Aki Kaurismäki will collect The FIPRESCI Grand Prix 2017 for Best Film of the Year

The FIPRESCI Grand Prix 2017 for Best Film of the Year goes to “Toivon tuolla puolen / The Other Side of Hope” by Aki Kaurismäki, who will collect the prize at the San Sebastian Festival

This is the second time Aki Kaurismäki will have received the accolade at the Festival, which he formerly won in 2002 for “Mies vailla menneisyyttä / The Man Without a Past”

Toivon tuolla puolen / The Other Side of Hope has been selected best film of 2017 by the members of the International Federation of Film Critics, FIPRESCI. The vote saw the participation of 576 critics from all over the world, who chose this Finnish production from among all of the films premiered after 1 July 2016. The other two finalists are Barry Jenkins’ Oscar®-winning Moonlight and Ildikó Enyedi’s winner of the Golden Bear in Berlin, Teströl és lélekröl / On Body and Soul programmed in the Pearls section.

Since its creation in 1999, the Fipresci Grand Prix has gone to hugely prestigious filmmakers including Pedro Almodóvar, Michael Haneke, Cristian Mungiu, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Linklater, Roman Polanski, George Miller and Maren Ade, among others.
Aki Kaurismäki (Orimattila, Finland, 1957) is considered to be one of the most important European directors of today’s cinema. Key titles in his filmography, such as Ariel (1988), Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö / The Match Factory Girl (1990), Kauas pilvet karkaavat / Drifting Clouds (1996), Mies vailla menneisyyttä / The Man Without a Past (2002, Grand Prix at Cannes), and Le Havre (2011, FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes) are now modern classics. Kaurismäki won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the last Berlin Festival with Toivon tuolla puolen / The Other Side of Hope.

Aki Kaurismäki will receive the FIPRESCI Grand Prix at the Festival Opening Gala on Friday, September 22 in the Kursaal Auditorium.

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