La Dérive / Drift (2026 restoration La Cinémathèque française)

Paula Delsol: La Dérive / Drift (FR 1964). Jacqueline Vandal (Jacqueline dite Jacquie Manescu).

Paula Delsol: La Dérive / Drift (FR 1964). Jacqueline Vandal (Jacqueline dite Jacquie Manescu), André Nader (Jean, le pêcheur). 

FR 1964. Year of production: 1963. PC: Les Productions Cinématographique du Languedoc. P: Alexandre (Sacha) Kamenka.

    D+SC: Paula Delsol. DP: Jean Malige – b&w – Academy. M: Roger Bène. ED: Agnès Guillemot. Int.: Jacqueline Vandal (Jackie / Jacquie Manescu), Lucien Barjon (Maurice), Paulette Dubost (madre di Jackie), André Nader (Jean), Jean-François Calvé (Régis), Noëlle Noblecourt (Agathe), Pierre Barouh (Pierre), Anne-Marie Coffinet (Claire).  

    Loc: Paris, le sud de la France, la côte méditerranéenne, Palavas-les-Flots, Camargues.

    83 min

    Language: French. 

   Restored in 4K in 2026 by La Cinémathèque française in collaboration with CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée at TransPerfect Media laboratory, from the original 35 mm picture and sound negatives. Funding provided by Neuflize OBC Corporate Foundation.

    DCP from: La Cinémathèque Française

    Courtesy of: Les Acacias.

    English subtitles on the copy by Howard Bunian.

    E-subtitles in Italian by SubTi Londra.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2026: Recovered & Restored.

    Viewed at Cinema Arlecchino, 26 June 2026.

Hervé Pichard (Bologna 2026): "Despite its powerful dialogue and the realistic beauty of its imagery, the film figures among the forgotten cinematic works that are essential to rediscover. Its innovative style brings to mind the young filmmakers of the New Wave, particularly Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Rediscovering Paula Delsol and the rare 35 mm prints of her works, one marvels at their surprising modernity but, at the same time, wonders why they have been lost. The film further sets itself apart due to its feminist theme, ahead of its time. In La Dérive, Jacquie, a young woman experiencing family breakdown, is sexually liberated but emotionally dependent on the men she encounters. Through this protagonist, Paula Delsol describes a generation of women who question their place in a relationship, in a family and in society. The work blends a quest for freedom, doubt and danger with the hostile gazes of a still-archaic 1960s France. At the time, very few women are directing films in France. Along with Agnès Varda, Paula Delsol is one of the rare figures to write, produce and direct a feature film far from Paris. She takes on every role: screenwriter, casting director, producer, manager, accountant and filmmaker, all while raising her two children. We cannot but admire her energy and commitment. The film nevertheless receives an enthusiastic reception. Supported by Truffaut, esteemed by Godard and Jean Rouch, Paula Delsol is acknowledged by critics as a member of the New Wave. La Dérive wins the 1964 Grand Prize of film societies and premieres at the Cannes Film Festival. Yet despite such recognition, the film progressively falls into oblivion, and the filmmaker struggles to continue her career. Right up until the very end, Paula Delsol would refuse to be labelled as a “female filmmaker”; she simply wished to be regarded as a filmmaker." Hervé Pichard

AA: Paula Delsol's La Dérive is a stunning rediscovery, like meeting a long-lost important family member from generations ago. 

Although Agnès Varda was the mother of the French New Wave and all new waves, the French new wave as a whole was oppressively male-dominated. That was the state of the cinema in general, but one would have expected better from the young generation.

Paula Delson's irreverent approach can be compared with both Agnès Varda and her Czech sister-in-arms Věra Chytilová. La Dérive is a road movie about a young woman's quest, rejecting tradwife life in a conventional family setup and an honest marriage proposal from a local fisherman. Exploring Bohemian life with a wandering musician, sex work with a married middle-aged businessman, rejecting a ménage à trois in a castle complete with an Alfa Romeo, meeting an endless row of alley cats interested in just that one thing. Jacquie was also born that way, but she would expect more.

The most startling aspect is the world of harassment. This is the side of life ignored in films made by men. A woman needs always to be ready to defend herself from harassment from individual males and groups of men. A solitary woman is constantly in a danger zone. It's a man's world.

Like Sans toit ni loi, La Dérive is an existentialist movie about freedom. The search for an alternative is about breaking free from convention and tradition. A freedom without commitment can lead to nothingness. "Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose".

The biggest laughter was in the beginning to the "interdit aux moins de 18 ans" notice. There is nothing unsuitable for children in the film.

The cast is excellent, and the cinematography on location is powerful in the tradition of realism.

The restoration is brilliant, and it is a pleasure to enjoy the beautiful cinematography in the classic Academy frame in glorious black and white.

...

La Cinémathèque française 2026: Cinéastes françaises des années 60 et 70

La Dérive

Paula Delsol

France / 1964

Avec Jacqueline Vandal, Lucien Barjon, Paulette Dubost.

Le portrait incandescent d'une jeune femme en rupture avec son milieu familial, déchirée entre désir de liberté et quête de l'amour. En pleine Nouvelle Vague, Paula Delsol signe un film superbe et délibérément féministe, tourné en décors naturels dans les plaines camarguaises. La Dérive fut frappé d'une interdiction aux moins de 18 ans qui scella prématurément le destin cinématographique de sa créatrice.

Film également connu sous le titre Une fille à la dérive.

Sélection officielle Cannes Classics 2026

La Dérive de Paula Delsol a été restauré en 4K en 2026 par la Cinémathèque française, en collaboration avec le CNC, et avec le soutien de la Fondation d'entreprise Neuflize OBC. La restauration a été effectuée au laboratoire Transperfect Media à partir des négatifs 35 mm image et son. Ressortie en salles en janvier 2027 par Les Acacias.

Générique

Réalisateur : Paula Delsol

Scénariste : Paula Delsol

Dialoguiste : Paula Delsol

Société de production : Production Cinématographique du Languedoc

Directeur de production : Alexandre Kamenka

Directeur de la photographie : Jean Malige

Compositeurs de la musique originale : Roger Bène, Christian Donnadieu

Monteur : Agnès Guillemot

Photographe de plateau : André Gueite

Interprètes : Jacqueline Vandal (Jackie), Lucien Barjon (Maurice), Paulette Dubost (La mère de Jackie), Jean-François Calvé (Régis), Noëlle Noblecourt (Agathe), Pierre Barouh (Le guitariste), Anne-Marie Coffinet (Claire), Jean-Loup Reynold, Jules Dussol, Monique Bonnafous, André Nader

Easy Living (1937)

Mitchell Leisen: Easy Living (US 1937) with Edward Arnold (J. B. Ball), Jean Arthur (Mary Smith) and Ray Milland (John Ball, Jr.).

Un colpo di fortuna / Che bella vita / Vapaalippu paratiisiin / Pappa har en väninna.

    US 1937. Prod.: Arthur Hornblow Jr. per Paramount Pictures.

    D: Mitchell Leisen. SC: Preston Sturges. Sog.: Vera Caspary. DP: Ted Tetzlaff – b&w. PD: Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegté. M: Boris Morros. ED: Doane Harrison. C: Jean Arthur (Mary Smith), Edward Arnold (J. B. Ball), Ray Milland (John Ball Jr.), Luis Alberni (Mr. Louis Louis), Mary Nash (Mrs. Ball), Franklin Pangborn (Van Buren), Barlowe Borland (Mr. Gurney), William Demarest (Wallace Whistling). 

    88 min

    Language: English.

    Helsinki premiere: 8 Oct 1937 Savoy – distributed by Paramount Pictures.

    35 mm print from: Universal. Courtesy of: Park Circus.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2026: Easy Living with Mitchell Leisen.

    E-subtitles in Italian by Sub-Ti Londra.

    Introduced by Ehsan Khoshbakht

    Viewed at Cinema Jolly, 20 June 2026

Ehsan Khoshbakht (Bologna 2026): "J. B. Ball (Edward Arnold), the third-richest banker in America, bumps into the jobless blonde Mary Smith (Jean Arthur) by sheer accident (“kismet”) and, out of pure whim, gives her his estranged wife’s mink coat. Thanks to that coat, Easy Living joins the splendid lineage of “clothes-make-the-man” cinema that stretches from Murnau to Kiarostami, in which clothes generate expectations, presumptions, and social associations. Later, in another kismet, Mary bumps into the banker’s son (Ray Milland), who, in rebellion against his wealthy father, has chosen to work anonymously in a lunchroom. Here, the codes of appearance are delightfully skewed: she looks terrific but does not have a penny to her name; he looks drab but is a billionaire. The show-stealer, however, is the hotelier played by Spanish actor Luis Alberni with his uncanny ability to mix up English words and invent the most splendid malapropisms: “With a bit of your corruption we can achieve this.” He means, of course, “cooperation”, but the twisted word comes closer to the true meaning of the situation. The ambivalent treatment of the capitalist ethos – ruthless exploitation and corruption but one that nonetheless benefits everyone – owes more to writer Preston Sturges than to director Mitchell Leisen, the latter generally holding a more critical view of the rich. Sturges himself must have wrestled with the story source by communist author Vera Caspary to ensure that when a chef snarls, “You dirty capitalist”, it registers as a nod to capitalists’ sense of humour rather than an incitement to revolution. The inclusion of slapstick in Leisen’s cinema is rare and often unsuccessful; Easy Living is the sole instance in which it truly works, owing no doubt to Sturges. Yet the sequence set in the fully automatic eatery is reportedly unscripted and entirely Leisen’s invention. I would like to think that the motif of “entrapment by wealth” is also unscripted and the result of Leisen’s mise-en-scène, evident when, for instance, people in the corridors of the bank or the house constantly trip over an excess of objects." Ehsan Khoshbakht

IMDb synopsis: "When a wealthy banker throws his wife's expensive fur coat off a roof and it lands on the head of a stenographer, everyone assumes she is his mistress and has access to his millions."

