The Other Side of Hope – Movie Coming To Walton & Weybridge Film Society
Wednesday April 24th 2019: 8pm
The Other Side of Hope
Director: Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2017, 98 minutes, Finnish, English, Arabic. Leading players: Sherwan Haji (Khaled Ali), Sakari Kuosmanen (Waldemar Wikström)
A travelling salesman winds up his marriage and his business, wins at poker and buys a struggling restaurant.
He offers a job to a Syrian refugee whose asylum claim has been refused, and helps him to smuggle his sister out of Lithuania to join him.
Kaurismäki’s film offers an appealing blend of dry humour, drama and empathy.
Film Synopsis
SET in Helsinki, this film’s atmosphere and colour palette are predominantly dour ‘Nordic noir’. This is familiar to us now perhaps after the Swedish/Danish TV series ‘The Killing’ and The Bridge’, but Kaurismäki adds a great deal more wry humour, a touch of sarcasm and occasional laugh-out-loud comedy.
The plight of Syrian and Iranian refugees is at the centre of the story, intertwined with Waldemar’s own comedy-inducing efforts to escape his former life by buying and improving a failing restaurant.
His staff at first resist his attempts to attract more custom, but gradually they knit together and assist him when he gives a hiding place and a job to Khaled, whose asylum claim has been refused.
Kaurismäki shows Khaled emerging from stowing away, his anxiety after being separated from his sister during their flight from Syria, and the mixture of helpfulness and hostility he encounters in the people he meets, allowing us to see it all through a refugee’s eyes.
Human kindness helps him to play the system and wins out in the end.. or does it?
JT
Film Notes
The film won Kaurismäki a Silver Bear for Best Film Director in Berlin, and Sherwan Haji gained Best Actor in the Dublin International Film Festival.
The International Federation of Film Critics voted it Best Film of 2016-17.
About Our Film Society
Walton and Weybridge Film Society meet at roughly three-weekly intervals on Wednesday evenings, commencing at 8pm at the Cecil Hepworth Playhouse, Hurst Grove (off Hepworth Way), Walton-on-Thames to watch well regarded (mostly recent) films that have probably not been shown in our local cinemas. The programme for this season is listed in the application form (see below).
The venue is owned by Elmbridge Council and used mainly by amateur dramatic societies but it is also very suitable for film shows, with tiered seating and the usual amenities.
Refreshments are provided without charge in a side room after each show and film club members are invited to discuss their reactions to the movie with the Committee and other members.
If you live in Walton or Weybridge or close to this area (for example Hersham, Shepperton, Cobham, Esher), why not join us?
If you would like to join our Film Society, please print off This Application Form and mention the All About Weybridge website.
Early Membership Discount
There is a discount for members who join and pay by a certain date at the start of a season.
April Movie – The Other Side of Hope
At The Cecil Hepworth Playhouse
Walton On Thames
Event Times & Venue
Date: Wednesday 24th April 2019
Start Time: 8pm.
Address: The Performance Hall,
The Cecil Hepworth Playhouse,
Hurst Grove,
Walton-on-Thames,
Surrey KT12 1AT
Note: Hurst Grove is off Hepworth Way (A3050)
Parking: On-site parking is extremely limited and patrons are directed, unless mobility is very restricted (places available only on a first-come, first-served basis), to use the ample free facilities behind Little Waitrose, which is a short way further along Hepworth Way.
Contact Walton and Weybridge Film Society
For membership & guest ticket enquiries, telephone: 01932 226 386
Please mention the All About Weybridge website
For all membership enquiries please contact
our Membership Secretary by email: membership@wawfs.com
You may contact our Chairman,
Ken Wilson: chairman@wawfs.com
Website: www.wawfs.com
