Further Details

Title: The Other Side of Hope (The Criterion Collection)
Format: DVD
Condition: New
Number Of Discs: 1
Release Date: 15/05/2018
Genre: Drama
Actors: Sherwan Haji, Sakari Kuosmanen
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Audio Language: Finnish, Arabic
Runtime: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Region Code: DVD: 1 (US, Canada...)
Studio: Criterion Collection
Subtitle Language: English
Certificate: MPAA Not Rated
Description: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
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.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED DVD SPECIAL EDITION:

-New 2K digital transfer, approved by director Aki Kaurismäki
-New interview with actor Sherwan Haji
-Footage from the press conference for the film's premiere at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, featuring Kaurismäki, Haji, and actor Sakari Kuosmanen
-AKI AND PETER, a new video essay by filmmaker Daniel Raim, based on a 1997 essay by critic Peter von Bagh, to whom THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE is dedicated
-Music videos
-Trailer
-PLUS: An essay by critic Girish Shambu

REVIEW


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 seafood 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 tale of human kindness in the face of official indifference.



DIRECTOR-APPROVED DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

* New 2K digital transfer, approved by director Aki Kaurismäki
* New interview with actor Sherwan Haji
* Footage from the 2017 Berlin Film Festival press conference for the film, featuring Kaurismäki and the film’s actors
* Aki and Peter, a new video essay by Daniel Raim about the friendship between Kaurismäki and film critic Peter von Bagh, to whom the film is dedicated
* Music videos
* Trailer
* PLUS: An essay by critic Girish Shambu

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