AA: Il Cinema Ritrovato dedicates a superb retrospective to Mitchell Leisen, an architect by formation, also known as "le grand couturier". The costume and production designer contributed to the genesis of the Paramount style so much that he can almost be called an incarnation of the Paramount studio look. Having arrived at Hollywood in 1919, he became the costume designer for Cecil B. DeMille at Famous Players-Lasky (a predecessor of Paramount Pictures), then for United Artists for some of its most lavish spectacles including Robin Hood (Douglas Fairbanks) and Rosita (Mary Pickford / Ernst Lubitsch). In 1925 he returned to DeMille, now in a triple function, becoming also an assistant director. In 1932, Leisen switched to directing. During the golden age of Paramount, Leisen guided many of the biggest stars to some of their greatest roles over 20 years.

During Leisen's years in costume design, Hollywood grew into a global fashion trendsetter. In Easy Living, the opening movie of the Bologna retrospective, clothes are not only a key element but also a key subject. Clothing can be a status symbol but also a camouflage. It can be a statement or an illusion. We know that from Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat and the true story of Der Hauptmann von Köpenick.

At the center is a piece of haute couture. A fabulously expensive Kolinsky sable fur coat falls from heaven on the shoulders of Mary Smith (Jean Arthur), a humble stenographer. She returns it instantly but is offered it as a gift by one of the world's richest men, J. B. Ball (Edward Arnold). However, it is not clear whether the gift is a blessing or a curse. At her office, she is promptly fired, because everybody believes that the coat is a reward for services rendered and that she is lying about its provenance.

Easy Living is a modern fairy-tale where the part of the prince is played by Ray Milland as John Ball, Junior. Having rebelled against his father, he is on his way down in society when he meets Mary. Unwittingly, the two young innocents are drawn to intrigues involving the hotel business and the scandal media.

Easy Living is one of the 1930s movies which reflect the Great Depression. It deals with the financial system in an attitude of spoof. Perhaps a fairy-tale is an accurate approach to the fictional dimension of financial speculation. The worship of money, the panic in the market, the precariousness of being when from dominance to bankruptcy is but one step: serious issues are discussed as an entertainment saga of the dream factory.

Sophisticated comedy and screwball comedy are difficult artforms. Slapstick is often underrated, but it is also extremely difficult to pull off really well. Ten points to Leisen for a good try.

I agree with Ehsan Khoshbakht that human comedy is Leisen's forte. I enjoy the integrity and dignity that Jean Arthur brings to her character. Instead of being smeared by intrigue, she transcends it with her warm presence, blithely ignoring tawdry innuendo.

The print has been struck from uneven sources, at times with a duped look, even like a blow-up from 16 mm. We know what Paramount did with its nitrate treasures, and the price to pay is a loss of some of the Paramount elegance.

Amma ariyan / Report to Mother (2026 restoration Film Heritage Foundation)

 

John Abraham: അമ്മ അറിയാൻ / Amma ariyan / Report to Mother (IN 1986).

അമ്മ അറിയാൻ / Amma ariyan / Report to Mother.

IN 1986. PC: Odessa Movies.

    D+SC: John Abraham. Cin: Venu. PD: Ramesh. M: Sunitha. ED: Bina Paul. Int.: Joy Mathew (Purushan), Kunhilakshmi Amma (la madre di Purushan), Harinarayanan (Hari), Maji Venkatesh (Paru), Nilambur Balan, Itingal Narayani, Nazim, Ramachandran Mokeri, Naseem, Venu K. Menon.

    Soundtrack: John Lennon "(Just Like) Starting Over" (1980). Remo Giazotto: "Adagio in G minor" (1958) often called "Albinoni's Adagio".

    115 min

    Loc: Kerala.

    Language: Malayalam.

    Restored by Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with Odessa Collective. The 4K restoration used one of the only two surviving prints, a first-generation 35 mm release print preserved at NFDC – National Film Archive of India. Funding provided by Film Heritage Foundation.

    DCP from: Film Heritage Foundation.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2026: Cinemalibero.

    English subtitles: Cyriane Manni. Italian subtitles: Nadina Ribonne. [The translator credits flashed past too fast for me to be certain that I got them right.]

    Introduced by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur (Film Heritage Foundation) and Cecilia Cenciarelli.

    Viewed at Cinema Jolly, 20 June 2026

Omar Ahmed (Bologna 2026): "Amma Ariyan was filmmaker John Abraham’s final work before his untimely death in 1987. It is a film that details the history of revolutionary politics in Kerala through the prism of the road movie, adopting an iconoclastic structure in which flashbacks, ellipses and inserts punctuate the narrative with personal and historical reports on social resistance and political disillusionment, including the militant labour riots of Cochin in 1953. Indian Parallel Cinema was in many ways the first true de-colonial filmmaking practice to emerge out of India after independence and a political work such as Amma ariyan was very much part of a broader collective revisionism taking place at the time. John Abraham captures a time of crisis and upheaval where resistance seems to be everywhere and comes most readily from a Keralan youth galvanised by the impact of the Naxalite Movement in the late 1960s, a peasant insurgency that had widespread political implications for the establishment and Leftist political thought in India. Abraham’s critique of orthodox structures in Indian society – including caste, religion, and the arts – was shaped by the cinema of Ritwik Ghatak, his teacher and perhaps his greatest influence. While many Parallel Cinema filmmakers have been compared to Ghatak, and directors such as Mani Kaul and Kumar Shahani drew on his fractured, melodramatic style, it is Abraham’s films that most clearly distill a sense of political revolt and critique of a corrupt system that persisted after independence. Another way to understand the film is through the persistence of trauma, which Abraham presents as a multilateral rather than singular phenomenon. He situates the Marxist political histories of Kerala within an ongoing historical trauma that has shaped working-class lives in violent and debilitating ways, while also reflecting on the aftermath of revolution and state repression. What emerges from the narrative’s reports is an open wound – an irreparable rupture that remains in contest." Omar Ahmed

AA: I see for the first time John Abraham's Report to Mother, a movie which appears in "ten best" lists of Indian cinema. 

Amma ariyan takes the breath away with its fresh and powerful look. Set in the specific historical context of the Naxalite insurgency in Kerala, it is also a timeless tragedy about mother and son. Hari, the son, is dead by the time the movie begins. Hari's friends embark on an odyssey through Kerala to bring the news to his mother. On the way an entourage of friends joins the quest.

The tour passes through many locations in turbulent Kerala. The journey is both physical and spiritual. Ancient folklore is ever present, as are urgent events of social struggle. 

A central dimension is the world of music - indigenous and contemporary, sacred and militant, from classical Indian to reggae and John Lennon. Dance is another major art dimension - dances of ecstasy, dance performances, sacred rituals with elephants, even a karate camp with a balletic sense.

In a powerful montage sequence, the world of oppression is outlined. We witness the lack of work safety at a quarry and police brutality and torture against the working people who fight for justice. Scenes of popular insurgency rise to epic grandeur.

The Kerala insurgency is linked to oppression in the global neocolonialist order, including the Philippines and Bangla Desh. The majority of the people of the world are prisoners of poverty. A recurrent figure is a mother, prematurely aged, fragile and withered.

The history of colonialism is evoked by a visit to the grave memorial of Vasco da Gama. The Portuguese, the Dutch and the Englishmen have consecutively plundered Kerala, taken the loot and left the place in ruins.

All this John Abraham covers with a great sense of the mise-en-scène. His approach to the point-of-view and narrative is unconventional. The address is both collective and personal in a unique fashion. His is a rare example of a cinema which is both boldly experimental and authentically popular.

Abraham is a master of engrossing full shots in the Academy ratio. His framing is electrifying without being fanciful. High angle shots emphasize the epic context, as well as a 360 degree pan. Most of the movie is earthbound, but the Indian Ocean makes its presence felt, as well as mighty boats and bridges. Flocks of birds fill the sky. 

Three religions of Kerala are present: Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.

Finally, Hari's friends reach the destination. They meet Hari's authoritarian father who chases them away as revolutionaries who are good for nothing. They find the mother, a Christian who is visiting a baptism at the church. A baby has been born while a son of hers has died. Sacred images of the birth and death of Jesus introduce a Mater Dolorosa dimension. The actress interprets her role with silent dignity.

Amma arian rises to the class of Kuhle Wampe as one of the greatest instances of Brechtian, anti-Aristotelian cinema. All too often the Verfremdung effect means distancing us not only from identification but from the artwork itself. Not here. By defying classical narrative, Abraham achieves a movie which is engrossing and profoundly passionate and human while stimulating us to think critically in the tradition of montage cinema.

