Wider Screen 02/2007: The cinema of Aki Kaurismäki – The Politics of Contradiction A special issue of Wider Screen designed to illuminate the wide-ranging and multifaceted cultural life of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's films: http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/index.htm The films of Aki Kaurismäki are multifaceted texts that balance between a variety of cultural tropes. The films are simultaneously national and international; they deal with Finnish national myths alongside the globalisation of national culture; the films blur the distinctions between high culture and low culture both in terms of thematics and aesthetics; they circulate the globe in both commercial and festival releases, gaining widely discrepant critical and commercial receptions. The issue contains the following contributions: Introduction by the guest editor: - The Cinema of Aki Kaurismäki - The Politics of Contradiction Pietari Kääpä http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/esipuhe_the_cinema_of_aki_kaurismaki.htm Articles: - Aki Kaurismäki and Nation: The Contrarian Cinema Andrew Nestingen http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/aki_kaurismaki_and_nation.htm - A Place to Go? Exploring liminal space in Aki Kaurismäki's I Hired a Contract Killer (1990) Paul Newland http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/place_to_go.htm - The Politics of National Identity in Aki Kaurismäki's Leningrad Cowboys Trilogy Pietari Kääpä http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/politics_of_national_identity.htm - Työväenluokkainen maskuliinisuus ja ruumiillisuus Aki Kaurismäen elokuvissa Kauas pilvet karkaavat ja Mies vailla menneisyyttä Kaisa Toivonen http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/tyovaenluokkainen_maskuliinisuus_ja_ruumiillisuus.htm - Soup, soap and national reawakening The national ambiguous role of the salvation army in The Man without Past (2002) Sanna Peden http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/soup_soap_and_national_reawakening.htm Book review: Tekijän muotokuva - Peter von Bagh: Aki Kaurismäki Jussi Kaisjoki http://www.widerscreen.fi/2007/2/aki_kaurismaki.htm Wider Screen is an internet-based journal intended for both popular and academic writings on audio-visual culture. www.widerscreen.fi ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org