Released:
2010-08-05

Overview:
The Midnight Sun Film Festival is held every June in the Finnish village of Sodankylä beyond the arctic circle — where the sun never sets. Founded by Aki and Mika Kaurismäki along with Anssi Mänttäri and Peter von Bagh in 1985, the festival has played host to an international who’s who of directors and each day begins with a two-hour discussion. To mark the festival’s silver anniversary, festival director Peter von Bagh edited together highlights from these dialogues to create an epic four-part choral history of cinema drawn from the anecdotes, insights, and wisdom of his all-star cast: Coppola, Fuller, Forman, Chabrol, Corman, Demy, Kieslowski, Kiarostami, Varda, Oliveira, Erice, Rouch, Gilliam, Jancso — and 64 more. Ranging across innumerable topics (war, censorship, movie stars, formative influences, America, neorealism) these voices, many now passed away, engage in a personal dialogue across the years that’s by turns charming, profound, hilarious and moving.

Director:
Peter von Bagh

Runtime:
4h 33min

Genre:
Documentary

• Cast:
• 
  Peter von Bagh
  as
  Self
• 
  Robert Parrish
  as
  Self
• 
  Roy Ward Baker
  as
  Self
• 
  Víctor Erice
  as
  Self
• 
  Francis Ford Coppola
  as
  Self