In the finale we see the most obvious distanciation effect: a public 16 mm outdoor screening of the film we have just seen. The Stabat Mater theme is enhanced in the metadimension.

The restoration is excellent. There is a duped look due to the original source materials. The dialogue is post-synchronized. All this does not diminish the impact.

John Abraham brings us a whole world - dynamic, passionate, in turmoil, forces of a violent order clashing with forces of popular resistance. I am grateful for the compelling vitality, visionary power and the originality of his storytelling.

Non stuzzicate la Zanzara / Don't Sting the Mosquito (Olaf Möller Masterclass, Sodankylä 2026)

Lina Wertmüller: Non stuzzicate la Zanzara / Don't Sting the Mosquito (IT 1967) with Giulietta Masina (Maria Cristina, Rita's mother), Rita Pavone (Rita Santangelo) and Giancarlo Giannini (Paolo Randi, Rita's boyfriend).

Lina Wertmüller: Non stuzzicate la Zanzara / Don't Sting the Mosquito (IT 1967) with Rita Pavone (Rita Santangelo) and Giulietta Masina (Maria Cristina, Rita's mother).

IT 1967. PC: Mondial Televisione Film • P: Sergio Bonotti, Gilberto Carbone. D+SC: Lina Wertmüller. DP: Dario Di Palma - colour: Technostampa - scope • ED: Franco Fraticelli • PD: Enrico Job • Cost: Enrico Job • S: Giulio Tagliacozzo • M: Bruno Canfora • Song lyrics co-writer: Lina Wertmüller • C: Rita Pavone, Giancarlo Giannini, Raffaele Pisu, Giulietta Masina •  loc: Rome • Copy from: Titanus, RAI • DCP • in Italian • subtitled in English • announced duration: 124 min - screening duration 90 min

    Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2026: Olaf Möller Masterclass: 60’s musicals – The Way We Once Danced Through the Days

    Olaf Möller Masterclass

    Iso Teltta, 14 June 2026

AA: Rita Pavone, "the Mosquito of Turin" ("la Zanzara di Torino"), also known as "the Carrot Top ("Pel di Carota") because of her red hair, starred in two movies directed by Lina Wertmüller. Here the co-stars include Giulietta Masina from the great tradition of Italian theatre and cinema and Giancarlo Giannini who got his first leading roles in the Zanzara movies. I confess I did not recognize Giannini here!

Michelangelo Antonioni had just shot Blow Up in London, but Rita Pavone and Lina Wertmüller brought the Mod attitude and Carnaby Street fashion of Swinging London to Rome. 

It is a musicarelli, a pop film, openly influenced by Richard Lester's Beatles movies, but with a defiantly original attitude. This goofiness is all-Italian.

I like Rita Pavone as a singer. This was still the time when great singers sang with full scope and presence, not only in Italy but worldwide. Rita Pavone was popular in Finland, too, and our counterpart, Katri Helena, did a great Finnish-language cover of her hit "Lui".

Pavone mostly sings Italian originals but also includes a couple of fine covers, including "Gimme Some Lovin", the 1966 hit by The Spencer Davis Group. "Bye Bye Baby" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is also on the songlist but not among the highlights.

There is a Finnish word, "unelmahöttöä" (coined by Erkki Tuomioja) meaning the "cotton candy", "zucchero filato" of daydreams, and this is the world of Zanzara, indulging in fantasy while making fun of it. This is the teenage world between childhood and adulthood.

Wes Anderson might like this.

This is the world of the musical comedy, taking place in the Neverland between dream and reality,  superficial and profound at once. La vida es sueño. "We are such stuff that dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep".

Pavone & Wertmüller navigate confidently in this special zone. They have an instinctive sense in the flight of the imagination, the space of the musical flow and the riptide of emotions. 

In light entertainment mode, Don't Sting the Mosquito is also a rebel saga, the young daughter claiming independence with swashbuckler derring-do. More specifically, it is a saga of female agency, the daughter even becoming a role model for her tradwife mother.

The extended blackface sequence is offensive and embarrassing. Rita Pavone needs a disguise, but there could have been better alternatives.

All sources give the duration of 124 minutes, but this screening ran 90 minutes. The digital restoration is perfect, and the audacious colour scheme with lots of oranges and violets has been beautifully preserved.

I have a special affection for film directors as songwriters in their own movies, like Lina Wertmüller here.

SONG LIST

La Zanzara (main theme)

La Svizzera  (co-lyr. Lina Wertmüller)

Una notte intera (co-lyr. Lina Wertmüller)

Tu guardi lei  (co-lyr. Lina Wertmüller)

Cuore

Plip

Scimmia

Perchè due non fa tre

Non è un peccato

Ma che te ne importa se va

Solo tu

Garage Beat!

Gira gira

Questo nostro amore  (co-lyr. Lina Wertmüller)

La canzone

[In the end credits, 16 songs are credited, but the names flashed by too fast for me to write them down].

Olaf Möller (MSFF 2026): "This is most decidedly not the kind of film folks on average would expect from Lina Wertmüller: a straightforward exercise in popular cinema. She made four of them inbetween her frivolously Fellinian debut The Basilisks (1963) and her true international breakthrough as an autrice, The Seduction of Mimi (1972): a commedia all’italiana omnibus, two musicarelli and a western – all being straightforward entertainments as well as parodies of their respective genres."

"Considering her penchant for judiciously dosed histrionics and a sense for the grotesque at heart of all that life we call real, it feels fitting that she should show a curious excellence at doing musicals. Set in good parts in an academy for Swiss Guards, Don’t Sting the Mosquito perplexes among other things with a minimalist song-and-dance number featuring papal soldiers-in-the-making singing “Switzerland!” while wiggling in synch with their halberds (after an earlier joke about turning battle banners into diapers), a delirious number in split-screen, a bonkers low-key hop-around in wild west drag, and an overall use of mauve that leaves even LSD-savvy viewers in a state of daze. For all the love and admiration Lina Wertmüller is more than due: if only she had made just a few more movies like Don’t Sting the Mosquito…!" Olaf Möller

Olaf Möller (MSFF 2026): "Tämä ei ole filmi, jollaista ihmiset Lina Wertmülleriltä odottaisivat: Don’t Sting the Mosquito on suoraviivainen populaarielokuva. Hän teki sellaisia neljä huolettoman felliniläisen debyyttinsä I basilischin (1963) ja varsinaisen kansainvälisen auteur-läpimurtonsa Mafian uhrin (1972) välisenä aikana: yhden commedia all’italiana -elokuvan, kaksi musicarellia ja yhden westernin – jotka kaikki ovat samanaikaisesti suoraviivaisia viihde-elokuvia ja omien lajityyppiensä parodioita."

"Ottaen huomioon Wertmüllerin taipumuksen harkiten annosteltuun teatraalisuuteen sekä hänen ymmärryksensä kaiken todelliseksi kutsumamme elämän sydämessä olevasta groteskiudesta, tuntuu sopivalta, että hän osoittautuu erinomaiseksi musikaalien tekijäksi. Suurilta osin sveitsiläiskaartin akatemiaan sijoittuva Don’t Sting the Mosquito hämmentää muun muassa minimalistisella laulu- ja tanssiesityksellä, jossa tulevat paavin sotamiehet laulavat “Sveitsi!” ketkutellen tahdissa hilpariensa kanssa, houreisella split screen -numerolla, sekopäisellä hypähtelyllä villin lännen dragissa ja yltäkylläisellä violetin värin käytöllä, joka saisi LSD-kokeneenkin katsojan pyörälle päästään. Vaikka kaikki Lina Wertmüllerille suotu rakkaus ja ihailu on enemmän kuin ansaittua: kunpa hän olisi tehnyt vain muutaman tällaisen elokuvan lisää!" Olaf Möller

Sodankylä 2026: Discussion with Finnish film-makers / Kotimaisten tekijävieraiden keskustelutilaisuus

The discussion with Finnish film-makers at Kitisen Keidas. Left to right: Yasmin Najjar, Pia Andell, Tommi Korpela, Mark Lwoff (at the mike), Liselott Forsman (moderator), Aleksi Salmenperä, Jukka Kärkkäinen, Marko Talli. Arja Saijonmaa came later since the screening of Herr Puntila och hans dräng Matti (FI/SE 1979), in which she stars, was delayed.

The irrepressible Arja Saijonmaa incited us to a cultural revolution. In 30 years, the virtual world of the internet has turned us to sleepwalkers. It is time to wake up.

Discussion with Finnish film-makers. Hosted by Liselott Forsman. Left to right: Yasmin Najjar, Pia Andell, Tommi Korpela, Mark Lwoff, Aleksi Salmenperä, Jukka Kärkkäinen, Marko Talli, Arja Saijonmaa.

    Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2026. 60 min

    Kitisen Keidas, 13 June 2026

Kotimaisten elokuvantekijöiden keskustelu: ”Taiteilijalla pitää olla selkäranka” / "An artist must have a backbone". (Motto by Arja Saijonmaa).

MSFF: "Mikä tekee elokuvasta merkityksellisen? Sodankylän 2026 suomalaisten elokuvien teemoja ovat ihmisen syvemmät arvot, taiteen tekemisen syyt sekä maailma, jota ei kannata menettää. Keskiössä ovat perhe-, terapia-, kaveri- ja taideyhteisöt sekä eräs orava."

