in Aki Kaurismäki’s trilogy focusing on port cities after Le Havre that screened in competition in Cannes 2011.
Written, directed and produced by Kaurismäki the film tells the story of Wikström, a Finnish travelling salesman (Sakari Kuosmanen from The Man Without a Past) and a Syrian refugee (Shermwan Haji) crossing paths. 

Janne Hyytiäinen, Nuppu Koivu and Ilkka Koivula play staff members of Wikström’s restaurant ‘Kultainen tuoppi ‘(‘the Golden Mug’), and Simon Hussein Al-Bazoon is an Iraqi asylum seeker. Other cast members comprise Kaija Pakarinen, Kati Outinen, Tommi Korpela and Tuomari Nurmio. 

The Other Side of Hope is shot on 35mm film by Kaurismäki’s long time collaborator Timo Salminen. The costume designer is Tiina Kaukanen (The Fencer, Little Wing, Black Widows), the editor Samu Heikkilä (Little Wing, Distractions) and the production designer is Markku Pätilä (Law of the Land, Drifting Clouds).  

The €1.6m film was produced by Kaurismäki’s Sputnik, in co-production with Bufo, in association with YLE, ZDF / Arte and support from The Finnish Film Foundation, Finland 100 Programme and The Church Media Foundation. 

The independent distribution company B-Plan - set up in 2013 by production company Bufo - has had a successful year with the release of the award-winning Finnish films Diving into the Unknown, The Finnish Oscar entry The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki and Toronto selection Little Wing. 

Besides The Other Side of Hope, the company’s 2017 line up includes Jouni Hiltunen’s nature documentary The Gulf of Finland (Matka merelle) and the European 3D animation film Richard the Stork.