Mika Kaurismäki

21.09.1955, Orimattila, Finland

 

Director
Kaurismäki is a Finnish director, screenwriter, producer and editor. He studied film directing in Munich from 1977 to 1981. With his younger brother Aki, who graduated from the same school (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen), he founded the production and distribution company Villealfa whose name is an homage to Jean Luc Godard’s film Alphaville. The first film to come out from Villealfa was The Liar (Valehtelija, 1981) as well as the directing debut that he made together with his brother who starred in and co-wrote it. It was very successful and the brothers continued to collaborate on several films: The Worthless (Arvottomat, 1982), The Clan (Klaani: Tarina Sammakoitten suvusta, 1984) and Rosso (1985). Mika produced his brothers first feature film Crime and Punishment (Rikos ja rangaistus, 1983) and afterwards they went their separate ways. In 1987, Mika started his own production house Marianna Films and made his next independent film Zombie and the Ghost Train (Zombie ja Kummitusjunam, 1991), which won the film award Jussi in the category Best Director in 1991. Afterwards Mika moved to Brazil and worked on a co production Amazon (1990). Then he made The last border - viimeisellä rajalla (1993). He returned to Brazil with directors Samuel Fuller and Jim Jarmusch and directed the documentary Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made (1994). Afterwards he was involved in many international co-productions: Condition Red (1995), a thriller made in Philadelphia, the somewhat more popular comedy L.A. Without a Map (1998) with David Tennant and Julie Delpy; Highway Society (2000) and Honey Baby (2003). He returned to Brazil in his documentaries about Brazilian music Sound of Brazil (Moro No Brasil, 2002) and Brasileirinho - Grandes Encontros do Choro (2005). His last film so far is also a musical documentary: Sonic Mirror (2007) about the drummer and composer Billy Cobham.

Filmography

Sonic Mirror (2007) (documentary)
Brasileirinho - Grandes Encontros do Choro (2005) (documentary)
Welcome to Săo Paulo (Bem-Vindo a Săo Paulo, 2004) (documentary; segment Manha De Domingo)
Honey Baby (2003)
Sound of Brazil (Moro No Brasil, 2002)
Highway Society (2000)
L.A. Without a Map (1998)
Danish Girls Show Everything (Danske piger viser alt, 1996) (segment Rhythm)
Sambolico (1996) (medium length)
Condition Red (1995)
Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made (1994) (documentary)
The Last Border (The last border - viimeisellä rajalla, 1993)
Zombie and the Ghost Train (Zombie ja Kummitusjuna, 1991)
Amazon (1990)
Paper Star (Paperitähti, 1989)
Cha Cha Cha (1989)
Yötyö (1988) (TV) (medium length) (TV)
Helsinki Napoli All Night Long (1987)
Rosso (1985)
The Clan (Klaani: Tarina Sammakoitten suvusta, 1984)
The Worthless (Arvottomat, 1982)
Jackpot 2 (1982) (medium length)
The Saimaa Gesture (Saimaa-ilmiö, 1981) (documentary /musical) (co-director)
The Liar (Valehtelija, 1981) (medium length)


Films by this director

The Liar

(Valehtelija, 1981)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Kay Gauditz, Toni Sulzbeck, Olli Varja
Synopsis:

This is Mika’s first film and his brother Aki Kaurismäki plays the main character Ville Alfa (also the name of brothers Kaurismäki’s production house that produced this film). Ville is a young resourceful drifter who roams the streets of Helsinki trying to bum money from friends and passers by. He has a talent to come up with ingenious excuses and stories when he begs for money.

b/w, 53 min

The Worthless

(Arvottomat, 1982)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Timo Salminen
Synopsis:

This is Mika Kaurismäki’s first feature film. It tells the story of Manne who gets a visit from a group of gangsters asking him to repay an old debt. They give him two weeks to collect money but Manne decides to run away knowing that he will not be able to find all the money. In the middle of the night he leaves Helsinki in the company of Veera, an old friend who also has a reason to flee.

