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This wry, melancholic comedy from Aki Kaurismäki, a response to the ongoing global refugee crisis, follows two people searching for a place to call home. Khaled (Sherwan Haji), a displaced Syrian, lands in Helsinki as a stowaway; meanwhile, middle-aged Finnish salesman Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen) leaves his wife and his job and buys a conspicuously unprofitable restaurant. Khaled is denied asylum but decides not to return to Aleppo—and the paths of the two men cross fortuitously. As deadpan as the best of the director’s work, and with a deep well of empathy for its down-but-not-out characters (many of them played by members of Kaurismäki’s loyal stock company), The Other Side of Hope is a bittersweet celebration of pockets of human kindness in an unwelcoming world.
Original Release
01/25/2017
US Release
12/01/2017
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Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Sherwan Haji | Khaled |
Sakari Kuosmanen | Waldemar Wikström / Wikström |
Kaija Pakarinen | Wikströmin vaimo / Wikström's Wife |
Tuomari Nurmio | Katusoittaja / Busker / Band Member |
Abdi Jama | Aseman kassa / Cashier at Train Station |
Antti Virmavirta | Poliisi asemalla / Police at the Station |
Timo Torikka | Poliisi asemalla / Police at the Station |
Simon Al-Bazoon | Mazdak |
Olli Varja | Juoppo / Drunkard |
Pia Riihioja | Vaatekaupan myyjä / Clothing Shop Attendant |
Directors
Writers
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Sherwan Haji | Khaled |
Sakari Kuosmanen | Waldemar Wikström / Wikström |
Kaija Pakarinen | Wikströmin vaimo / Wikström's Wife |
Tuomari Nurmio | Katusoittaja / Busker / Band Member |
Abdi Jama | Aseman kassa / Cashier at Train Station |
Antti Virmavirta | Poliisi asemalla / Police at the Station |
Timo Torikka | Poliisi asemalla / Police at the Station |
Simon Al-Bazoon | Mazdak |
Olli Varja | Juoppo / Drunkard |
Pia Riihioja | Vaatekaupan myyjä / Clothing Shop Attendant |
Kati Outinen | Vaatetusliikkeen omistajatar / Clothing Store Owner |
Maria Jarvenhelmi | Vastaanottokeskuksen virkailija / Reception Center Officer |
Katja Tolonen | Vastaanottokeskuksen virkailija / Reception Center Officer |
Mohamed Awad | Issa |
Seppo Väisänen | Migrin vahtimestari / Migrant Janitor |
Milka Ahlroth | Migrin haastattelija / Asylum interviewer |
Karar Al-Bazoon | Migrin tulkki / Interpreter at Asylum Interview |
Ismo Haavisto | Kitaristi baarin ovella / Guitarist Outside Bar |
Tommi Eronen | Huligaani bussipysäkillä / Hooligan at the Bus Stop |
Vesa Häkli | Huligaani bussipysäkillä / Hooligan at the Bus Stop |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Aki Kaurismaki | Producer |
Reinhard Brundig | Producer |
Misha Jaari | Producer |
Mark Lwoff | Producer |