Thursday, October 10, 2013

Movie FREE: "Road North (" Tie pohjoiseen")"

Come out and watch a free movie on the UC Berkeley Campus. The film will be shown Thursday 10/17 at 6.30 pm, in Dwinelle Hall (Dwinelle B-4,), free of charge. 

FILM: Tie pohjoiseen - Road North

A prodigal father returns to Helsinki to reconnect with the son he abandoned 35 years earlier and con him into a journey towards the Arctic Circle in this jaunty comedy. Overweight and shambling but still charismatic, Leo (Finnish national treasure Vesa-Matti Loiri) has lived to pursue pleasure, always fleeing when he encountered problems. Now, as he nears the end of his metaphoric road, he wants to patch up all the potholes, although in his own unconventional, not necessarily legal way. His son Timo is a concert pianist, and seems to be Leo's polar opposite: uptight, bound by rules, appointments and a constantly buzzing cell-phone. But out on the highway in the red Catalina convertible that Leo steals for the ride, Timo soon proves a chip off the old block.Director Mika Kaurismaki's best films have dealt with music or road trips. Road North combines both elements along with plenty of heart and was one of Finland’s biggest box office hits of the past year. 

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

"Mieletön Elokuu" FILM showing at Mill Valley Film Festival this Year Oct 11 & 13


Fri, Oct 11 @ 6:15 PM & Sun, Oct 13 @ 11:15 AM



at the Mill Valley Film Festival in San Rafael

Mieletön Elokuu (or August Fools) is the name of the Finn movie to be shown at the Mill Valley Film Festival this year on at Rafael 2 and  Rafael 3 in San Rafael. Starring is old Kaurismäki film heroine Kati Outinen who won Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival the same year that Aki Kaurismäki's Man Without a Past won the top feature film award at Cannes. Other Finnish film notables in this picture are Elena Leeve, Esko Salminen and Laura Birn. Director is Taru Mäkelä,. The setting is the "Festival of Friendship" in Helsinki in the 1962 Cold War era which brought tens of .thousands of young people from both sides of the Iron Curtain to celebrate. The place was crawling with both CIA and KGB agents. It's not as grim as it sounds as the film is essentially a romantic comedy. A Czech saxophonist ((Miroslav Etzler) arrives to pursue an old Finnish flame Elsa  (Outinen) who owns a millinery shop and is a part-time clairvoyant . The languages spoken are Finnish, Czech and English and the film has English subtitles. 

Read more about the film at http://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=64016~dc929e81-dd77-4c40-bcf3-47ec6a85c146&epguid=c612d5b0-2882-4166-821c-fe5114bf8af4&  

The Rafael screens are at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center at 1118 4th street in downtown San Rafael (between A and B Streets.) 

General Admission $14. Seniors 65+ and Students: $12.50. Advisedly, tickets should be reserved in advance on line at mvff.com and picked up at the Will Call window at the Rafael at show time. Or toll-free phone at 877.874.6833 voice mail. The main disadvantage to the phone order is an extra $10 convenience fee.  

Hope to see a lot of you there. 

-- Harry Siitonen

FILM CANCELED TONIGHT - NO POWER


You may have heard of the UCB explosion and power outage. Luckily, only one student was injured and already released from the hospital as far I know. No Finnish classes today in Dwinelle Hall & the Finnish Movie Night in Dwinelle is canceled tonight. Dwinelle Hall has NO power so far.

We will reschedule! 

Sirpa