color, 119 min

The Clan

(Klaani, 1984)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Timo Salminen
Synopsis:

This is a story about a family of small crooks whose youngest son, Aleksanteri Suuri Sammakko, tries to distance himself from the family tradition of robbery and theft. Even though he is inspired by good intentions, he soon understands that it is not easy to stay honest.

color, 95 min

Rosso

(1985)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Timo Salminen
Synopsis:

Giancarlo Rosso, a mafia hitman from Sicily, gets an order to do a job in Finland. His target is the young Finnish girl Maria. Rosso comes to Helsinki, buys a weapon and goes to Maria’s apartment. He finds an empty apartment and meets her brother Martti. Even though they do not speak the same language they set off together to find Maria.

color, 76 min

Helsinki Napoli All Night Long

(1987)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Helge Weindler
Synopsis:

Alex is a Finnish man married to a Turkish woman. He lives and works as a taxi driver in Berlin. One evening two men with a suitcase of money enter his car. Unfortunately for Alex gangsters whose money was stolen start chasing them. Shooting starts and both of his passengers get killed. Alex is forced to get rid of their bodies and deal with the gangsters on his own.

color, 96 min

Paper Star

(Paperitähti, 1989)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Timo Salminen
Synopsis:

The heroine of this film is Anna, a former top model whose career is slowing down because of bad personal choices. Her lover Ulf is a pimp and leaves her in Stockholm. Middle aged fashion photographer Ilja will be her next bad choice. After she ends up in jail, Anna will set off to find Ulf.

color, 91 min

Cha Cha Cha

(1989)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Timo Salminen
Synopsis:

Two cousins, Kari and Matti, decide to exchange their lives briefly. That is the only way one of them can satisfy the conditions that will allow him to inherit money from an American aunt. Even though Matti is a bum living under a bridge in Helsinki, thanks to Kari, he be comes a real gentlemen. Kari in return takes Matti’s place under the bridge.

color, 91 min

Amazon

(1990)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Timo Salminen
Synopsis:

After his wife’s death in a car accident, Finnish banker Kari and his two daughters move to Brazil. On the streets of Rio he loses all his money and is forced to go to the country. On their way they meet a pilot who tells him about gold mines, a school teacher who wants to save the rainforests and an Indian tribe that lives with the nature.

color, 90 min

Zombie and the Ghost Train

(Zombie ja Kummitusjuna, 1991)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Olli Varja
Synopsis:

Zombie, as his nickname suggests, is a young man without much vitality. The only constant thing in his life is alcohol. After roaming the streets of Istanbul he returns to Helsinki and gets drafted. However, he manages to escape the military after putting turpentine in an officer’s soup and thus being declared psychologically inept. He gets a new chance when his friend Harri invites him to play bass with his band.

color, 88 min

Tigrero - A Film That Was Never Made

(1993)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jacques Cheuiche, Samuel Fuller
Synopsis:

This documentary was made in the Brazilian village of Karaja where the director Sam Fuller planned to shoot his film Tigrero. The film was never made because film studios thought that the location was too dangerous for certain film stars such as John Wayne and Ava Gardner. Forty years later Fuller returns to the village with Jim Jarmusch and Mika Kaurismäki in order to tell the story about himself, his film and people from the village.

b/w and color, 75 min

Sonic Mirror

(2007)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jacques Cheuiche
Synopsis:

World famous drummer and composer Billy Cobham takes us on a trip through world music. The trip begins with Billy’s concert with the Big Band Espoo in Finland, continues in New York where he grew up and took his first musical steps and ends in Switzerland and South America.

color, 79 min

Homecoming

(Finland, 2015)

Directed by: Mika Kaurismäki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jari Mutikainen
Synopsis:

Tina and Tomi decide to leave Helsinki and return to Tina’s peaceful hometown. All is idyllic until Tina hires a worker to repair her house and everything changes over night… New film by Mika Kaurismäki is a successful combination of drama, comedy and thriller.

color, DCP, 103 min
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