"Paneelissa ovat mukana Aleksi Salmenperä (Isänpäivä), Tommi Korpela (Isänpäivä, Terapia, Ei pilata juhlia puhumalla kuolemasta), Pia Andell (Ei pilata juhlia puhumalla kuolemasta), Jukka Kärkkäinen (Kappale kauneinta Suomea), Yasmin Najjar (TJ28), Mark Lwoff (Orava) sekä Arja Saijonmaa ja Marko Talli, joiden dokumentti (Laula minulle Arja) saa ensi-iltansa Sodankylässä ja josta otsikon sitaatti tulee."

"Keskustelua vetää totuttuun tapaan Liselott Forsman (Nordisk Film & TV Fond)."

AA: The discussion with Finnish film-makers is always my favourite event at the Sodankylä film festival. Brilliantly hosted by Liselott Forsman, I liked the scope and dramaturgy from the youngest (Yasmin Najjar) to the most experienced (Arja Saijonmaa). We are facing multiple existential crises in the cinema and the world, but with talent like this we can beat anything.

Laula minulle Arja / Sing for Me Arja (in person: Arja Saijonmaa and Marko Talli)

Marko Talli: Laula minulle Arja / Sing for Me Arja (FI 2026). Arja Saijonmaa.

Marko Talli: Laula minulle Arja / Sing for Me Arja (FI 2026). Mikis Theodorakis and Arja Saijonmaa.

Arja Saijonmaa: Laulu vapaudelle: muistelmani (Finnish translation by Sirpa Hietanen, WSOY 2025) / En sång för frihet (Swedish original, Ekerlids förlag, 2024) / [A Song for Freedom: My Memoirs]. "The song will carry us while the world is trembling. The scintillating autobiography of a firebrand artist. Arja Saijonmaa has sung with Mikhail Gorbachev, gone through adventures in the jungles of Central America, visited Yasser Arafat at his desert bunker and risen to an iconic singing star in Finland, Sweden and Norway. She has met with success but also suffered severe setbacks on her career and in her personal life." (From the WSOY publicity blurb).

Sjung för mig Arja.

    FI 2026. PC: Yellow Film & TV, Mantaray Film • P+D: Marko Talli • SC: Marko Talli, Nigge Bagge • DP: Jani Kumpulainen • ED: Nigge Bagge • S: Juha Hakanen • M: Matti Bye • Copy: Yellow Film & TV • DCP • in Finnish, Swedish, English, French, Greek • DCP with Finnish and Swedish subtitles * screening subtitled in English • 98 min

    Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2026, Sodankylä.

    In person: Arja Saijonmaa and Marko Talli, hosted by Liselott Forsman.

    Viewed at the Punainen Teltta, 12 June 2026.

AA: Sing for Me Arja is my favourite film of the year so far. Why? Because it is a movie about the power of the spirit. It is about the essence of culture in a moment when it is endangered by budget cuts, self-censorship and IT oligarchs. Thirty years ago the internet was a force of good but now it is turning into an instance of distraction. In an age when some pretend that the human mind can be outsourced, we need more culture than before.

Culture is our superpower, and it can change the world. The life of Arja Saijonmaa is evidence of this, from the volcanic debut in Lapualaisooppera ([The Lapua Opera], 1966) to this day. 

Marko Talli's candid documentary follows the rise of Saijonmaa to a global solidarity fighter for freedom and democracy in Greece and Chile and an international goodwill ambassador collaborating with luminaries from Pablo Neruda to Harry Belafonte.

Saijonmaa started in Finland but was not a prophet in her own land. In her native Mikkeli the local Lotta ladies selling muikku (vendace) delicacies deserted the market square when Saijonmaa arrived. Kaj Chydenius, the composer and conductor genius, discovered Arja: "tämä ääni ei mahdu tähän huoneeseen" ["this room is not big enough for her voice"]. In a disgraceful detour, Chydenius at a later point became a political hack applying mafia boss approaches to the one who did not toe his party line. Arja chose a sky bigger than his.

Saijonmaa had been passionate about Mikis Theodorakis since the 1960s, and when he was released from prison, Arja welcomed him in Helsinki in November 1970 by singing "These Trees" in Finnish at the Old Student House, and the deeply moved Mikis sang the same song back to her in Greek.

Such was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and professional collaboration. Ever since the question has been: was it also a love affair? Mikis referred to the two Greek words for love: eros and agape. Their affair was agape.

From Saijonmaa's private life we learn about her devotion to swimming and the sauna. We also learn that she was not able to have children because she had had to have her uterus removed. The world became her home.

The most poignant sequence is about an Israeli-Palestinian solidarity campaign in the context of the Oslo Accords. A children's camp of 150 Israeli and Palestinian children was arranged in Oslo, fifty-fifty of both, the children playing and singing together. Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat visited their concert and during the intermission signed an important successor agreement. As we know, Rabin was assassinated in 1992 by an Israeli extremist.

The film concludes with Arja's last encounter and her last reminiscences of Mikis. There was a time when Theodorakis wanted to visit her sauna in the countryside, and Arja asked him to wait by the lake at dusk, because from beyond a cape a black swan would appear, like the one that inspired Sibelius for The Swan of Tuonela [the land of death].

Watching Sing for Me Arja a day after the EPiC Elvis Presley in Concert sing-along event, I was reminiscing about the first time I saw Arja Saijonmaa. I was too young to visit the reportedly volcanic Lapualaisooppera in 1966. But I experienced a bolt of lightning in one of Saijonmaa's cabaret shows at the legendary Student Theatre in 1971. The cabaret started with Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" played back from a record. Elvis met his match in Arja with her voice capable of electrifying the biggest stages. I was thinking about the mythic battle in Kalevala of two Finnish shamans, Väinämöinen and Joukahainen, who try to sing each other to the swamp.

In this year's repertory of new Finnish releases, Sing for Me Arja seems to occupy a position similar to what The Helsinki Effect was last year. Both are great national films with an international resonance.

Topi E. Timonen (MSFF 2026): "Ohjaaja Marko Tallin uusin dokumenttielokuva avaa yleisölle ainutlaatuisen ikkunan sinivalkoisen kansallisaarteen Arja Saijonmaan (s. 1944) monivivahteiseen, yksinkertaistavia määritelmiä karttavaan taiteilijaelämään. Kuljemme Saijonmaan matkassa halki tämän synnyinmaan kohti kansainvälisiä estradeja ja todistamme taiteilijan, joka on yhtä lailla kotonaan tavallisen kansan kuin Ruotsin kuninkaallisten seurassa. Mikkelistä lähtöisin oleva maailmankansalainen on uransa mittaan tehnyt itsestään länsinaapurin kuuluisimman suomalaisen, ja elämä on kuljettanut häntä myös Pariisiin ja Kreikkaan."

"Dokumentin keskiössä on Saijonmaan vuosikymmeniä jatkunut, kupruilevan kiinnostava ystävyys ja ammatillinen yhteistyö kreikkalaisen Míkis Theodorákisin (1925–2021) kanssa. Saijonmaa on popularisoinut hänen laulujaan Suomessa ja maailmalla."

"Ohjaaja Talli – joka toimitti yleisölle aikaisemmin puhuttelevan henkilökuvan koomikko Jope Ruonansuusta – lähestyy Saijonmaan genrerajoja uhmannutta uraa kronologisen sijasta pikemminkin spiraalisesti. Kierroksien kertyessä kattavan arkistomateriaalin värittämä dokumentti kasvattaa ymmärrystämme Saijonmaasta kotimaansa kulttuurilähettiläänä. Samalla todistamme suomalaisen kulttuurituotannon kutkuttavia kehityskaaria 60-luvulta nykypäivään." Topi E. Timonen

Topi E. Timonen (MSFF 2026): "Director Marko Talli’s latest documentary offers the audience a unique window into the multifaceted life of Arja Saijonmaa (b. 1944), a Finnish national treasure whose artistic career defies simple definition. We follow Saijonmaa’s journey across her native land toward international stages, witnessing an artist who is equally at home among ordinary folk as she is in the company of Swedish royalty. A global citizen originally from Mikkeli, she has made a name for herself as the most famous Finn in Sweden over the course of her career, and life has also taken her to Paris and Greece."

"At the heart of the documentary is Saijonmaa’s decades-long, fascinatingly turbulent friendship and professional collaboration with the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis (1925–2021). Saijonmaa has popularised his songs in Finland and around the world."

"Director Talli—who previously delivered a poignant portrait of comedian Jope Ruonansuu—approaches Saijonmaa’s genre-defying career in a spiral-like fashion rather than chronologically. As the story unfolds, the documentary, enriched by extensive archival material, deepens our understanding of Saijonmaa as a cultural ambassador for her home country. At the same time, we witness the intriguing evolution of Finnish cultural production from the 1960s to the present day." Topi E. Timonen

...

TRACK LISTING from Yellow Film & TV:

Mustan tuskan romanssi

Salaisella rannalla (Suojaisen poukaman hiekalla)

Don't Cry for (Modern) Greece

Zorba Suite – orkesterisoolo

Margarita Margaro

Enkelten kortteli

Liehu, punalippu, liehu!

