Sunday, February 16, 6:15 p.m. & Wednesday, February 19, 8:30 p.m. | A man, M, arrives in Helsinki, gets mugged, loses his memory, and has to start his life over from scratch. Critically adored (Roger Ebert wrote, “at the end, I felt a deep but indefinable contentment”), THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST has everything audiences have come to expect and want from an Aki Kaurismäki film: deadpan comedy, Finnish rock music, outcasts and ordinary people in extraordinary situations, and—of course—a great dog (winner of the coveted “Palme Dog” at the Cannes Film Festival). As with his beloved 2023 film FALLEN LEAVES, Kaurismäki deftly finds hope in a world that on its face seems hopeless, and treats his characters, even when they lose their way, with great respect. Film provided by the Finnish Film Foundation.

Awards & Nominations

Winner - Grand Prize of the Jury, Cannes Film Festiva
Winner - Best Actress (Kati Outinen), Cannes Film Festival
Nominee - Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival
Winner - Palme Dog, Cannes Film Festival 
Nominee - Best International Film, Academy Awards

Persistence of Memory: Ten films (poetically, all quite memorable) that explore recollection, unreliable narrators and amnesiatic protagonists, ghosts real and imagined, the way others remember us (ouch), and the coming to terms with that, as much as we try to hold on to them, as time passes our memories shift and slip away. Read more

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu