Aki Kaurismäki to shoot short film in Portugal

Project involving shorts from several European filmmakers relates to Portuguese city of Guimarães’s turn as European Capital of Culture 2012

Aki Kaurismäki

print this

Academician Aki Kaurismäki is directing his next film already this month. Kaurismäki has been invited to direct a short film in Portugal.
      The ten-minute short film that currently goes under the working title Guimarães will be filmed in the Portuguese city of Guimarães, one of the European Capitals of Culture 2012. The other holder of the accolade is the Slovenian city of Maribor.
      Kaurismäki’s film will be one of the audio-visual projects for the city’s culture capital year.
     
According to the city of Guimarães, the Stories of the Cinema undertaking will include several European filmmakers, including the French film legend Jean-Luc Godard, 81, and the Portuguese cinema grand old man, Manoel de Oliveira, who will all produce their independent films.
      Oliveira’s career began already during the silent film era and at 103 he is the oldest filmmaker in the world.
      Other filmmakers that have been connected with the project in the public media include Spanish auteur Victor Erice and Portuguese Pedro Costa. According to some rumours, British cult director Peter Greenaway might also take part in the effort.
     
Kaurismäki’s film is about a man who works as a bartender. The main character is played by Finn Ilkka Koivula, who has appeared in several of the director’s previous films. The filming on location in a bar in Guimarães will take about a week.
      For some months of the year, Kaurismäki lives in the same part of northern Portugal, near the city of Porto.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Aki Kaurismäki abandons his long boycott against Academy Awards (12.8.2011)
  Aki Kaurismäki´s Le Havre collects Jussi 2011 awards, including Best Picture (30.1.2012)

Links:
  Aki Kaurismäki (Wikipedia)
  Guimarães 2012

Helsingin Sanomat