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LE HAVRE

February 19, 2023

Moderator: Toni Perrine

Panelists: Carl Plantinga (Film) and Marc-Antoine Serou (Culture)

Director: Aki Kaurismäki

Year: 2011

Country: Finland/France

In this warmhearted comedy from Aki Kaurismäki (Leningrad Cowboys Go America), fate throws the young Gabonese refugee Idrissa into the path of Marcel Marx, a kindly old bohemian who shines shoes for a living in the French harbor city Le Havre.

Festival Premiere

2011 Cannes Film Festival

Official Selection

Awards

FIPRESCI Prize, Winner

2011 Cannes Film Festival

Best Film, Nominee

37th César Awards

"Here is the sunniest film I've seen by Aki Kaurismäki, and he reveals a lot of sunshine inside for a director whose world is usually filled with deadpan losers."

-- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times


"Cinematographer Timo Salminen frames everything crisply so that the city of Le Havre’s grays are illuminated with splashes of color yet retain a somewhat misty allure, as though he were filming a 40s spy drama."

-- Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

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