THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE, 2017 (Finland)

Winner of Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival

The Other Side of Hope interlaces the struggles of two men who have fled their homes. The first is Khaled, a Syrian asylum seeker who arrives in Helsinki as a stowaway on a coal freighter. The second escapee doesn’t undertake quite such a hazardous journey. Wikström walks out on his alcoholic wife, wins a fortune at poker and buys a failing restaurant called the Golden Pint.

Despite the tragic situation it portrays, the film is full of humour and food-for-thought, making it a pure delight.

Director: Aki Kaurismäki

The film will be followed by a Q&A with:

Saad Eddine Said: he is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the NGO Terre Sans Frontière which aims to break down cultural boundaries through art, music and film, and artistic director at Battersea Art Centre

Katie Barlow: she has spent the last few years documenting the “refugee crisis” through documentary film and photography, producing work for the Refugee Council, Channel 4 News, Ai Weiwei, the BBC and UNHCR.

Lucy Carrigan (International Rescue Committee): as the communications lead for Europe, she