Me emme tee mitä emme tahdo

Alhaalta ylöspäin pyydetään (Kerjäläinen)

Varshavjanka (Riistäjät ruoskaansa selkäämme soittaa)

Ystävän laulu

Vanhat tiet

Brevet / Epistolu

Poika on altapäin

Afta ta dendra (Nämä puut)

Oloi dipsane

Paris canaille

Vassilepses asteri mou

Antonio Torres Heredia

Algunas Bestias

Ma solitude

Niin monilla lehdillä

Jag vill tacka livet

Belägringstillståndet

Högt över havet

Surabaya Johnny

Tango Desiree

Jag står i regnet

Tiyende pamodzi

La fiesta de la Tirana

Mannen jag älskar

Zaman el salaam

Våren önskar

Try to Remember

Vad du än trodde så trodde du fel

Yannis Ritsos: These Trees / Afta ta dendra (a poem)

 

Arja Saijonmaa sings These Trees (lyr. Yannis Ritsos, comp. Mikis Theodorakis) for Mikis Theodorakis in Helsinki at the Old Student House in November 1970. Theodorakis had just been released from the Greek military junta prison. Mikis is the second from left in the first row. At the grand piano: Eero Ojanen. My screenshot from YouTube: Arja Saijonmaa and Mikis Theodorakis by HussoHilda 20.1.2010. Copyright Yle the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation. The most remarkable document I know in the history of the cinema of two world class artists seeing each other for the first time. Extraordinary.

YANNIS RITSOS: THESE TREES

From the first canto of Romiosini (Athens 1945–1947)

in Greek, English and Finnish

Γιάννης Ρίτσος

Ρομιοσύνη  

I.

Αὐτὰ τὰ δέντρα δὲ βολεύονται μὲ λιγότερο οὐρανό,

αὐτὲς οἱ πέτρες δὲ βολεύονται κάτου ἀπ᾿ τὰ ξένα βήματα,

αὐτὰ τὰ πρόσωπα δὲ βολεύονται παρὰ μόνο στὸν ἥλιο,

αὐτὲς οἱ καρδιὲς δὲ βολεύονται παρὰ μόνο στὸ δίκιο.

Ἐτοῦτο τὸ τοπίο εἶναι σκληρὸ σὰν τὴ σιωπή,

σφίγγει στὸν κόρφο του τὰ πυρωμένα του λιθάρια,

σφίγγει στὸ φῶς τὶς ὀρφανὲς ἐλιές του καὶ τ᾿ ἀμπέλια του,

σφίγγει τὰ δόντια. Δὲν ὑπάρχει νερό. Μονάχα φῶς.

Ὁ δρόμος χάνεται στὸ φῶς κι ὁ ἴσκιος τῆς μάντρας εἶναι σίδερο.

Μαρμάρωσαν τὰ δέντρα, τὰ ποτάμια κ᾿ οἱ φωνὲς μὲς στὸν ἀσβέστη τοῦ ἥλιου.

Ἡ ρίζα σκοντάφτει στὸ μάρμαρο. Τὰ σκονισμένα σκοίνα.

Τὸ μουλάρι κι ὁ βράχος. Λαχανιάζουν. Δὲν ὑπάρχει νερό.

Ὅλοι διψᾶνε. Χρόνια τώρα. Ὅλοι μασᾶνε μία μπουκιὰ οὐρανὸ πάνου ἀπ᾿ τὴν πίκρα τους.

Τὰ μάτια τους εἶναι κόκκινα ἀπ᾿ τὴν ἀγρύπνια,

μία βαθειὰ χαρακιὰ σφηνωμένη ἀνάμεσα στὰ φρύδια τους

σὰν ἕνα κυπαρίσσι ἀνάμεσα σὲ δυὸ βουνὰ τὸ λιόγερμα.

THESE TREES

These trees cannot fit 

in less sky

These stones cannot sit 

under foreign steps

These faces cannot be content 

except in the sun

These hearts cannot be content 

except in justice.

This place is 

as harsh as silence

It squeezes into its bosom

its scorched rocks

It strangles its orphan olive trees

and its vineyards in the light

It gnashes its teeth

There is no water. Only light

The road is lost in the light

and the shade of the stone hedge is steel

(Opening lines of the literal translation by Catherine Nina Evarkiou)

NÄMÄ PUUT

Nämä puut eivät sopeudu

pienemmän taivaan alle

Nämä kalliot eivät sovi

vieraiden askelten alle

Nämä kasvot eivät sopeudu

muualle kuin aurinkoon

Nämä sydämet eivät taivu

kuin oikeuden edessä

Tämä maisema on totta

kuin hiljaisuus

Se kätkee sisäänsä

tulisia, tulisia kiviä

Se sulkee valoon

oliivipuut ja viinitarhat

Tämä vettä ei ole

on vain valoa

My transcription from the song performance by Arja Saijonmaa to Mikis Theodorakis in Helsinki, November 1970.

The Greek original and the literal English translation by Catherine Nina Evarkiou from: Alchemy: A Journal of Translation. Alchemy the Journal © 2021 All Rights Reserved

Sing-along: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2026 Sodankylä Iso Teltta) sing-along leader: Marjo Leinonen

Baz Luhrmann: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (AU/US 2025).

Sing-along: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2026 Sodankylä Iso Teltta). Hosted by Juhana von Bagh. Front row left: sing-along leader Marjo Leinonen. Front row middle: Antti Alanen and Laila Alanen.

AU/US 2025. PC: Authentic Studios, Bazmark Films • P: Baz Luhrmann, Jeremy Castro, Matthew Gross, Colin Smeeton, Schuyler Weiss. D: Baz Luhrmann. ED: Jonathan Redmond • S: Wayne Pashley • Copy: Finnkino • DCP • in English • sing-along subtitles in English • 96 min

    Track listing: see below.

    Helsinki premiere: 27 Feb 2026

    Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2026

    Sing-along event. Sing-along leader: Marjo Leinonen.

    Iso Teltta, 11 June 2026.

EPiC = Elvis Presley in Concert.

Kaisu Tervonen (MSFF 2026): "The hips of Elvis are still well worth talking about. Blending concert footage with documentary, Epic sees the virtuoso performer gyrate with such intensity that the audience’s sciatica twinges as their defences dissolve."

"When Australian director Baz Luhrmann was making his swinging biopic Elvis (2022), he combed through both unseen and familiar footage, eventually turning to two previous concert films: Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972). Unused footage was also discovered, which Luhrmann restored for Epic. He utilised technology from the studio of New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson, who had previously used it for his three-part Beatles documentary Get Back (2021)."

"The result is dazzling both visually and aurally. Luhrmann spends the first half hour flashing his rapid-fire editing style to recap Elvis’s life, but the remainder of the movie is all about the hips, “Hound Dog”, big-band arrangements, “Burning Love”, the intimacy of the rehearsal room, “In the Ghetto” and a closing medley. The recordings are seen and heard with a clarity whose power is undeniable: whatever Elvis Presley was offstage, on stage he truly was the King. The crowd in the karaoke tent is his court for this performance." Kaisu Tervonen

Kaisu Tervonen (MSFF 2026): "Elviksen lanteista on syytä puhua edelleen. Konserttielokuvan ja dokumentin yhdistävässä Epicissä armoitettu esiintyjä vatkaa lanteitaan niin, että katsoja tuntee iskiaksensa ärtyvän mutta vastarintansa murenevan."

"Kun australialaisohjaaja Baz Luhrmann teki svengaavaa elämäkertaelokuvaansa Elvis (2022), hän kolusi läpi ennennäkemätöntä ja jo nähtyä materiaalia ja päätyi kahden aiemman konserttielokuvan ääreen: Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970) ja Elvis on Tour (1972). Niistä löytyi myös käyttämätöntä materiaalia, jonka Luhrmann restauroi Epiciä varten. Apunaan hänellä oli uusiseelantilaisohjaaja Peter Jacksonin studion teknologia, jota Jackson käytti myös kolmeosaisessa Beatles-dokumentissaan Get Back (2021)."

"Jälki häikäisee niin visuaalisesti kuin auraalisesti. Kun ensimmäisen puolen tunnin ajan Luhrmann näyttää sähäkkää editointityyliään kerratessaan Elviksen elämänkaarta, elokuvan loppuosa täyttyy lanteista, ”Hound Dogista”, ison orkesterin soundista, ”Burning Lovesta”, harjoitusten välittömästä tunnelmasta, ”In the Ghettosta” ja lopusta biisikimarasta. Taltioinnit nähdään ja kuullaan tarkkuudella, jonka todistusvoimaa ei voi kiistää: mitä tahansa Elvis Presley oli lavan ulkopuolella, lavalla hän tosiaan oli kuningas. Karaoketeltan yleisö on hänen tämänkertainen hovinsa." Kaisu Tervonen

AA: I considered Baz Luhrmann's Elvis (AU/US 2022) the best Elvis movie I had seen and also the greatest achievement of Baz Luhrmann as a director.

Luhrmann's first Elvis movie was a fictional biopic, Austin Butler playing the part so well. EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is a compilation documentary. It is also great, and completely different. For sing-along purposes it is slightly too fragmentary. Even when songs are played in extenso, they are cut with inserts.

