Musical Globe

Midsummer Night's Tango

Viviane Blumenschein
Screening time  
28.02. / Saturday, 18:00 - 20:00 Theatre 5  
The documentary discovers the Finnish tango from the viewpoint of hree Argentine musicians who travel to Finland to find out whether Aki Kaurismäki is telling the truth when he asserts that tango music was invented in Finland.

Is tango perhaps not Latin American, but Finnish? No less a person than Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki makes this bold statement. After which, German director Viviane Blumenschein switches straight to a bar in Buenos Aires where a handful of tango musicians respond with fits of laughter. Because if tango is Finnish, then Kaurismäki probably thinks Maradona is too? And is sauna an Argentine invention then? The Argentinians' laughter was probably heard in Finland. In the documentary Midsummer Night's Tango, three Argentine musicians fly to Helsinki to see what's going on with "their" tango in a totally different country. Their continual surprise is unavoidable. This results in a hilarious and sometimes moving series of meetings between musicians from two cultures that are totally different and yet sometimes surprisingly similar.

Photo_viviane_20blumenschein

Viviane Blumenschein

Viviane Blumenschein is an award-winning screenwriter and director. She lives and works in Berlin. Since 1999, she has been making documentaries. In 2008, she made the lauded documentary Dance for All, about a ballet school in a poor community in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition to Midsummer Night's Tango she made the documentary Calle del Arte (2012), about a colourful art festival in Venezuela.

General sponsor

Mittsommernachtstango

Finland, Germany, Argentina
2012, 83', HD

Directed by:
Viviane Blumenschein

Screenplay by:
Viviane Blumenschein

Cinematography:
Nikolai von Graevenitz

Edited by:
Oliver Weiss

Music:
Diego Kvitko

Producers:
Christian Beetz, Gema Juarez Allen, Pertti Veijalainen

Produced by:
Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion, Gema Films, Illume Ltd

Festivals & Awards:

Eberswalde Film Festival 2014 – Audience Award; Millennium Film Festival 2014 – Special Jury Award; Shanghai International Film Festival 2014; DOK.fest – Munich International Documentary Festival 2014; Fünf Seen Film Festival 2014; Milano Film Festival 2014; Raindance Film Festival 2014; Nordic Film Days 2014