The Other Side Of Hope Opens Sarajevo Film Festival

Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side Of Hope, which won the Silver Bear in Berlin, will open the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival (11 – 18 August).

The Other Side Of Hope, which has been selected to compete for the 2017 LUX Film Prize, weaves together the stories of two men who have both struck out in search of a new life: an old Finnish man who buys a restaurant and a young Syrian immigrant who struggles to find a safe haven in Europe.

Khaled (Sherwan Haji) arrives at the port of Helsinki concealed in a coal container, fleeing war-torn Syria to seek asylum in Finland. Dazed and frustrated by the monolithic administration he encounters at the detention centre, he makes a break for it and heads out onto the streets.

There he meets Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen), a former shirt salesman who has recently left his alcoholic wife for a new life as a bachelor restaurateur. Together, they help each other to navigate the adversities they face in these unfamiliar and often baffling new worlds.