But we all had a great time in the biggest circus tent of Finland, led by the rhythm & blues veteran Marjo Leinonen.

EPiC is a non-fiction biopic based on authentic documents and little known interviews with the entertainer himself. This is a contemporary view. We don't need or want varnish or polish. We can face the harrowing aspects of excess and abuse. Also the garish lack of taste.

Through this his soul goes marching on, fuelled by his biggest love affairs: first with his mother, and then with his audience. He gives all, wins all and loses all. In the purgatory of multiple addictions he never loses his ability to give a great performance. He loves to sing. A born musician.

The track list covers the major periods out of chronology: the Sun years with "That's All Right (Mama)" and "Blue Moon", further early hits like "Love Me" and "Hound Dog", US Army years with "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", gospels like "How Great Thou Art" and "Oh Happy Day", civil rights in "In the Ghetto" and "Walk a Mile in My Shoes", heartfelt covers of contemporary hits ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" "A Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Something"), psychedelic surprises ("A Change of Reality") and the late confessions "Always On My Mind" and "Suspicious Minds".

Singing along I was thinking about Marilyn Monroe, a contemporary, whose centenary we celebrated last week. Both were stars of a new generation with a frank, optimistic and life-affirming attitude, defying 1950s repression, in tune with the New Frontier. Sex symbols maybe, but neither saw themselves that way. Both were All-American and embracing civil rights ideals.

More deeply integrated than before I felt the role of spirituals in the Elvis songbook. He was more than the sum of his contradictions, and the clash of the sacred and the profane may have been the most profound among those contradictions. The Swedish "How Great Thou Art" ("O Store Gud", 1885) is one of the most popular hymns worldwide, and Elvis's passionate gospel interpretation is the best. He is not crushed but elevated by its power.

EPiC is the best non-fiction portrait I know of Presley as a human being, his genuine affection in encounters with fellow musicians, family, friends, fans and the media. Electrified by the audience, in an authentic interaction. At home on the stage, big or small. Every time experiencing stage fright. Aware of his flaws, and transcending them. Living in an increasing haze of mind-altering drugs and gradually perishing by them.

TRACK LISTING FROM WIKIPEDIA (incomplete)

No. / Title / Artist(s) / Length

1. "Can't Help Falling in Love" (EPiC intro) / Presley / 0:21

2. "Also sprach Zarathustra / An American Trilogy" (EPiC version) / Presley • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / 1:49

3. "That's All Right" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:02

4. "Tiger Man" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:41

5. "Wearin' That Night Life Look" / Presley • Jamieson Shaw / 3:12

6. "Hound Dog" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:20

7. "Polk Salad Annie" (EPiC version) / Presley / 5:43

8. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (EPiC version) / Presley / 4:21

9. "Little Sister / Get Back" (EPiC version) / Presley / 3:04

10. "Burning Love" (EPiC version) / Presley • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / 3:22

11. "Never Been to Spain" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:15

12. "Love Me" (Jamieson Shaw remix) / Presley • Shaw / 3:49

13. "I Can't Stop Loving You" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:13

14. "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:47

15. "Always on My Mind" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:30

16. "How Great Thou Art" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:51

17. "Oh Happy Day" (EPiC version) / Presley • Shaw / 3:11

18. "A Big Hunk o' Love" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:06

19. "Bridge over Troubled Water" (EPiC version) / Presley / 4:14

20. "In the Ghetto" (Jamieson Shaw remix) / Presley • Shaw / 4:09

21. "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:00

22. "Suspicious Minds" (EPiC version) / Presley / 4:50

23. "Bring the Curtain Down" (EPiC outro) / Presley / 1:10

24. "Can't Help Falling in Love" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:56

25. "American David" (EPiC version) / Bono • Elliott Wheeler / 0:48

26. "A Change of Reality (Do You Miss Me?)" / Presley • Shaw / 3:10

27. "Don't Fly Away" (Pnau remix) / Presley • Pnau / 4:08

...

ALSO:

"Little Egypt"

"Something"

Sodankylä morning discussion 2026: Susan Seidelman

Susan Seidelman, The School, Sodankylä, 11 June 2026. Photo: Juho Liukkonen.

Susan Seidelman. Photo: Midnight Sun Film Festival online 2026.

Susan Seidelman: Desperately Seeking Something. 304 pages. Macmillan Publishers / St. Martin's Press, 2024.

 

In English. Hosted by Milja Mikkola. 120 min

The School, Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF), Sodankylä, 11 June 2026.

MSFF resume: "The North American director Susan Seidelman was interviewed by the program director of the Midnight Sun Film Festival, Milja Mikkola, at the Kitisenranta School on Thursday morning. Seidelman, who made her breakthrough with the film Smithereens in 1982, is one of the pioneering female directors who paved the way for future generations."

"Susan Seidelman was raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, US. The most characteristic element of the environment was the homogeneity of the neighborhood, where racial and economic diversity were largely absent. Even though Seidelman considered her childhood a happy one, the need to somehow rebel against a predetermined future was present from an early age. The idea of re-inventing oneself — a theme she would continue to explore throughout her later career — began to take shape."

"Seidelman emphasized the role of luck and coincidence in the significant turning points of her life, such as her shift toward filmmaking. Her fashion studies changed to film studies after she had her first exposure to movies in a course that introduced European classics. In the mid-1970s, Seidelman made her way to New York to study filmmaking. Having also dedicated herself to teaching, Seidelman has witnessed how the role of women has grown over the years, and expanding from directing into the technical aspects of filmmaking as well. Representing a generation of filmmakers who got their start in movie theaters and film festivals, Seidelman also points out the importance of television as a platform where young directors make their entrance."

"Seidelman became a director during a time when women were still largely absent from the field. Since seeing her first films, she has found the feeling of outsiderness captivating, as well as the breaking of patterns and norms. Like society, the film industry also seemed to repeat the same conventions reserved for women. Seidelman recognized the need to create engaging stories with strong female protagonists."

"“I wanted to tell stories about women who are somewhat outsiders and want to take control of their own lives”, she told."

"The restless character of the protagonist in her first feature film Smithereens (1982) was inspired by Giulietta Masina, who played the leading role in Federico Fellini’s film Nights of Cabiria (1957). The film, which may have lacked financing but benefited from a great deal of dedication, made its way to the Cannes Film Festival —a success that surprised Seidelman as well. The film opened the doors for future projects such as Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Making Mr. Right (1987), and She-Devil (1989)."

"As the films she would take with her to a desert island, she chooses, on a “human level,” Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960) and, on a “technical level,” Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990). From her own catalogue, four films are presented at the Midnight Sun Film Festival: Smithereens, Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right, and She-Devil."

MSFF resume: "Sodankylän elokuvajuhlien ohjelmapäällikkö Milja Mikkola haastatteli yhdysvaltalaista ohjaajaa Susan Seidelmania Kitisenrannan koululla torstaiaamuna. Vuonna 1982 elokuvalla Rakasta minua, Manhattan uransa aloittanut Seidelman on naisohjaajien pioneereja ja tienraivaajia."

"Seidelman varttui philadelphialaisessa lähiössä, jota hän kuvasi tyypilliseksi: teiden varsia koristavat talot ja pihat olivat kuin samasta muotista, samoin naapuruston asukkaat. Vaikka Seidelman kuvaa lapsuuttaan onnelliseksi, halu kapinoida naiselle etukäteen varattua perinteisen perheen äidin roolia vastaan syntyi jo varhain. Ajatus itsensä uudelleen luomisesta suuressa kaupungissa – teema, jonka työstämistä hän jatkoi myöhemmissä elokuvissaan – alkoi kyteä."

"Seidelman korosti sattuman ja onnen merkitystä käänteissä, jotka ovat ohjanneet hänen elämänsä suuria linjoja. Sattumaa oli myös päätyminen elokuva-alalle. Muotiopinnot vaihtuivat elokuvaan, kun Seidelman sai ensikosketuksensa elokuvaan kurssilla, jolla näytettiin eurooppalaisia klassikoita. 1970-luvun puolivälissä Seidelman hakeutui New Yorkiin opiskelemaan elokuva-alaa. Myös opettajana toiminut Seidelman on nähnyt, miten naisten rooli elokuvanteossa niin ohjauksen kuin tekniikan puolella on kasvanut. Samalla television rooli näyttämönä, jossa uudet tulokkaat saavat jalansijaa alalla, on korostunut. Seidelman itse kuuluu sukupolveen, joka aloitti uransa elokuvateattereista."

"Seidelmanin ensimmäisen pitkän elokuvan Rakasta minua, Manhattan (1982) päähenkilön levotonta olemusta inspiroi Giulietta Masinan roolityö Federico Fellinin elokuvassa Cabirian yöt (1957). Pienellä budjetilla ja suurella intohimolla tehty elokuva ponnisti ohjaajan yllätykseksi Cannesin pääkilpasarjaan. Elokuva avasi ovet tuleville projekteille, kuten Missä olet, Susan? (1985), Täydellinen kaveri (1987) ja Naispaholainen (1989)."

