Kaurismäki's Fallen Leaves nominated for European Film award

Finnish film ´Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet lehdet)´, directed and written by eminent director Aki Kaurismäki, has been nominated as one of the Best European Films for the European Film Awards, said the European Film Academy in a press release on Tuesday.

In addition to get nomination from the best film category, the film also got four other nominations.

Kaurismäki has been nominated for the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards while Alma Pöysti was nominated for Best Actress and Jussi Vatanen for Best Actor.

Four other films nominated in this category are- Anatomy of the fall, Green Border, Me Captain and the Zone of Interest.

The winners will be revealed in the award ceremony scheduled to be held in Berlin on December 9.

Fallen Leaves tells the story of two lonely people who met each other by chance in the Helsinki night and tried to find the first, only, and ultimate love of their lives. Their path towards this honourable goal is clouded by the man's alcoholism, lost phone numbers, not knowing each other's names or addresses, and life's general tendency to place obstacles in the way of those seeking their happiness.

This gentle tragicomedy, previously thought to be lost, is the fourth part of Aki Kaurismäki's working-class trilogy (Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl).

“Although I have so far made my questionable reputation by making mainly irrelevant violent films, I finally decided, tormented by all the senseless, unnecessary and criminal wars, to write a story about the themes through which humanity might have a future: the longing for love, solidarity, hope, and respect for other people, nature and anything living or dead. With the precondition that the subject deserves it,” Kaurismäki said in a statement published by the European Film Academy Academy.

“In this film, I casually tip my too-small hat to my household gods Bresson, Ozu and Chaplin, but I am still solely responsible for this catastrophic failure,” the director added.