Silent Trilogy

What do a grieving man trying to sell his meager possessions, a pair of moonshiners with a pig who are tricked by a card shark, and a lighthouse keeper who ventures into space to find her brother have in common? Answer: playfulness, sharp wit, the distinctive visage of non-actor Jaana Paananen, and last but not least Juho Kuosmanen’s love for silent cinema. Leading Finnish director Kuosmanen’s feature film consisting of three silent shorts – Scrap-Mattila and the Beautiful Woman (2012), Moonshiners (2017), and Distant Planet (2023) – is a tribute to the early days of cinema and above all a warm and hope-filled celebration of people from the margins of society. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)