"Seidelmanista tuli elokuvaohjaaja aikana, jolloin naisia oli alalla vielä vain kourallinen. Ensimmäisistä näkemistään elokuvista lähtien ohjaajaa on kiehtonut ajatus ulkopuolisuudesta ja erilaisuudesta, astumisesta normien ja säännönmukaisuuden ulkopuolelle. Myös elokuvakenttä toisti samaa kaavaa naisille yhteiskunnassa varatusta roolista. Seidelman tunnisti tarpeen luoda kiinnostavia tarinoita, joissa oli vahva naispääosa."

"“Halusin kertoa tarinoita naisista, jotka ovat jollain tavoin ulkopuolisia ja jotka haluavat ottaa elämänsä omiin käsiinsä”, Seidelman sanoo."

"Autiolle saarelle hän ottaisi mukaansa kaksi elokuvaa: “inhimillisin perustein” hän valitsisi Billy Wilderin Poikamiesboksin (1960), ja “teknisin perustein” hän valitsisi Martin Scorsesen Mafiaveljet (1990). Seidelmanin omasta tuotannosta elokuvajuhlilla esitetään neljä elokuvaa: Rakasta minua, Manhattan  (1982), muun muassa Madonnan tähdittämä Missä olet, Susan? (1985) , Täydellinen kaveri (1987) ja Naispaholainen (1989)."

AA: The first film: The Parent Trap / Ansa vanhemmille (US 1961), Walt Disney live action.

Breakfast at Tiffany's a key influence: an outsider, reinventing yourself.

I wanted to become a fashion designer, but at film appreciation classes, my eyes were opened by Bergman, Fellini, French New Wave.

At NYU, 5 women and 30 men. East Village, rough and tumble. The milieu was as formative as the university. I learned as much from living in that area as from the classes. That's really where I started to learn cinema. 

Women directors: in the US, there was only one: Elaine May.

Internationally, I was inspired by Agnès Varda and Lina Wertmüller. Wertmüller had an eye that was únique, great style, design, colour, she pushed realism, a little inspired by Fellini. Tell something real, use slight exaggeration.

SMITHEREENS

Smithereens was my original idea. Budget $10.000-15.000, on 16 mm. Checkered miniskirt. Designer eyeglasses. Shooting without permissions. Texture of the city. The city itself had such great texture.

Influenced by Breakfast at Tiffany's and Le notti di Cabiria.

Ron Nyswaner.

Jonathan Demme came to watch the movie.

Then Cannes happened. "We do not screen 16 mm".

Gilles Jacob invited it to the main competition.

DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN

Madonna had never made a movie before. No crowds, no security.

She was not a big star when the principal production started but she become one by the time the movie was finished.

These were early days for MTV. The camera liked her.

The Orion chief was an old school feminist, liked Madonna.

The first US feature film for Edward Lachman. Colour gels.

Jacques Rivette: Céline et Julie vont en bateau.

Alice in Wonderland.

PD: Santo Loquato. A little hyperrealistic, magical.

CLIPS: Smithereens, Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right, She-Devil, 

Sex and the City (US 1998) S1.E1, D: Susan Seidelman

Lauri Timonen (MSFF 2026): "Director, producer, screenwriter and a respected teacher in her field, Susan Seidelman was born on 11 December 1952 in Abington, Pennsylvania, grew up in Philadelphia and studied fashion and the arts at the local Drexel University. Her move to New York would later form the geographical foundation for both her films and her identity. Cinephilia truly sparked through encounters at university with classics of the French New Wave and the Nordic dramas of Ingmar Bergman. European influences, including Lina Wertmüller and Agnès Varda, would continue to resonate strongly. Seidelman’s short film debut, And You Act Like One Too, a satirical story of a housewife’s ex-marital affair, already attracted well-deserved attention."

"Her debut feature Smithereens (1982) startles with its unapologetic roughness, the stark streetscapes of East Village, the hazy afterglow of the punk era and its exceptional protagonist Wren (Susan Berman). As a point of comparison for the character’s distinctly shabby mode of existence, one might mention Mona from Varda’s Vagabond (1985). Seidelman’s artistic, commercial and international breakthrough Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) prised open the doors of Hollywood, though the position of women directors remained highly challenging in the mid-1980s dream factory with its worship of oiled male muscles and toxic masculinity."

"The New Wave screwball comedy Desperately Seeking Susan grew into a pop-cultural phenomenon, a cult classic and a respected landmark of feminist cinema. Not forgetting her underground roots, Seidelman continued to create surprising genre hybrids, like the romantic AI comedy Making Mr. Right (1987), in which an android falls in love with a PR woman, the father-daughter mafia film Cookie (1989); the emancipated revenge story She-Devil (1989), the Euro-mystery Gaudi Afternoon (2001), reshuffling gender roles, The Boynton Beach Club (2005), a portrait of senior citizens seeking companionship, the wheelchair patients’ dance-competition romance Musical Chairs (2011); and the sports comedy The Hot Flashes (2013), about a middle-aged women’s basketball team."

"Her artistic hallmarks include strong female ensembles, aesthetic playfulness, an outsider perspective, broad age ranges, and an almost anthropological worldview in which the everyday cosmos appears as a changing organism and a mischievous playground. Seidelman’s women do not live on the verge of nervous breakdowns, but at least permanently on their toes."

"In her 2024 memoir Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir About Movies, Mothers and Material Girls, the director humorously recounts one of the “low points” of her career: a Disney television film in which the former Oscar nominee had to direct a chimpanzee. Yet the industry’s perpetual ebb and flow was reflected in the success that lay behind another door: directing the 1997 pilot for the soon-to-be-iconic Sex and the City."

"Despite her studio productions, Seidelman still proudly considers herself an independent New Yorker filmmaker. She is a genuine trailblazer, instinctively drawn to places where something new is beginning: the first films of Madonna and Roseanne, Rosanna Arquette’s breakthrough role, Meryl Streep’s first comedy and countless other actors, innovations and phenomena now firmly established by name…"

"We warmly welcome this American auteur with a singular voice to the land of the midnight sun!" Lauri Timonen

Lauri Timonen (MSFF 2026): "Ohjaaja, tuottaja, käsikirjoittaja ja alansa arvostettu opettaja Susan Seidelman syntyi 11. joulukuuta 1952 Abingtonissa, Pennsylvaniassa, kasvoi Philadelphiassa ja opiskeli paikallisessa Drexel Universityssa muotia ja taiteita. Muutto New Yorkiin valoi jatkossa sekä elokuvien että identiteetin maantieteellisen perustan. Cinefilia iski todellista kipinää yliopistossa nähtyjen Ranskan uuden aallon klassikkojen ja Ingmar Bergmanin pohjoisten draamojen ansiosta. Eurooppalaiset vaikutteet, muun muassa Lina Wertmüller ja Agnès Varda, resonoivat voimakkaina jatkossakin. Jo Seidelmanin lyhytelokuvadebyytti, kotirouvan syrjähypystä satiirin sävyin kertova And You Act Like One Too (1976), herätti ansaittua huomiota."

"Esikoispitkä Rakasta minua, Manhattan! (1982) sävähdyttää anteeksipyytelemättömällä rosoisuudellaan, East Villagen karuilla katunäkymillä, punkin aikakauden sumeilla jälkihöyryillä ja poikkeuksellisella naispäähenkilöllään Wrenillä (Susan Berman). Hahmon omintakeisen olemassaolon nuhjuisuuden vertailukohtana voisi mainita Vardan Kuin taivaan linnun (1985) Monan. Seidelmanin taiteellinen, kaupallinen ja kansainvälinen läpimurto Missä olet, Susan? (1985) kampesi Hollywoodin ovet raolleen, mutta naisohjaajien asema oli 80-luvun puolivälin öljyttyjä muskeleita ja toksista maskuliinisuutta palvovassa unelmakaupungissa vähintäänkin haastava."

"Uuden aallon screwball-komedia Missä olet, Susan? kasvoi popkulttuuri-ilmiöksi, kulttiklassikoksi ja feministisen elokuvan arvostetuksi merkkipaaluksi. Underground-juurensa muistava Seidelman loi jatkossakin yllättäviä genrehybridejä, kuten romanttisen tekoälyhupailun Täydellinen kaveri (1987), jossa androidi rakastuu pr-naiseen, isä-tytär-mafiaelokuvan Cookie – gangsterin tytär (1989), emansipoituneen kostotarinan Naispaholainen (1989), sukupuolirooleja uusiksi puljaavan euromysteerin Gaudi Afternoon (2001), seniorikansalaisten seuranhakukuvaelman The Boynton Beach Club (2005), rullatuolipotilaiden tanssikilpailuihin sijoittuvan rakkausdraaman Musical Chairs (2011) ja keski-ikäisten naisten koripallojoukkueesta kertovan urheilukomedian The Hot Flashes (2013)."

"Taiteilijan tunnusmerkkejä ovat vahvat naisensemblet, esteettinen leikittely, outsider-perspektiivi, laajat ikärakenteet ja miltei antropologinen maailmankuva, jossa arkinen kosmos näyttäytyy muuttuvana organismina ja vekkulina pelikenttänä. Seidelmanin naiset eivät elä hermoromahduksen partaalla mutta vähintäänkin varpaillaan."

"Vuonna 2024 julkaistuissa Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir About Movies, Mothers and Material Girls -muistelmissaan ohjaaja kertaa humoristisesti uransa ”pohjakosketusta”, Disney-yhtiön tv-elokuvaa, jossa entinen Oscar-ehdokas joutui ohjaamaan simpanssia. Mutta alan alituista aaltoliikettä kuvastaa toisen oven takana pilkottanut menestys, ikoniseen asemaan kohonneeseen Sinkkuelämää-sarjaan 1997 ohjattu pilotti."

"Ohjaaja pitää itseään studiotuotannoistaan huolimatta edelleen ylpeästi newyorkilaisena indie-elokuvantekijänä. Seidelman on todellinen trailblazer ja vaistonvaraisesti mukana siellä, missä aloitetaan jotakin uutta: Madonnan ja Roseannen ensimmäiset elokuvat, Rosanna Arquetten läpimurtorooli, Meryl Streepin ensimmäinen komedia ja lukemattomia muita nykyisiä niminäyttelijöitä, innovaatiota ja ilmiöitä…"

"Toivotamme omaäänisen yhdysvaltalais-auteurin lämpimästi tervetulleeksi pohjoisen auringon alle!" 

Lauri Timonen

OHJAAJANA / AS DIRECTOR

And You Act Like One Too (lyhyt/short, 1976), Yours Truly, Andrea G. Stern (lyhyt/short, 1979), Rakasta minua, Manhattan (Smithereens, 1982), Missä olet, Susan? (Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985), Madonna: Into the Groove (musiikkivideo, 1985), Täydellinen kaveri (Making Mr. Right, 1987), Cookie – Gangsterin tytär (Cookie, 1989), Naispaholainen (She-Devil, 1989), Confessions of a Suburban Girl (dokumentti, 1992), The Dutch Master (lyhyt/short, 1993), The Barefoot Executive (tv-elokuva/TV Movie, 1995), Early Edition (tv-sarjan jakso/episode of a TV Series, 1996), Tales of Erotica (episodielokuvassa Tales of Erotica / episode in a movie Tales of Erotica, 1996),

Sinkkuelämää (Sex and the City, tv-sarja/TV Series, 1998), A Cooler Climate (tv-elokuva/TV Movie, 1999), Now and Again (tv-sarja/TV Series, 1999), Gaudi Afternoon (2001), Power and Beauty (tv-elokuva/TV Movie, 2002), The Ranch (tv-elokuva/TV Movie, 2004), Stella (tv-sarja/TV Series, 2005), The Boynton Beach Bereavement Club (2005), The Electric Company (tv-sarja/TV Series, 2009–2010),

Musical Chairs (2011), The Hot Flashes (2013), Cut in Half (lyhyt/ short, 2017) 

KÄSIKIRJOITTAJANA / AS SCREENWRITER

And You Act Like One Too (lyhyt/short, 1976), Yours Truly, Andrea G. Stern (lyhyt/short, 1979), Rakasta minua, Manhattan (Smithereens, tarina/story, 1982), The Dutch Master (lyhyt/short, 1993), The Boynton Beach Bereavement Club (2005)

TUOTTAJANA / AS PRODUCER

And You Act Like One Too (lyhyt/short, 1976), Yours Truly, Andrea G. Stern (lyhyt/short, 1979), Rakasta minua, Manhattan (Smithereens, 1982), Naispaholainen (She-Devil, 1989), Confessions of a Suburban Girl (dokumentti, 1992), The Boynton Beach Bereavement Club (2005), The Hot Flashes (2013)

LEIKKAAJANA / AS EDITOR

And You Act Like One Too (lyhyt/short, 1976), Yours Truly, Andrea G. Stern (lyhyt/short, 1979), Rakasta minua, Manhattan (Smithereens, 1982).

Der Traum von Lieschen Müller / The Dream of Lieschen Mueller (Olaf Möller Masterclass, Sodankylä 2026)

Helmut Käutner: Der Traum von Lieschen Müller / The Dream of Lieschen Mueller (DE 1961). Sonja Ziemann (Lieschen Müller), Helmut Griem (Jan).

Federal Republic of Germany © 1961 Gloria Film Munich • PC: Divina-Film • P: Ilse Kubaschewski, Georg Richter • D: Helmut Käutner •  SC: Willibald Eser, Helmut Käutner • Cin: Günther Senftleben –  VistaVision [according to Filmportal] – Omnimago [according to the DCP credits] • ED: Klaus Dudenhöfer • PD: Hertha Hareiter, Otto Pischinger • Cost: Margot Schönberger • S: Clemens Tütsch • M: Michel Legrand • Lyrics: Helmut Käutner, Willibald Eser • C: Sonja Ziemann, Martin Held, Cornelia Froboess, Helmut Griem, Peter Weck •  Print: Beta Film • DCP • in German • subtitles: English • 89 min

    Note: prominent in the movie is a huge billboard for a "Brigitte Bardot movie" called Ein Hemd steht leer [A Shirt Remains Empty]. No such film exists.

    Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2026 / Olaf Möller Masterclass, subtitles in English.

    Viewed at The School, 10 June 2026

Olaf Möller (MSFF 2026): "Lieschen Müller on länsisaksalaisen tavanomaisuuden perikuva: hän asuu mitäänsanomattomassa pienessä tuppukylässä, orpona ja naimattomana, pankin palveluksessa, vakioasiakkaana samassa lounaskahvilassa… Eräänä päivänä ilmaantuu muuan tri Schmidt ja esittää viehättävälle nuorelle neidolle tarjouksen: hän kutsuu tämän mukaansa maailmanmatkalle, liikeasioilla. Lieschen kieltäytyy kainosti, mutta kun hän nukahtaa toimistossaan ylitöiden uuvuttamana, elokuva muuttuu mustavalkoisesta värilliseksi, ja varhaisen länsisaksalaisen elokuvan jumala Helmut Käutner antaa palaa – seuraa yhtä laulua ja tanssia huikentelevissa lavasteissa kerrotussa paksussa tarinassa, joka sen kun paksunee joka perforaatioaukolla. Rahaa kuin roskaa! Maailman ympäri! Talousihmemaasta taivaaseen martineilla ja havaijinleivillä!"

"Käutner onnistuu sekä säästämään että syömään kakkunsa, sillä The Dream of Lieschen Mueller on yhtä suuressa määrin satiiria 1950-luvun Länsi-Saksan unelmista ja harhakuvista kuin oman aikansa hyväntuulisen ja loisteliaan elokuvan nec plus ultra. Toisin kuin monet kriitikot, Käutner uskoi, että yleisöä voi ilahduttaa samalla kun sille kertoo vähemmän imartelevia, ellei jopa levottomuutta herättäviä asioita. Tässä mielessä The Dream of Lieschen Mueller on esteettiseltä kannalta yhä aikaansa edellä." Olaf Möller

Olaf Möller (MSFF 2026): "Lieschen Müller is the epitome of FRG ordinariness: She lives in small, nondescript Dingskirchen, is an orphan and single, employed by a bank, a regular at lunch in the same diner… you get the drift. One day, a Dr. Schmidt appears and makes the charming young lady an offer: he invites her to travel the world with him, on business. Lieschen demurely declines, but when she falls asleep in the of. ice, tired from doing overtime… the film turns from black and white to colour, and early FRG cinema god Helmut Käutner lets it rip – all singing, all dancing, in extravagant sets made for a tall tale turning taller and taller by the sprocket hole. Big money! The whole wide world! Wirtschaftswunderland sky high on Martini and Toast Hawaii!"

"Being Käutner, the master has his cake and gets to eat it too, as The Dream of Lieschen Mueller is as much a satire of the dreams and delusions of the FRG in the 50s as it is a nec plus ultra of the era’s cinema in all its feel-good splendour. In contrast to many a critic, Käutner believed that you can delight an audience while telling it a lot of not-so-flattering, even disturbing things. In that sense, The Dream of Lieschen Mueller is aesthetically speaking still ahead of its time…" Olaf Möller

AA: In a musical, form becomes substance. A piece of escapist entertainment made of flimsy material transforms into a self-reflective metafilm about Sein und Schein / être et paraître / being and appearance.

Olaf Möller, the magician of discovering unknown treasures hiding in plain sight, compares The Dream of Lieschen Mueller with another major Helmut Käutner film from the same year, Black Gravel, a tough and merciless exposé of life under the age of reconstruction after WWII. The dreamland of Lieschen Mueller is in contrast to the realism of Black Gravel, but both describe the same condition: the spiritual void in the years of the Wirtschaftswunder.

The cheesy special effects of Lieschen Müller do not achieve the charm of The Wizard of Oz (which might be an inspiration) but resonate with Pop Art and anticipate the Music Television of the 1980s, Kenny Everett, David Mallet and Weird Al Yankovich. Failing to inspire awe, Käutner succeeds in parody and fun.

Helmut Käutner and Lieschen Müller celebrate the ideals of success, materialism and consumerism at face value like Frank Tashlin and Jerry Lewis, yet in the end those ideals turn into a laughing matter.

Käutner was a master of the cabaret film and also a master of humanism, even in the years of Nazi Europe in his "three film wonder" starting with Romanze in Moll celebrated by Henri Langlois. The same unfaltering dignity we find in the heart of Lieschen Müller, defying the cynicism of the brave new mercenary world.

...

I have a fondness for film directors writing their own song lyrics, like Helmut Käutner here.